It looks like you’ll have to find another stop on your St. Patrick’s Day parade route. Flynn’s Irish Pub & Steakhouse closed this past weekend after almost 15 years at its Main Street location.
Matt Dobrowloski of ERA Village Green Realtors said the restaurant has been for sale for some time, with two near closings in the last 18 months. “The personal issues became too difficult and after the two failed closings by buyers, they [the owners] decided to take the hit and close,” he said via email.
The restaurant a
nd its contents are for sale along with the liquor license. The property is still owned by an LLC headed by Maurice Flynn, who originally owned the restaurant until selling it years ago.
Dobrowloski said offers are being entertained but there are discussions with a group considering opening an “Asian fusion, Mediterranean restaurant/jazz club, tapas-style facility.”
“We are all devastated and sad at the loss of a friendly welcoming place like Flynn’s. They will be so missed and all wish them well,” said Dobrowloski, a former commissioner on the Parking Authority and Redevelopment Agency who last month was appointed to the Alcohol Beverage Control Board.
The downtown pub won a “Favorite Burger” readers’ poll in the early days of Rahway Rising in 2009 and fared well in our occasional “Favorite restaurant” reader polls, most recently in November.
It’s posts like these that make me think the blog needs to be renamed!
I am sorry to hear this, and do wish the owners well. I hope that someone picks up the pieces and is able to make a go of it.
Ugh. I am sad forever. Loved that place, worked there in 2006 or thereabouts.
so sad to hear this news..so many fun times at Flynns…. we miss you very very much….much luck to you all!!!
That’s a shame. I know we’re gonna miss Flynn’s.
I really hope an Asian fusion tapas place does not go in. We need a simple pub like Flynns. Nothing more.
Colin, we can rename it Wrong way not Rahway rising.
Now now, remember the ‘double meaning’ of Rahway Rising. if you’re unfamiliar, check out the About link at the top of the page.
Will surely miss Flynn’s, and I too am hoping for a rather simple pub, Irish-themed or otherwise.
I’ve been going to Flynns for over ten years so I will definitely miss it, however I am disappointed that they didn’t at least put a note on the door and let customers know that they were going to close, nor did they really give the employees much notice. As we know by seeing the familiar faces in Flynn’s that the employees have been faithful to the establishment, even when they did know there was a possibility of it closing down. If it’s right for workers to give employers two weeks notice, it should be right the other way around. Even one week notice would have been considerate. After all, they did know the business was in trouble…….
Flynn’s may have been the one bar I always felt comfortable in. They staff really did a great job of making everyone feel like a regular. Seeing the notice didn’t shock me however (I was on their email list). I think they tried to to revamp themselves with a new menu – which wasn’t particularly successful. They didn’t have a proper kitchen, and the food had become lackluster and poorly cooked this past year; plus it was frequently near empty each time I stopped in.
I wish them all the best of luck. I also wish they had given more notice as I would have liked to say goodbye personally to Maria and Nancy.
Here’s hoping a similar type of establishment takes over the space. We could use new and different food in our town but an Asian/Tapas Fusion joint sounds like a terrible idea, no matter where it is.