COVID claims a Lexington pizza restaurant but there is still a UK option
The ongoing coronavirus pandemic has claimed another Lexington favorite. Eiffel Pizza on Buckhorn Drive closed on Saturday after almost six years.
Owner Mohamed Diop said on Thursday that the closure was because of COVID and the economic impact of restrictions on dining, put in place at the behest of health experts to limit community spread of the virus.
“The last few months have been really hard,” Diop said. “More bleeding money than getting money. There’s a time you’ve gotta to make a decision and let it go.”
He notified customers last week that the restaurant would be closing, giving them a chance to get a few last pizzas.
“It has been the joy of our lives to serve you and become a part of this community. We have developed lifetime friendships and relationships. We will continue to cherish that. We hope that our paths will cross sooner than later,” Diop said in his post on the restaurant’s Facebook page.
Eiffel Pizza became known as the only place in Lexington, possibly in Kentucky, to get “halal” pizza that Muslims could eat. All the meats were beef, including the bacon, sausage and pepperoni, with no pork products, he said.
“We used to have people come all the way from Midway once a week to get pizza,” Diop said.
There is still one way to get one of his pizzas: Eiffel Pizza is a vendor in the University of Kentucky Gatton Student Center dining hall, which is open to the public. Anyone can pay and eat his Sicilian-style thin-crust pizza baked in a brick oven, available Monday through Saturday for lunch and dinner.
Diop said that he hopes after the pandemic eases to reopen somehow, either another brick-and-mortar restaurant or as a food truck that he could take to events.
“It was a good six years, I’m not going to complain. It was a dream, something I’m very proud of. At least I can say I did it,” Diop said. “Lexington was very supportive. But COVID hit everybody. We’re not a big corporation or franchise, with money to handle it.”
During the pandemic, Kentucky restaurants and bars have faced periodic closures and capacity restrictions on indoor seating.
