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Eddie Nickell, owner of Funky Monkey (Website), announced early Tuesday that he would be closing his Mills 50 restaurant this summer.
The closure of the award-winning restaurant follows closely on the heels of their neighbor King Cajun Crawfish moving into their former Bananas space, just next door.

There will be a farewell party with wine, food by Chef Ashley and more with proceeds from the $25 admission ticket going towards the Mills 50 Main Street program. The party runs form 6-10 p.m. Sunday, June 28 at Funky Monkey.

They are currently looking for a new tenant for the 912 N. Mills location [Gmap].

See Nickell’s statement below:

A Message from Eddie: After eight amazing years and over a hundred thousand friends served; we are saying goodbye to our Mills Avenue Location. Nick and I own the building at 912 N Mills Avenue and we are turning it over to new tenants in the near future. Being a landlord will be new venture for us [smile emoticon].

Funky Monkey Mills has been a pioneer in the Mills-50 District. We opened this location against all odds eight years ago and many people thought we were absolutely insane! We took a chance and opened to immediate success and accolades. Funky Monkey has won many awards over the years, and has donated to many amazing charities and benefits.

Please join us for one final night to say goodbye to our original location. Enjoy amazing wines and tasty bites by Chef Ashley, Nick and me and share memories with us. Nick, Chef Ashley and I will be here to bid a fond farewell to our original location on Mills Avenue and to thank you for eight amazing years.

Please RSVP to me for this exclusive event here on Facebook or via email at [email protected]. $25 per person to cover the cost of food and wine and we will donate a portion of the proceeds to the fabulous Mills-50 organization which is something Nick and I helped create. As Nick, Ashley and I focus our attention to our highly successful Pointe Orlando location we want you to enjoy our original Location and say goodbye with us.

Please join us from 6pm until 10pm Sunday June 28th and enjoy the many memories of this fabulous restaurant with us. Cheers Eddie Nickell

Brendan O'Connor

Editor in Chief of Bungalower.com

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33 Comments

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  1. Yeah, all of these deserve to go out of business. In no way adding to what’s good about Orlando.

  2. Two sides to every story- but I’d hire someone to do your PR dude. You aren’t doing a great job.

  3. I don’t know- the server looked pretty mad when I politely asked for the beer menu for the 3rd time. I’m a pretty horrible guest. 😛 Maybe that’s why no one ordered a drink… Also, “this restaurant is not for everyone” means locals. Anyone who’s been there once has no need to ever come back. Keep preying on the tourists.

  4. Some people have nothing better to do than complain after the fact about something, and blowing things out of proportion because they are hiding behind the safety of their computer; or just make nasty comments in general online. I’d like to see them take the huge risk of opening a business, and realize that the best criticism is to the owner directly, at the time of their dissatisfaction. Not months later in the comments of an online article.

  5. Your server didn’t say a damn thing to any of us. It was the MANAGER. I think the BBB would love to see this entire thread… I run a business myself and I assure you all of this is ridiculous. Saying you aren’t for everyone is just a total cop out. You aren’t for anyone other than yourself is what it is. I’m not going to waste any more of my time on this. Bottom line – your establishment is awful and deserves to be shut down just like your track record would suggest it will.

  6. Lol yeah it’s our fault! What kind of restaurant says you understand that you aren’t for everyone? It’s a restaurant not a sorority. Again, your track record speaks volumes. 5 closed restaurants in 5 years? Yep it’s definitely our fault.

  7. All i know is the server refused to wait on you because of how horrible you treated her. Maybe you should learn how to treat your servers… We again understand we are not for everyone.

  8. Ladies listen, clearly we have offended Mr Nickell by not paying his “cover” aka the minimum, kinda like – ahem, apparently a ton of other people who didn’t want too hence their place closing. You continue to bring up waving some $25 minimum as though you had done us some favor. If I’m paying $12 for a cranberry juice with a splash of probably the cheapest vodka out there then sir, you’ve done no such favor and are instead price gouging. But I get it – you need to keep that place afloat amidst your 10 customers each night. The fact that you continue to insult and argue with people that could have been patrons of your restaurant and defend the absolutely inappropriate behavior of your staff speaks volumes about you and your “business”. Good luck keeping this one open any longer than the rest of the ghost town at Pointe Orlando. Ps) your completely offensive manager actually did apologize to me later that night when I had to go back to retrieve a bag left by one of the girls. Perhaps you should take a clue from your staff and learn some business ethics.

  9. Well there’s a reason there were all of 10 people in your restaurant that night. With service like that who wouldn’t want to be there?! Never in my life have I experienced such poor customer service. So many excuses and no apologies. Calling your customers names?? You really think that’s ok?

  10. oh it was you? yea its 7 per person and your group of 8 complained about the prices and left.. and we are restaurantuers who buy and sell restaurants all the time. Your group refused to pay a 7 fee for a show and left. Sorry you feel the need to bash us becuase we waved the 25 min.. and you left anyway. its pointe orlando every one charges a cover.. and my understanding is your group ordered 2 drinks and a split red bull and complained to the server about the cost of drinks.. again we understand we are not for everyone.. it is expensive at Pointe the server told the manager how horrible this group was and refused to even wait on the table.. I am sorry but Funky Monkey did nothing wrong in this case.

  11. The $7 sign was on the table when we sat down so please don’t act like they were doing us a favor by “waiving” the $25. We were all ordering drinks and no one explained that it was $7 just to sit in the restaurant and have some drinks until after we sat down. Secondly, your staff, NOT the drag queens proceeded to follow us out of the restaurant yelling things such as “fat bitches” to us. My friend asked them to stop following us and to stop being rude and your staff said that they were going to call the police and have her arrested. Is this the standard you want your restaurant run? It’s not surprising that all your other restaurants in the area (Bananas, Nicks, Prickly, and now Funky on Mills) haven’t lasted if you are okay with type of behavior towards your customers.

  12. Some people have an issue with our over the top DRAG QUEENS we understand we are not for everyone

  13. The only issue i heard about was 8 ladies refused to pay the 25 minimum so we waived that then they refused to pay the 7 show fee and they left.

  14. I had a very bad experience at that location last weekend. A lot of unnecessary and unprofessional behavior from your staff. I’d be very concerned if I were you.

  15. wow David.. we sold it.. we are restaurantuers we buy and sell restaurants all the time

  16. Man, I wish Facebook had a way of just disabling comments altogether to your articles. Bungalower does an excellent job covering things, and all people do is talk negatively here.

  17. Your Pointe Orlando location needs to close too. I’ve never been treated so badly and been spoken too so rudely at a restaurant before. Serves you right!

  18. Bahahaha Krissy Hedger Kristin Mentzer Carla Biermann Jess BucciCandace PurdomStephanie Nanfeldt that’s what they get for being jerks

  19. We will miss Eddie and Nick and what they created here! Wishing them well and excited for new businesses investing in this block.