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An iconic Chapel Hill restaurant may be closed for good after its owners were evicted this week following months of unpaid rent.
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The doors of Breadman’s were padlocked Thursday, Aug. 6, by the Orange County Sheriff’s Office after the Elliott Square restaurant’s landlord successfully sued it in small claims court last month. Breadman’s had been open for business only the day before.
According to court documents, Breadman’s owed more than $72,000 in rent to owner South Coast Commerical, an Atlanta real estate firm, which bought the Elliott Square property in November 2025 for nearly $21 million.
Records show the restaurant’s rent was around $8,500 a month, suggesting the restaurant may not have paid any rent to its new landlord over the last eight months.
Breadman’s has been a favorite diner among UNC-Chapel Hill students and locals for generations. Brothers Roy and Bill Piscitello opened the restaurant as “Breadmen’s” in 1974 and sold it to longtime employee Omar Castro and his family in 2020 ahead of a sale of the longtime 324 W. Rosemary St. property.
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Castro relocated the restaurant out of downtown Chapel Hill that same year and changed the name slightly to “Breadman’s.”
The property company managing Elliott Square, SCG-Elliott Square, LLC, sued Castro and Breadman’s in June, seeking to evict the restaurant. In a July 14 order, an Orange County magistrate sided with the landlord and set the eviction in motion.
Efforts to reach the Castro family for comment were unsuccessful. The restaurant hasn’t made any announcements on its website or social media accounts about the closure as of Thursday, Aug. 6 afternoon.
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This story was originally published August 6, 2026 at 4:51 PM.