Lombardi’s Italian Restaurant & Wine Bar to Close By End of Summer

Lombardi’s Italian Restaurant & Wine Bar in Issaquah announced the restaurant will be closing its doors on July 28th after 22 years of business, according to a press release.

Lombardi's owner Diane Symms says business has been good, but an eventual teardown of their current building and subsequent loss of lease are prompting the closure. The long-standing institution of Italian cuisine in Issaquah will close on July 28, 2013

“The redevelopment has been a few years coming, which is why we’ve been proactive and opened a new restaurant in Mill Creek in preparation for the eventual closure of the Issaquah location," she said. "We are sad to leave this wonderful community, but we are looking forward to one last summer of al fresco dining on our garden patio, graduation celebrations, Father’s Day dinners and sharing memories with customers who have been coming for years. We’ve got lots of fun things planned for the summer.”   

As one of the longest-running restaurants in Issaquah, Symms said the business had developed a following for the Tortellini Gorgonzola, Saltimboca and Chicken Marsala, huge wine list and a reportedly popular happy hour.

One group of locals has been meeting up for what they coined as “Martini Tuesday” for the past 22 years. Symms says they have a standing reservation, and that a group of five to fifteen men, all high school friends who are now businessmen in the community, have martinis, tell stories, and laugh loud--like they’ve not seen each other in years.  

Symms said she looks back at the years since the 1990 opening and remembers Lombardi’s great celebrations, triumphs and joys.

Lombardi’s was voted “Best Italian in Issaquah” for 12 consecutive years. She says the restaurant has had its share of Mother Nature’s wrath too.

“I always planned to have a Northern Italian restaurant, but our Issaquah location survived three major floods, so maybe I should have gone with a Venetian theme all along!” said Symms. “Five days before opening in 1990, I left home for my commute to Lombardi’s to find that the I-90 Bridge had sunk overnight.”  

Symms and her business partner, and daughter, Kerri Lonergan-Dreke researched many possible locations for a new restaurant on the eastside, but never found a great fit. The opportunity for a restaurant in Mill Creek presented itself and they decided to expand into that market, opening last September. 

Lombardi’s also has a popular waterfront restaurant in the marina in Everett. The Ballard location, well-known to Seattle-ites at its prominent location on Market Street, closed in the fall of 2010.  

“As a locally-owned business for more than 25 years, we are proud of our commitment to delicious food, great wine and exceptional service, and we’re looking forward to one last great summer and to hopefully see some familiar Issaquah faces at our other locations in the future,” says Symms.