Hyattsville’s Marco & Polo restaurant will close Monday, but the owner hopes to reopen soon in a smaller space in College Park.

The restaurant, which has served Uyghur and Uzbek cuisine at 6504 American Boulevard in University Town Center since 2018, has been hit hard by the coronavirus pandemic, owner Gairatjan Rozi told the Hyattsville Wire.

“During this Covid 19 time, all restaurants lost business,” he told the Hyattsville Wire.

Rozi is nothing if not persistent, however. His outspokenness on Chinese communism forced him to leave behind a mid-sized clothing factory he ran in Turkestan in the 1990s to seek asylum in the Netherlands before he moved to the Washington area.

Despite the setback, Rozi said he has his eyes on a smaller space in College Park that would seat about 40 people where he would focus more on to-go orders and delivery. He may begin taking online orders soon, however.