For most restaurants, surviving the first year in business is an achievement. After more than 53 years in business, co-owners and brothers Louis and Bill Politis are closing Majestic Restaurant and Bar, as first reported by Nancy Stiles of the Riverfront Times.
Co-owner Pete Politis, who is also a partner in the family restaurant with his cousin, Alex Politis, said the restaurant will serve its last meal this weekend, April 5 and 6. Politis said the Central West End establishment restaurant will serve customers Saturday until 5 p.m., and on Sunday if there is still food. The restaurant will shorten its regular hours Tuesday through Friday from 6 a.m. to 3 p.m.
Majestic, located at 4900 Laclede Ave., was a neighborhood institution for Central West End residents, businesses and the St. Louis Greek community. “People in the neighborhood have been great,” Pete Politis said. “Students have been great. Every Sunday for decades our church [St. Nicholas Greek Orthodox Church] would let out, and they would come for coffee and eggs… It’s been like that forever.”
Pete Politis said his father Louis first stepped through the doors of Majestic as a young immigrant in the 1950s. He ultimately purchased the same restaurant where he once waited tables in 1961; his brother Bill joined him shortly thereafter. “[Bill’s son] Alex and I … we grew up in that building,” Pete Politis said. “The tavern and the diner were our family rooms.”
Louis Politis said after more than a half-century in business, he and his brother are looking forward to retirement. “I was 24 years old when I opened it, and now I’m 76,” he said. “I think it’s about time for us to smell the roses.
The Politis family is currently in talks to sell the restaurant; check The Scoop for updates.
This article appears in Guide to Beer 2014.