Another Fayette Mall staple is gone; fifth restaurant to close in a year

Another decade-old Fayette Mall restaurant is gone: TGI Fridays at Fayette Plaza has closed.

Sarah Enlow, spokeswoman for Fayette Mall, confirmed that TGI Fridays closed last weekend. The restaurant opened in Fayette Plaza on Feb. 15, 2007.

The restaurant’s Facebook page says it’s permanently closed. The Tgifridays.com website also lists the site as closed. The home page lists the Hamburg location at 1916 Pavilion Way as still open. However, when a call was placed to the restaurant, a recording said the phone was disconnected.

Other TGI Fridays have been closing: One in Paducah closed Jan. 29. The chain, along with other traditional casual restaurants such as Applebee’s and Chili’s, have struggled to maintain sales.

There was no immediate response to an inquiry to TGI Fridays corporate office about the closure.

This is at least the fifth restaurant at Fayette Mall to close in a year. The Pub, a British pub-style restaurant, closed abruptly in December after a 10-year lease ended. The Pub owner, Nick Sanders, blamed “the current restaurant and sales environment in the Lexington market” for the closure.

Johnny Carino’s on Rojay Drive closed in July, and Newk’s Eatery on Nicholasville closed in October. Oak Springs Grill and Bourbon Bar, which opened in May 2016, closed last spring.

The Hamburg shopping center also has been hit with closures: In January, the Applebee’s at 1856 Alysheba Way closed.

The restaurant closings come as dozens of new restaurants opened last spring at The Summit at Fritz Farm, in the Hamburg shopping area, in the Distillery District on Manchester Street and in downtown Lexington.

This story was originally published February 19, 2018 at 3:41 PM with the headline "Another Fayette Mall staple is gone; fifth restaurant to close in a year."