Mito closes in Babylon

Less than two years after it opened in Babylon, Mito Modern Japanese Cuisine has closed. A sign posted on the restaurant’s front door over the weekend confirmed the closure, thanked customers and urged them to visit Long Island’s other Mito, which opened in Smith Haven Mall six months earlier.

The building, an imposing former Bank of Babylon, is owned by the Bohlen Restaurant Group, which operated Monsoon Asian Kitchen and Lounge there from 2012 until it closed during the pandemic. Partner Kurt Bohlsen said that his tenants, the owners of Mito, had not reached out to him about their decision to shutter the restaurant; he found out about it from the broker who the tenants are using to find another operator to take over the space.

Mito was one of the more upscale of the many Asian fusion concepts that have popped up on Long Island recently. When it opened, Newsday’s Andi Berlin noted that the sushi was "of a higher quality than many that of other fusion restaurants" and that head chef Chul Kee Ko had worked at Buddha Bar and Jean-Georges in New York City. The menu also featured "a whole section of wok dishes (kung pao chicken, General Tso's, etc.) as well as a respectable dumpling program."