By Adam Han, Crimson Staff Writer
January 29, 2026
Charlie’s Kitchen — the longtime Harvard Square restaurant and bar — has closed until further notice after a malfunctioning dishwasher flooded the building this week, causing extensive water and electrical damage throughout the space, according to its owner.
The restaurant announced the closure on Wednesday in a video posted to Instagram showing significant interior damage. The post drew an outpouring of sympathy from customers lamenting the sudden shutdown.
The damage, the owner said, was unrelated to the recent snowstorm.
“This was an appliance malfunction that flooded all four floors of Charlie’s Kitchen, and it fried our electrical panels for most of it,” said David T. Oshima, who took over ownership of the restaurant last year. “There’s water damage throughout the restaurant that is still being assessed.”
Oshima said the faulty dishwasher continued pumping out water even after its wash cycle ended, estimating that it released more than a gallon of water per second and quickly overwhelmed the building.
The resulting damage rendered the restaurant completely inoperable, forcing the closure.
“I only want to make it safe for all my employees to be in here,” Oshima said. “It’s not safe to open this.”
Oshima said the full scope of the damage remains unclear and he could not provide a timeline for reopening.
“There’s a lot of moving parts,” Oshima said. “This is going to take an unknown amount of time to fix.”
While the physical damage is extensive, Oshima said his greatest concern is the closure’s impact on his employees and their livelihoods.
“The first thing is my people, my employees that have given me so much out of their lives to make this place keep going,” he said. “Some of my employees have been working here over 10 years, some over 20 years.”
The closure has also saddened patrons of the restaurant, which has been a fixture of Harvard Square since 1951.
“My family and I really like it,” Carter W. Umphress ’28 said. “Charlie’s is a great place, great food. From what I understand, it’s been a staple of the neighborhood for a long time. So really a shame to hear about that, hopefully they can get back on their feet.”
For Oshima, who purchased Charlie Kitchen’s in 2024, the incident is especially devastating as he works to preserve the restaurant’s legacy.
“I’ve been fighting my whole life, and this is my dream to own a restaurant, and I’m so blessed to have a place so iconic and institutional,” Oshima said. “I’ve worked throughout the last year to make sure that people will keep coming back in every way I could. And it’s just devastating that all that progress is going to stand still.”
Despite the uncertainty, Oshima said he remains determined to reopen.
“I’ve had plumbers, electricians in here that would drop everything they were doing just to come in and help us fix this problem,” Oshima said. “This is an institution in Harvard Square, and has been for 75 years, and I plan to have it going for another 75 years and longer.”
—Staff writer Adam Han can be reached at adam.han@thecrimson.com.