Another COVID casualty: The last location of this Lexington restaurant has closed
The coronavirus carnage continues, claiming another restaurant, this time in downtown Lexington.
Shakespeare and Co. at 367 West Short St., is closed. Furniture was seen being taken out on Monday.
Operating manager Tony Pridemore said that is to make space for a new bar, The Queue, which he hopes to open next week along with existing bars XOXO, a dance club upstairs, and Script, the cocktail bar next door.
Pridemore said the closure was “definitely COVID. It was just very unfortunate timing, coming into busy season for restaurants. And it was a big hit for Script as well.”
Shakespeare and Co. was an anchor to what had been, before the COVID pandemic, Lexington’s hot restaurant row, with dining spots and bars lining both sides. It’s the latest Lexington restaurant added to the list of coronavirus casualties in the hospitality industry, joining Locals’, Nick Ryan’s, TGI Friday’s, Bar Louie, Edley’s Bar-B-Que, both Denny’s locations, The Barn at The Summit food hall, Gather on Main, Josie’s in Georgetown and Spotz Gelato downtown, with more still in limbo.
Edward Saad opened the restaurant, which featured an expansive menu, in May 2012. It was the first U.S. location of Saad’s chain of restaurants, which stretches across the Middle East. Eventually there were three in Lexington, but the one in the Chinoe shopping center closed several years ago.
Last fall, the Hamburg location closed and the downtown Shakespeare and Co. was renovated to add two new bars.
At the time Saad said he wanted to consolidate his Lexington business downtown.
“Lexington has too many restaurants,” he said. So he revamped the main Shakespeare & Co. with updated decor and revamped and streamlined menu featuring lots of vegan options.
The restaurant announced on March 16, as the coronavirus pandemic closures began, on its Facebook page that it would be closing until further notice.
“It is with a heavy heart we inform the public that Shakespeare & Co, 367 W Short St., is now closed until further notice. The owners, employees, and associates would like to thank the public for the opportunity to serve you all these years. Hopefully, we will meet again as we never know what the future holds but until then, Lexington, it has been our pleasure!”
Pridemore said they will keep the kitchens to allow food trucks and other pop-up vendors to use them to serve customers but they don’t plan on having regular restaurant service.
“Once this COVID stuff is over with, I’d like to have a voting system for customers to vote their favorite food truck in for a week,” he said.
The Queue, which Pridemore said will be a “classy, dive-esque arcade bar,” will feature classic games such as foosball, darts, arcade games, pool and more, Pridemore said.
“We named it that because the line for XOXO is always so long it wraps around the building,” Pridemore said.
Kentucky will allow bars to reopen on June 29, and restaurants will be allowed to increase to 50 percent of capacity, while maintaining social distancing.
