SARATOGA SPRINGS >> A downtown restaurant has closed its doors, but it could be open again soon, the owner said.

Javier’s, the fine dining “nuevo latino” restaurant at 17 Maple Ave. in Saratoga Springs, closed over the weekend.

But that may not be the end of the Javier’s story. “We’re still in negotiations to see if we’ll make a bistro in the first floor, or if we’ll relocate to another location,” owner Javier Rodriguez said Monday.

The possible bistro, which would still be called Javier’s, would serve “new American cuisine,” Rodriguez said. New American cuisine is a term referring to the wave of modernized cooking predominantly served at upscale fine dining restaurants.

If that happens, the second floor would still be used on Fridays and Saturdays for live entertainment, or as a more formal dining room for private parties. “But the bistro will be open everyday downstairs,” Rodriguez said.

But Javiers may not stay in Saratoga Springs. Rodriguez and his team are looking at other locations in Glens Falls, Latham and Albany. If he chose to do that, he would fully shut down the Saratoga Springs location.

As it was, the restaurant was on the building’s second floor, and the first level was a bar and lounge area.

Rodriguez said he made the decision to close the restaurant because Javier’s was not generating enough food traffic, because it was on the second floor. “We realized that the restaurant should be on the first floor.” He believes that if passersby could better see what the restaurant was, it would have done better business.

“People like it. People like the second floor, but we didn’t have enough walk-in business,” Rodriguez said. Most of the second floor guests heard about it through word of mouth, he added, but “It was not doing the business that we needed to do.”

Javier’s opened in April 2013, when the Costa Rican native moved upstate from New York City. “We’d like to thank the town of Saratoga for all the support they gave us,” noting that the building has had many turnovers in recent years. “We tried to revive the building, and we will do everything we can to make it work.”

The bar and lounge area of Javier’s will still be open this week only on Wednesday night and Thursday, Thanksgiving, during and after the Turkey Trot race. It will also be open Friday and Saturday. Live entertainment from The ideal Situation will be offered Wednesday and Saturday nights beginning at 8 p.m.

For updates, log on to www.javiersny.com.

Lauren Halligan may be reached at 290-1443.