WORCESTER—Restaurant-goers hoping to enjoy a meal at Lock 50 are out of luck for the next few months.
A sign posted inside the restaurant window on Jan. 10 says that Lock 50 is temporarily closed for renovations.
“We look forward to seeing you when we reopen this spring!” the sign reads.
The temporary closure comes after former owner Ed Russo announced in a Jan. 3 Facebook post on Russo Italian Restaurant’s page that he sold the popular Canal District restaurant in October.
The restauranteur’s post did not name the new owners and none of the city’s license commission meeting agendas since the October sale include a request to transfer the common victualer license from Russo to the new owners. A common victualer license is required to operate as a restaurant in the city.
The restaurant’s website still lists Russo as the owner and nothing on the website indicates the sale or the temporary closure, nor does Lock 50’s Facebook page.
The restaurant’s page on Open Table has reviews posted as recently as Dec. 31 and the restaurant was open after the October sale, but the next available reservation times on the website start on March 1.
In the Jan. 3 Facebook post, Russo said he’s proud of the firsts Lock 50 brought to Worcester, including outdoor igloo dining during the winter and a Chef’s Tasting Menu, and winning the Worcester Chamber of Commerce Silver Hammer Award, which honors businesses that have brought new life to historic buildings in the city.
“We were also honored to have hosted dozens of weddings, hundreds of anniversaries, and many, many, many first dates,” Russo wrote. “We’ve celebrated Christmas and New Years, and our ‘award-winning’ patio was home to wine tastings and dinners, music and other great public and private events, and we were always proud to be part of the revitalization of the Worcester Canal District.”
Neither Ed Russo nor the new owners have responded to requests for comment.
Kiernan Dunlop is an award-winning journalist who has spent the past five years reporting in Worcester, New Bedford, and Antigua and Barbuda. Her work has been published in Bloomberg, USA Today, Canary Media, MassLive, and the New Bedford Standard Times, among other outlets. She can be contacted at kdunlop@theworcesterguardian.org
