Boise’s Hyde House is no stranger to controversy. Back in October, a photo of the restaurant went viral that showed two signs on the front door of the restaurant.

Credit: Jennifer Elder via Facebook
Credit: Jennifer Elder via Facebook
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One sign read as follows:

“Unfortunately, we had unforeseen labor shortages and will not be open tonight. We will be open Wednesday!”

Right below that was another sign in different handwriting, presumably from a (former) employee:

“Actually, we wrote bad payroll checks and the whole front of house staff quit!”

This led to speculation and rumors about what was really happening in the restaurant. Hyde House even responded at the time, sharing in a since-deleted Instagram post:

“October 18-20th Hyde House restaurant received some negative Facebook press regarding paying our employees. We regret any action that impacted these employees, and those employees were financially taken care of at the time. The social posts of misinformation took on a life of their own spreading false rumors. The owners of Hyde House are your 'North-end friendly neighbors and have been Idaho residents for decades.”

When visiting the restaurant’s website, you’re greeted with a screen that reads “Website Expired.” When you search the business on Yelp and Google, they list Hyde House as being “Closed.”

HydeHouseBoise.com via SquareSpace
HydeHouseBoise.com via SquareSpace
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It also seems that the restaurant has absolutely vanished from social media with no Instagram or Facebook accounts to be found. We tried contacting Hyde House by phone and were met with no response. It’s interesting because according to current Yelp reviews, the business seemed up and running not that long ago.

So, what in the world is going on?

Many businesses were affected by the pandemic… could it be that Hyde House was also hit hard by COVID-19?

When visiting Hyde House to get a closer look, it looked as it normally does around closing time with chairs stacked and the patio unoccupied. Beyond their ‘Welcome’ board at the front, however, we found a cryptic message left by an anonymous person stuck to the door.

Photo by Chris Cardenas/TSM Boise
Photo by Chris Cardenas/TSM Boise
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The message reads:

“You can’t hide forever. We will get our money.”

We can’t conclude who left the message as they (obviously) didn’t sign their name but it does leave several burning questions… what in the world is going on at Hyde House? Are they going through a change of ownership? Is this a prank by someone looking to fool people like myself in the media?

Whatever is going on at Hyde House, we hope it all works out for everyone involved and affected by the sudden shutdown.

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