Moon Rabbit, the critically acclaimed modern Vietnamese restaurant from Chef Kevin Tien, will close its doors for good Tuesday. This comes in the midst of a unionization effort by the restaurant’s servers, bartenders, and other workers.

Staff learned the news after showing up for work Monday afternoon, according to Benjy Cannon, spokesperson for UNITE HERE Local 25, which has been attempting to unionize employees at Moon Rabbit and The Wharf InterContinental Hotel, where the restaurant is located. Cannon spoke with two workers present at the announcement; one said the restaurant would be shutting down as of Tuesday. The other said the restaurant would continue to serve breakfast only, but not under the Moon Rabbit name — there will be a new chef and new uniforms.

It wasn’t immediately clear whether any employees would be laid off or furloughed, according to Cannon, though he noted that a large portion of the restaurant’s staff work the afternoon and evening shifts. A statement put out jointly by Tien and the hotel noted simply that the chef and the hotel “will part ways.”

Karen Cole, a hotel spokesperson, confirmed the closure in an email but said “the hotel’s approach to the parting of ways was in no way impacted by the union’s ongoing efforts to unionize the hotel.”

In the statement, Tien said he was grateful for the two and a half years at the InterContinental, and hinted that he might take Moon Rabbit elsewhere.

“I ultimately wanted to offer Moon Rabbit as a standalone concept and look forward to continuing to share Moon Rabbit with diners,” Tien said.

Moon Rabbit was just named one of Food & Wine’s 10 best restaurants in the U.S. it was also was anointed one of the best new restaurants in the country by Esquire in 2021 Earlier this year, Tien was on the shortlist for a James Beard outstanding chef award. Previously, Tien created acclaimed eateries Himitsu, in Petworth, and Emilie’s, on Capitol Hill. In 2018, he was named one of Food & Wine’s Best New Chefs.

Wharf InterContinental Hotel employees — who also staff Moon Rabbit — launched a unionization effort in April, citing concerns about wages, tips, and working conditions. The restaurant industry has one of the lowest rates union membership in the country, and there are only a handful of unionized dining establishments in the District.

Michael Cruz, who has been a server at the restaurant for two years, says he sees this as the hotel’s “attempt to stop the unionization.”

Paul Schwalb, executive secretary-treasurer at UNITE HERE Local 25, says that more than 80% of eligible staff at the hotel signed union cards, indicating they wanted to join. Schwalb says hotel management started an “anti-union campaign” after the union filed for an election on May 1.

“They’re willing to destroy a top 10 restaurant in order to keep the union from from coming into the hotel,” Schwalb said of the hotel’s management.

On Tuesday, UNITE HERE Local 25 filed an unfair labor practice charge against IHG with the National Labor Relations Board. The charge, which was shared with DCist/WAMU, alleges that hotel management began “pressuring” Tien to leave the restaurant once workers filed their election petition. Ousting Tien and closing Moon Rabbit was “designed to intimidate employees” and interfere with their federal right to form a union, according to the charge.

Local 25 has also encouraged the public to boycott non-unionized IHG hotels in the area, which include Willard InterContinental and Hotel Indigo Old Town Alexandria, beginning their picket outside the Wharf property on Wednesday.

According to Cole, the hotel spokesperson, the company is exploring options for “a new concept” in the former Moon Rabbit restaurant space.

Moon Rabbit is the second buzzy restaurant to close after just a short stint in the InterContinental — previously the space was occupied by Kwame Onwuachi’s Afro-Carribbean restaurant Kith/Kin. Onwuachi won the James Beard award for Rising Star Chef in 2019, and the restaurant closed the following year — though he recently announced he’d return to D.C. with a forthcoming restaurant in the Salamander hotel, just a few blocks away from The Wharf.

This post has been updated to include information on the Local 25’s unfair labor practice charge and their boycott against IHG. Amanda Michelle Gomez contributed reporting.