Zolo Grill to close after quarter-century in Boulder

BOULDER — Zolo Grill, a Southwestern-style restaurant in the Village Shopping Center, will serve its last margarita this month.

Open for 26 years, Zolo was the first restaurant opened by Big Red F Restaurant Group, the outfit behind local concepts such as The Post Brewing Co., Jax Fish House, The West End Tavern and Lola Coastal Mexican.

In a statement provided to BizWest, Big Red F founder Dave Query called the upcoming closure, scheduled for Nov. 25, “an unavoidable decision” that was a result of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Query credited landlord Tom Gart with attempting to work with the restaurant, but the headwinds were too strong. 

“As the eldest of the group, Zolo was a place where we had so many firsts,” he said. “The culture of hospitality that is deeply rooted in all of our restaurants now, was, in many ways, born at Zolo. Many of our core employees who worked with us for 10, 15, and 20-plus years started at Zolo.”

Unfortunately, Query said, the virus will prohibit hosting “the sort of burn-down-the-house tequila dance party that we’d like to,” but he thanked “all of our guests for your incredible and passionate support of Zolo over these last three decades.”

Query added: “And the deepest and most sincere thank you to the many, many, many righteously incredible folks who worked a shift or 5,000 at Zolo. You have become such good friends and are such amazing alumni. Every single one of you gave us so much credibility, every single day that you decided to show up to work. I stand in gratitude with a deep curtsy to you all.”

© 2020 BizWest Media LLC

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