Prospect St. club-café closes amid mismanagement allegations

Barfly/Aroma Cafe co-owners file suit against former business partner

Barfly restaurant and nightclub, and its adjacent Aroma Café, closed abruptly last week in the space at 909 Prospect St. formerly occupied by Hard Rock Café.

A sign on the door thanked patrons, explaining that “due to the downturn in our daily business we find it impossible to continue serving you.”

On Feb. 10 Barfly/Aroma Café’s former co-owners, Didier Pellerud and Ben Tashakorian, filed suit against owner Oved Haskel in San Diego Superior Court for breach of contract.

Reached via e-mail, Tashakorian told La Jolla Light that although he hasn’t been part of the operation since 2013, he and Pellerud are suing Haskel over “reporting, operational management and investor disbursements.”

On Feb. 26, Pellerud posted a photo of the exterior of Barfly and Aroma Café on his Facebook page with the tagline “How embarrassing.”

“The business is closed because there was very bad management,” alleged Pellerud, speaking with La Jolla Light March 2. “I lost $300,000. Ben put a lot of money in, too.”