LAFAYETTE, La. — The Original Patti has closed for good at 505 W. Pont des Mouton Road, the restaurant told customers in a Facebook post Sunday, a day after saying a broken hood vent system had forced it to shut down temporarily.
“Unfortunately, we will be shutting our doors effective immediately,” the restaurant wrote. “To all our customers who have become family and supported our business, thank you, we appreciate you!”
Download the KPEL-FM Mobile App Now
A Vent Problem Became a Permanent Closure
The Sunday statement followed a Saturday post in which the restaurant said its hood vent system had stopped working and it could no longer prepare food, telling customers it would be “closed until further notice” and apologizing for the inconvenience. Less than 24 hours later, the closure became permanent, with no reopening planned.
The Pont des Mouton location sat inside the Couret Farms development in a building that previously housed Romacelli.
A Johnston Street Original Dating to 1971
The Original Patti name traces back to a single Johnston Street restaurant. Ground Pat’i opened there near the University of Louisiana at Lafayette in 1971 and grew into a pregame and postgame stop for Cajun Field crowds over the following decades. A second Ground Pat’i location opened on Kaliste Saloom Road in 2003.
In 2021, Pizzaville USA owners John Mouisset and Kim Broussard bought the Johnston Street restaurant, renamed it The Original Patti and kept the same menu. The purchase came with a second location under the new name in the former Romacelli space at Pont des Mouton Road, the same building that closed this weekend. The Kaliste Saloom restaurant stayed under separate ownership and kept the Ground Pat’i name.
Two Names, Two Different Paths
The two brands have followed different tracks since the 2021 split. Ground Pat’i’s lease on Kaliste Saloom Road expired at the end of 2023, and the restaurant closed. Owner Rick Cambre told the Acadiana Advocate at the time that he planned to reopen at a new site. The Toasted Yolk Café eventually moved into that building. Old Tyme Grocery owners Glenn and Cheri Murphree then bought the original Johnston Street property, and Ground Pat’i returned there in 2025, putting the Ground Pat’i name back in its original 1971 building under new ownership…