The popular business district restaurant known as Bistro! Downtown closed after service Friday, following four years of doing business in Davies Pacific Center.

“We actually had one year left (on the lease), but our landlord informed us that a big restaurant wanted not only our space, but the space next door,” said Guin Caracol, co-owner of Bistro. The next-door space is temporarily occupied by Professional Image, “but they’re going to move,” she said.

The leasing agent for Davies Pacific Center, at 841 Bishop St., did not respond to queries.

The restaurant operated as La Tour Cafe Downtown for about eight months but then re-branded to its more long-lived name.

Caracol said her sons came up with the concept. The general manager was Michael Correa, and her other son, Robert Okimoto, was assistant general manager and director of operations. “I was just the backer,” she said.

Some employees were hired without benefit of a high school diploma, but they were trained across several positions within the restaurant so they could gain job skills, she said. Over the course of time, some went on to better-paying jobs.

However, once it became known that the restaurant would close, the staff of seven stayed on. “You don’t find that too often,” she said. “That’s where we feel blessed, like a family.”

The closure was to have come earlier, but Caracol and her sons persuaded the landlord to let them stay longer. “We still have our customers, and we want to make sure we say goodbye,” she said.

Caracol is not looking for a new location.