The Chuck Lager restaurant on the White Horse Pike in Barrington has closed abruptly. I stopped in this morning to see signage on the front glass doors announcing the permanent closure.
With the doors unlocked I walked in to a darkened restaurant just as a manager walked out from the back kitchen, apparently working on cleaning up the space.
After expressing that I was sorry for the closing of the business, I asked the employee if they knew of future plans for the property, and the response was simply “the owners haven’t said anything”.
There are three Chuck Lager restaurant locations still operating in the country, and on their website the Barrington location page has been completely removed from the site.
It appears that the Barrington location closing happened sometime Monday or close-of-day Sunday… they were definitely open through this past weekend as friends of mine were there this weekend.
Additionally, a fifth Chuck Lager location that was operating in Orlando, closed about 3 weeks ago.
The Barrington building was all new construction when it opened in the summer of 2017 as the Wild Wing Café. Three years later in the Summer of 2020, a new brand “Chuck Lager America’s Tavern” brand took over the space, offering a much broader menu selection.
During the two restaurant evolutions for the Barrington NJ property, the businesses were owned/operated by the Colby Restaurant Group whose principals are brothers Craig and Michael.
The brothers are experienced restaurant operators and after the initial three-year run operating as franchise owners (Wild Wing Cafe) in Barrington, Michael and Craig joined up with celebrity chef Fabio Viviani to create the Chuck Lager restaurant brand (2020).
The Colby’s and chef Fabio also recently opened the 9Prime steakhouse in West Chester PA, but last month Fabio announced that the partnership had ended.
For the Barrington building, during the two different brands the space mostly remained the same.. and honestly, I’ve always been a fan of it’s design.
The mostly square building featured an old-school theatre marquee at the front entrance.
Inside, a large dining room space was on the left.
The right half featured several interesting aspects including a large bar along the furthest right side as well as an adjacent bar-focused dining space.
An integrated raised stage is along the back wall.
A large patio area surrounds the corner of the bar area, and offers large glass garage door walls which could be opened on nice weather.
It’s a great building in a really good location on the White Horse Pike, close to Haddonfield… let’s hope something is in the works for the property. When I hear more, I’ll be sure to share!
Links and Location
Chuck Lager America’s Tavern – CLOSED
270 White Horse Pike
Barrington NJ, 08007