This popular restaurant won’t reopen on Tacoma’s Ruston Way
Reporter’s Note, May 2022: The Puyallup Tribe of Indians purchased this property on Ruston Way in October 2021. In May, the Tribe announced it would open a restaurant here in partnership with celebrity chef Roy Yamaguchi.
C.I. Shenanigans, owned by RAM Restaurant Group, has closed permanently at 3017 Ruston Way.
Marty Hillis, vice president of operations for the Lakewood-based company, confirmed the shutter Tuesday morning. They decided not to renew the lease, he said, and will focus on the Ram brewpubs. He did not address whether the halt of in-house dining due to COVID-19 affected the decision.
“We sincerely thank our team members and our guests for letting us serve them for the past 37 years,” he told The News Tribune in an email. “It is unfortunate that the pandemic precluded us from a proper goodbye; however, we look forward to serving you again at one of our Ram Restaurant and Breweries.”
A leasing banner from First Western Properties appeared on the building last week. The paperwork was signed June 16, according to the property management company.
Reached by phone Monday, the listing agent, Ray Velkers, said that he could not speak for the owners.
The waterfront destination has been closed since March, when restaurants were shut down due to the coronavirus pandemic. Though many bars and restaurants have reopened their dining rooms since Pierce County entered Phase 2 of the state’s recovery program in early June, others remain closed temporarily or have only recently resumed takeout operations.
Sister restaurant The Ram, located at 3007 Ruston Way, reopened for takeout May 29 and for in-house dining June 9.
In late March, both businesses were issued liens for temperature control work performed inside both buildings, according to Northwest Lien Services. Both payments to Seatemp Refrigeration, a general contractor, were resolved as of June 9 and June 10.
The property could not have been listed for sale or lease without this resolution, the lien company said. These issues did not affect the decision to close C.I. Shenanigans, according to Hillis.
In Facebook posts sharing a photo of the for-lease sign hanging below the gold-lettered sign, former employees and customers shared memories of the restaurant.
With views of Commencement Bay and the Olympic Mountains, it was also known as a choice for banquets, weddings and other private events.
Its menu featured old-school seafood favorites like Crab Louie, oysters Rockefeller and lump crab cakes, as well as steaks and classic salads. In recent years, new-school options ranged from lobster mac and cheese to blackened fish tacos.
The RAM’s founder Jeff Iverson opened his first pub in Lakewood in 1971. In 2014, his sons Jeff Iverson Jr. and Dave Iverson transitioned The RAM into an employee-owned company, giving workers 30 percent stock in the company.
At that point, the group posted revenues upwards of $100 million through 30 restaurants in six states, the Seattle Times reported, including 11 locations of the RAM brewery concept, several C.B. & Potts in Colorado and C.I. Shenanigans in Tacoma. They have brewed their own beer since 1995, earning accolades from the Great American Beer Festival and the North American Brewers Association along the way.
The Spokane location of C.I. Shenanigans abruptly closed in 2012, the Spokesman Review reported, after the city vowed two years previously to raze the building that housed the restaurant to make room for an expansion of the convention center.
*Editor’s Note: This story has been updated as of June 30 with comment from the restaurant’s ownership group.
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This story was originally published June 29, 2020 at 2:06 PM.