After 40 years in Squirrel Hill, the Murray Avenue Grill is turning off the lights and serving its final meals.
The restaurant announced the closure in a social media post on Friday that said “it has been our privilege to serve this community and to build lasting relationships with our customers, employees and neighbors.”
Murray Avenue Grill’s last day of service will be Dec. 28, said Brian Allenbaugh, the restaurant’s owner on Thursday.
Allenbaugh opened the Murray Avenue Grill in 1986 when he was 20 years old. He purchased the space through a friend that knew the previous owner and operated it as a bar until the early 1990s when he decided to renovate it into a restaurant.
“I thought I knew everything,” said Allenbaugh on reflecting on the restaurant’s early years.
Throughout the years, the Murray Avenue Grill has served as a staple in Squirrel Hill, Allenbaugh said.
The restaurant would have been open for 40 years on July 1.
Cindie Heckathorne Grammatico, 66, who lived in Squirrel Hill and worked as a bartender for two years when Murray Avenue Grill first opened, found out Allenbaugh was closing the restaurant on social media.
She thanked the restaurant for wonderful memories in the comment section of Murray Avenue Grill’s post.
“I’ve been really impressed with the outpouring from former employees,” Allenbaugh said.
On Thursday, Grammatico told a reporter she remembered the restaurant serving as a gathering place for the community, attracting consistent crowds that became like family to the bar staff.
“We had such a great group of regulars,” Grammatico said. “I’m so glad it was there for the community.”
The Murray Avenue Grill building is over 100 years old and has served as the home to several restaurants prior to Allenbaugh purchasing it, he said.
Allenbaugh said that business was “very good for a long time,” but after he moved to Florida 15 years ago, the staff began losing key employees over the years.
Allenbaugh said he continued to travel back and forth from Pittsburgh, visiting the restaurant at least once a month but the restaurant began to have issues stemming from covid.
Then in May, Murray Avenue Grill received a poor health inspection, which detailed issues with pest control and issues with temperature control, according to Allegheny County Health Department records.
“Obviously the health department issue was hard to deal with,” Allenbaugh said. “I was embarrassed by it.”
Despite the poor inspection, Ellen Toker, 75, of Squirrel Hill, has been going to Murray Avenue Grill since it opened.
Some of Toker’s favorite things on the menu included sweet potato fries and salmon patties.
A new restaurant will be filling the Murray Avenue Grill space, Allenbaugh said. He did not elaborate.
“It’s sad… I feel like it was a neighborhood restaurant,” Toker said.