‘Just a memory’: Lakewood-based restaurant group closing flagship after 54 years

More than half a century after it landed in Lakewood, The Ram Restaurant will close its flagship location permanently after service this Friday, Sept. 26.

The restaurant announced the sudden shutter on Facebook on Saturday. Its parent company, whose headquarters are also in Lakewood, is “endeavoring” to transfer interested staff to sister restaurants, marketing director Austin Iverson confirmed. Ram currently operates seven restaurants in Western Washington, including on Tacoma’s Ruston Way and in Puyallup, as well as two locations each in Idaho and Oregon.

“Our restaurants do well elsewhere, unfortunately we just do not seem to be right for Lakewood any longer,” Iverson wrote in an email Wednesday morning. “Over the past few years, we have made countless attempts to adapt to the Lakewood market and move the needle that have not, unfortunately, proven fruitful.”

The lease has ended, he added, and they “chose not to renew.”

The property at 10019 59th Ave. SW is owned by Ram International Land Co. LLC, an entity connected to the Ram restaurant group. Ray Velkers of First Western Properties will manage the lease of the building, said Iverson.

Asked for clarity on the lease situation and property ownership, as well as the number of employees impacted by the closure, the company declined to comment further.

Ram Restaurant has long history in Lakewood

The Sept. 21 Facebook post has been shared 150 times as of Wednesday afternoon.

“We are forever grateful to our team members, guests, Mug Clubbers, and the community for creating so many wonderful memories with us,” the post read. “Though our doors are closing for now, we’ll always cherish our time in Lakewood and look forward to what the future may bring.”

Nearly 170 comments flowed in: praising the Reuben, the mac and cheese and the bloody mary. Many noted the long history of The RAM, which dates to 1971.

Then known as the Ram Pub, it first opened in Villa Plaza, a midcentury shopping destination located on part of what is now Lakewood Towne Center. Friends at the University of Washington and colleagues at Shakey’s Pizza Parlor, Cal Chandler and Jeff Iverson — barely 30 years old at the time — billed the original as a “deluxe tavern.” Beer nuts were 15 cents, Olympia beer just 35 cents (or $1.75 for a pitcher!) and a cheese pizza went for a cool $1.60, according to a blog post honoring the 50th anniversary in 2021.

Villa Plaza transitioned to Lakewood Mall in 1989 and then Lakewood Towne Center in 2002, according to the Lakewood Historical Society. The restaurant group built a new Lakewood Ram — and its soon-to-be-released home — in 1988 for $1.7 million, The News Tribune reported a few years later. Pizzas ran around $9 and burgers $5, but the real draw was a “comfortable” bar and dining room, lots of screens and 15 draft beers.

In 1991, the company had restaurants in Seattle and Bellevue; Salem, Oregon; as well as Colorado, Texas and Idaho, per News Tribune reports. In Tacoma and Spokane, it also ran C.I. Shenanigans — the Eastern Washington outpost closed in 2012 and the Ruston Way outpost closed amid the COVID-19 pandemic. While The Ram continues to operate next door, the waterfront property was sold in 2022 to The Puyallup Tribe, which, following extensive renovations, opened Woven Seafood and Chophouse with chef Roy Yamaguchi.

The Ram expanded into the brewing business in 1995, in Salem, Oregon. Per its telling, it took inspiration from Alaskan Amber and Widmer Hefeweizen, then among a limited number of “craft” brews on the market. The Ram won big for a porter at the Great American Beer Festival, which buoyed the growth of its brewpub concept throughout the region.

Chandler left the company in 2006, and a few years later formed his own restaurant group called Classic Concepts, according to reports in Puget Sound Business Journal and The Seattle Times. The founding Iverson’s sons took over, and the family still owns and operates The Ram Restaurant and Brewery today.

Several commenters on Facebook recalled fond memories as employees and customers at The Ram in Lakewood. One said she “went from a teenager, to married, and a mother of three” while working there.

Another remembered opening days as a bartender, which were mostly fun but he “HATED the pull tabs and margarita machine,” which was “long before the microbrewery was put in,” he wrote. “Time marches on, and the Ram too will just be a memory.”

Others felt the food and service had diminished in quality in the past decade. Still, several said they were sorry to see a local business close.

Ram Restaurant & Brewery

• Lakewood: 10019 59th Ave. SW — closing Sept. 26 at 8 p.m.
• Puyallup at 103 35th Ave. SE and Tacoma at 3001 Ruston Way remain open daily at 11 a.m.
• Other locations in WA, ID and OR continue, too

The News Tribune archives contributed to this report.

This story was originally published September 24, 2025 at 1:51 PM.