MILL CREEK — A local favorite, Lombardi’s Italian Restaurant in Mill Creek, will close Aug. 24.
Lombardi’s founder Diane Symms and CEO Kerri Lonergan Dreke said Friday they’ve sold the property at 19409 Bothell Everett Highway on which the restaurant stands.
“Continuing to operate the restaurant as a tenant under new property owners would not be sustainable due to market lease rates in the Mill Creek area, along with spiraling restaurant operating costs,” the mother and daughter team said in a statement.
“We have loved serving the Mill Creek and North Bothell community over the last 12 years,” Symms said in the statement.
“Many guests have become long-time regulars and friends,” Symms continued. “Come and dine with us for more of your favorite Lombardi’s dishes and to say your goodbyes to our amazing team members who have helped to make this restaurant a vibrant place to dine and share with family and friends.”
Lombardi’s restaurants at the Everett waterfront and in Bellingham will remain open.
The Lombardi’s Restaurant Group also operates Hook & Cleaver, a new seafood restaurant and steakhouse that occupies the former Arnie’s space in Mukilteo. Arnie’s closed last year after 44 years. In October, it reopened under the Hook & Cleaver banner.
Hook & Cleaver was the ninth restaurant Symms opened since launching a sandwich shop in Seattle’s Georgetown neighborhood in the 1970s.
Symms opened the first Lombardi’s in Seattle’s Ballard neighborhood in 1987. The Ballard eatery closed in 2010. The Everett location opened in 1998; Bellingham, in 2019.
In 2021, she semi-retired and sold her interest in the regional chain to her daughter Lonergan Dreke and two longtime Lombardi’s employees, Andy Hilliard and Kristofer Korshaven.
The group also operates Concept Catering by Lombardi’s and Nature’s Connection in Arlington.
Janice Podsada: 425-339-3097; jpodsada@heraldnet.com;
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