Well known restaurant closes

LYNNWOOD — Jimbo’s Family Restaurant, a Lynnwood icon for five decades, closed its doors for good March 19.

George Ageladaris, who’s owned the restaurant at 19626 Highway 99 for seven years, said he hasn’t had a lease agreement with the property owner for nearly a year and couldn’t afford to make needed repairs in the dining room without one.

“I have tried for the last 18 months to negotiate a lease and they have refused to give me an answer yes or no,” he said.

Sunday, March 18, employees served up the last orders of fish and chips, burgers, hot dogs and steaks at the restaurant.

Some of Ageladaris’ last customers were former owners — James Anderson, who started Jimbo’s in 1963 and his daughter Cindi Benoit, who ran the restaurant with her husband Ken from 1983 to 1999, when Ageladaris purchased it. In 1983, Anderson became part-owner of Wight’s Home &Garden in Lynnwood.

“After church Sunday we were there,” said Anderson, who also answers to “Jimbo.” “It’s kind of sad to see it go, but the world goes on.”

Anderson said he bought the former Bings Burgers in 1963, then changed the name to Jimbo’s.

Jimbo’s was best known for its fish and chips but in the early days, the focus was burgers.

“When we first got going there, we were struggling,” Anderson recalled. “So we introduced four deluxe burgers for 99 cents and we just went nuts selling them. We just sold them by the hundreds. It got so busy we had people getting angry with us and we had to change it to three for 99 cents.”

Later, the restaurant expanded its menu to include breakfast, lunch and dinner.

Ageladaris said he “feels really bad for the customers,” and it hurts to walk away from the business he’s invested so much time in over the last seven years.

A few weeks ago, he said, a customer complained to the health department about a leak. But Snohomish County Health District Spokeswoman Suzanne Pate said there’s no record on file of any customer complaints against Jimbo’s.

“It wasn’t anything to do with food safety or food handling,” she said.

Ageladaris, who also owns Lake City Bar and Grill, said he’s looking for another Jimbo’s location nearby.

“I want to duplicate Jimbo’s again, if possible,” he said. “It’s a very good concept.”

He said he’s spent so much time at the restaurant he hasn’t seen as much of his two daughters as he’d like to, but he has a warm spot in his heart for Jimbo’s.

“I want to say thanks to the customers and thanks to the community,” he said. “It was a pleasure to serve them and I feel really bad leaving but I can’t stay in this situation.”