Hen Quarter is no longer serving Southern fried chicken and all the trimmings in Penn Quarter. The restaurant posted a sign on the door announcing its closure and thanking its regular patrons for their business. The chainlet’s Silver Spring outpost closed in October, leaving only the Alexandria location in operation.

After opening in the spring of 2017 at 750 E St. NW, Hen Quarter received a stinging review from Post critic Tom Sietsema. He noted that “the service makes you want to run as fast as you can somewhere else,” and worse yet, the “deviled eggs appear to be filled with mustard-flavored grout.”

The casual restaurant’s exit is the exclamation point on a rash of closings in the fourth quarter of 2018 that’s leaving many operators anxious for what’s to come in 2019. Other recent closures include Makoto, Esencias Panameñas Restaurant and Catering, CF Folks, Acadiana, J.Paul’s, 701 Restaurant, Smoked & Stacked, Ruta del Vino, Justin’s Cafe, Hank’s Cocktail Bar, and Ventnor Sports Cafe.

Hen Quarter, 750 E St. NW; henquarter.com