Lamb’s Grill is one of Utah’s oldest restaurants, but it has been struggling financially for years, and on Wednesday the restaurant closed its doors indefinitely. On Friday afternoon, the restaurant is dark and someone has come to collect the famous white napkins and tablecloths.
“We’ve been making about two-thirds what we need to make,” says General Manager Todd Gibson, “for a while. It’s just gotten to the point where it’s not sustainable anymore.”
Lamb’s Grill opened in Logan in 1919. It moved to its current address on Main Street in downtown Salt Lake City 20 years later.
Late last year after an ownership change, the Department of Alcoholic Beverage Control revoked Lamb’s liquor license and fined the restaurant $2,500. The restaurant was barred from serving alcohol for three months, which Gibson says put a big dent in their revenue.
“So many people would walk through the door, and they’d go, ‘Oh, no alcohol?’ And they’d turn around and leave,” he says.
Meanwhile, new restaurants popped up around town, creating more options for diners and competition between restaurants.
Gibson says they’re working to reopen Lamb’s Grill. The owners, Wayne and Joan Barlow, are looking for investors to help the restaurant open its doors again. Gibson calls this closure something like a “break” or a “layover.” He estimates that the restaurant could open its doors again in as soon as two weeks if Lamb’s owners can find an investor.
“Lamb’s is going to survive,” Gibson says. “It’s been here. I don’t think that in the long run, Lamb’s is going to be gone.”
