PHOENIX — After 18 years, Half Moon Windy City Sports Grill will close its doors in Phoenix.
Don Talbot and Clay Moizo, co-owners, told ABC15 that the decision to close was out of their hands.
“They informed us middle to the end of last year that as our lease was coming up and expiring that they would not be renewing it and that we would be able to operate up until roughly this time Super Bowl or possibly a little bit later,” said Moizo to ABC15.
According to Moizo, the landlord will be “building high-rise apartments.”
“We've enjoyed the 18 years there. It's been incredible and so many memories. But we're going to have to unfortunately, wish that community goodbye for a while until we possibly find a new spot over there,” said Moizo.
THE COMMUNITY
To keep the business running for almost 20 years has meant a lot to the owners.
“It's been great. The Chicago community that we also tie into being a big Chicago sports bar, there's so many fans and followers that shared the great 2016 Cubs’ championship run where we roasted a goat in front of the bar before game one to exercise the curse to the Blackhawks championship runs. And then also some of our great college alumni groups like Alabama and Florida state that have been with us pretty much the entire time every Saturday afternoon cheering on their college teams and watching them win championships as well. And it's a lot of the staff and the guests and the regulars that have become family working for us are visiting once a week or even more over the years,”
“And we love that Chicago group, win or lose, they show up religiously, which is awesome,” added Talbot.
WHAT’S NEXT?
Talbot and Moizo is the team behind Foley Ranch, Halfmoon Sports Grill, Stir Crazy Comedy Club, and several Scramble restaurants in the Valley.
According to the entrepreneurs, their employees at the restaurant that’s closing have been given the opportunity to relocate at one of their other businesses.
ABC15 asked the duo if there’s going to be another Half Moon Windy City Sports Grill down the road, here’s what Moizo responded:
“We just need to find the right location and the right area to have it make sense. We take a lot of time and detail and finding the right locations and not just popping restaurants up all over the city hoping that they'll work knowing that the location is great, and it's [going to] last hopefully another 18 years. If we find another one like that, then I could see us doing another one.”
IF YOU GO
- Last day is February 11; Super Bowl Sunday.
- Deals until Sunday: “We drastically reduced the prices on our menu, kind of rolled them back to the good old days to help us go through everything that we've got and give our guests another great reason to stop back one or two more times before we close on Sunday,” said Moizo.
- Address: 2121 E Highland Ave in Phoenix
The video in the player above showcases the best things to do in the Valley this February. Read more about it right here.
