Joe's Boathouse in South Portland is Boarded Up After 23 Years

Bad news for gift card holders: a tipster alerted Eater to the fact that South Portland fixture Joe's Boathouse closed early this week. There's no evidence on the website or Facebook page, and owners Joe Loring and Nathan Chalaby, who have run the restaurant since 1992, did not respond to repeated requests for comment; their landlord, Rob Soucy, confirmed the news.

Soucy, who with his brothers Mark and Mike owns Port Harbor Marine near Southern Maine Community College and leased the space to Joe's, revealed, "It's been a successful restaurant with the format it has, it's just that it was time to do something different for Joe." He called the spot "wonderful" and said, "There's tons of potential beyond what was being done." He's open to restaurateurs "with a vision and the means to reach that vision," whether or not it resembles the previous format. He's already received inquiries from industry members, and said interested parties should reach out to him at (207) 767-3254 or talk to his brothers.

The waterfront establishment was a perpetual source of mixed reviews but had a decent 3-and-a-half stars on Yelp, with a string of four- and five-star reviews since August 2015 suggesting things were running smoothly. Anyone with more information about the closure is encouraged to reach out via the tipline.