After 8 years, the Nox Cocktail Lounge in Village Gate will close

Rochester, New York – The Nox Cocktail Lounge in Rochester’s Village Gate, which was renowned for its inviting ambiance, libations, comfort food, and activities ranging from trivia to Tolkien, is closing.

On October 28, they will have a Halloween party to honor the show’s final night. On Instagram, the pub and restaurant claimed to have been in business for eight years.

The demise of Salena’s Mexican Restaurant in Village Gate is bittersweet, according to Kelly Metras, one of Nox’s proprietors and owner of the restaurant.

“It’s my baby,” Metras said, recalling when she diamond sanded the floors herself. “Salena’s we made our own, but Nox we created. Our blood, sweat, and tears. We built it from the ground up.”

According to Metras, Salena’s expansion played a role in the decision to relocate. Metras is seeking to open three “quick service” Salena’s sites throughout the Rochester region with the help of her husband Aaron, who is also an owner.

The first, according to Metras, would debut in “a few weeks” and be located at Greece’s Tops Plaza on Maiden Lane. She claims that the timing of NOX’s closing is still poor despite that possibility.

“It’s my favorite place to go,” Metras said of Nox. “They say you can’t put all your eggs in one basket, but you can’t spread them out too much either… You can’t carry it all.”

The business will be put up for sale after it shuts. The Village Gate would still receive rent. Metras says the next owner can do anything they want with the area, but she does ask if they will keep it in the same style as Nox. The general manager was supposed to purchase the facility as part of their first plan, but that didn’t work out. “Seeing [that] be the case … That would be the happiest thing,” she said.