Business & Tech
Lizarran Restaurant Will Close at Year's End
'At some point,' owner says, 'you have to ask, should you keep putting money into something that's losing so much?'
Gilroy’s Lizarran Tapas Restaurant will serve its last tapas on New Year’s Eve, and then the downtown establishment will close for good.
It’s been a struggle ever since November 2009, when brothers Gary and Joe Walton opened the Spanish restaurant in the Old City Hall downtown.
“We put a lot of money and time in this,” Joe Walton said this week. “But at some point, you have to ask, should you keep putting money into something that’s losing so much?”
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A couple who dines at the restaurant twice a week were especially sad to hear the news, Walton said. But they weren’t surprised. Many evenings they were the only customers in the place.
“They’re sad to see us go—everyone is,” Walton said. “We opened a nice restaurant, put the bar up high and held to that standard.”
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Walton, who was raised in Sacramento and has lived in Gilroy since 2007, said there were several issues that doomed the restaurant. Most obvious is the state of the economy. No restaurant is doing as well as it was a few years ago, he said.
Another is location. Walton said there’s a perception that the downtown isn’t safe, so diners don’t want to go downtown in the evenings.
Finally, Walton said, he hesitates to say it, but tapas, or tapeo—a Spanish meal made up of many hors d’oeuvres-style dishes—was likely the wrong concept for Gilroy.
Tapas is supposed to be the next sushi, in term of food trends, and Walton said he and his brother were just trying to get ahead of the curve in Gilroy. But even with the draw of the landmark building that houses the restaurant—leased from the city—it just didn’t work.
“The simple stuff does well here,” Walton said. “The population is just not familiar with tapas, and not that many are willing to venture out and try it. We thought we could make it work, but they want their comfort food.”
For New Year’s Eve, Lizarran will have live music and $25 all-you-can-eat tapas and a champagne toast at midnight.
Then Joe says he will go back to his bookkeeping business, and his brother will manage properties. But first, he says, they’ll take a much-needed vacation.
