For four decades, The Grill at Harryman House in Reisterstown has been a place Baltimore-area families gathered to celebrate, connect or unwind. But, after dinner service on Sunday, the large family-owned restaurant will close for the last time.

Longtime proprietor John Worthington made the announcement Friday on social media, inviting the establishment’s many loyal customers to stop by this weekend, reminisce and say goodbye.

Reached by phone at the restaurant on Main Street, Worthington choked back tears as he spoke about his business.

“It tears me to shreds that I can’t keep it going, that I haven’t found the secret,” he said. “Telling my staff yesterday was the hardest thing I’ve ever had to do.”

Harryman House was a place where people would grab a drink after work or meet to commemorate a special occasion. The teriyaki salmon, the salmon BLT and the burgers were among the most popular items on the menu.

“I sold more salmon than you could shake a stick at,” Worthington joked.

Patrons and former employees flooded the casual neighborhood restaurant’s social media page with remembrances.

“Literally in tears … my husband and I have shared many precious memories there … falling in love … our first kiss … his mother’s 70th. Lots of celebrating, grieving, and enjoying watching games … you will truly be missed,” one person wrote.

Worthington said he’d implemented many strategies over the years to boost sales, from carryout wine and prepared foods to shifting the atmosphere from more formal to more casual. The pandemic, he said, changed customers’ habits and “finished us off.”

Harryman House’s once busy bar scene evaporated, and labor costs soared.

“It’s not that people don’t deserve what they’re paid; they do,” Worthington said. “But it has been hard to take the menu prices up enough to cover those wages.”

In 2023, a federal judge ordered Worthington to serve three years of probation and pay restitution for being what prosecutors called a “serial tax cheat.”

However, his defense attorney successfully argued he wasn’t motivated by greed; rather, he had failed to pay taxes for many years because he was trying to keep the business open.

Worthington said two of his employees have been working for Harryman House nearly as long as he’s been running the place. Vickie Leake, 68, is one of them. She joined the staff in 1999 and never left.

Leake praised her boss’ leadership of the restaurant through the pandemic, noting that he avoided layoffs. In recent weeks, she could tell something was wrong but she wasn’t certain what.

“John Worthington was an amazing man to work for,” she said. “Was he perfect? Hell no. But, when my back was up against the wall, he helped me quite a few times.”

Leake said she was floored when her longtime boss told her Friday the restaurant was set to close. She received some job offers after word of its fate spread. For now, she’s planning to retire.

“I don’t think I can do it all over again,” Leake said. “It wasn’t like a job; it was like family.”