The 42-year-old Harry's Hofbrau restaurant in San Jose closed for good at the end of service on Tuesday night after losing its lease, the restaurant announced this week.
Known for its turkey, beer and generous portions, the German cafeteria-style restaurant at 390 Saratoga Ave. was once part of a larger chain but only two other locations remain in Redwood City and San Leandro.
Huge crowds showed up Tuesday to eat at the establishment one last time and longtime customers say the long wait was worth it to get a chance to say goodbye.
“Very sad, sad to lose the institution,” said Barbara Lawrence from San Jose. “So much of my family‘s things happened at Harry’s.”
"Thank you for your patronage and loyalty throughout the years," the restaurant wrote in a statement on its website. "Our success is only because of you and our hard-working staff."
The restaurant said years of service had taken a toll on the facility and the city of San Jose and investors have plans to redevelop the site.
According to city documents from 2016, the site is called the Garden City Mixed-Use Project and will include a 1.5-acre public park, 400,000 square feet of office space, almost 900 housing units and 15,000 square feet of retail.
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Social media users on Tuesday shared photos of longtime patrons in lines wrapped around the restaurant as they prepared to visit the San Jose location one last time.
"With no current lease in place, it is time to say "Goodbye" to all our wonderful customers," the restaurant's statement said. "We will miss you ALL."
The restaruant owner, Larry Kramer, said he'll do whatever he can to help employees find jobs at the two other stores located in Redwood City and San Leandro.
"It’s tough, we’ll try to relocate them but there’s a lot of people who work here. We’re trying our best to try and make it right," Kramer said.
The San Jose location will stay open until 11 p.m. before it closes its doors for the last time.
