Last Call For O'Reilly's In Maplewood

MAPLEWOOD, NJ - After years of football games, bachelor and bachelorette parties and innumerable servings of wings and beer O’Reilly’s Bar and Grill will be closing its doors permanently this coming Tuesday.

O'Reilly's manager Angelia O'Keefe said that the place that she has come to call home are closing so that new owners can renovate and re-open the place "in the near future."

O’Reilly’s used to be located on the corner of Millburn Avenue and Valley Street where Carolina Drugs is currently located. Current owners Mike "Woody" Jeffrey and Walter Lee both worked as bartenders since 1988 at the original O’Reilly’s. They purchased the business in 1991, when both were locals from the neighborhood in their mid-twenties. Over the 27 years Jeffrey and Lee saw the move to the current location on Millburn Avenue.

O'Keefe came into the picture much later.

"I started working as a waitress at O’s in 2010 and after two years I took the daytime bar tending position and eventually became manager," she said.

O'Keefe said O'Reilly's is closing because Jeffrey and Lee decided to retire and O'Keefe said the has nothing but fond feelings of their time together.

"My bosses have been amazing to me over all these years. I have learned so much fro, them and look up to them. I know after everything is said and done they’ll still only be a phone call away for the rest of my life," O'Keefe said. "I had a baby last December and when they found out I was pregnant they went above and beyond to make sure I was taken care of and comfortable. They’re a part of my son’s future no matter what."

With her bosses retiring, O'Keefe is moving on to a position outside of the restaurant business, but right across the street to the Audi Dealership.

"I’m excited to watch everything progress with the new owners," O'Keefe said. "I don’t know much about the plans. I do know that they plan on rehiring some of the staff."

According to O'Keefe, the reaction from the community has been overwhelming.

"People are sad. They say, 'where are we supposed to drink now?' Or 'I hope they don’t change the wing recipe,'" O'Keefe said. "I hope the community will give the new restaurant owners some love when they open because they’re really nice guys with a vision and passion."

O'Keefe said she will miss her customers when the place closes.

"O’s is more than just a restaurant we are a family. It’s going to be weird not getting filled in about people's day to day activities and getting advice as a new mother," O'Keefe said. "I have worked with some of the same staff for nine years. My co-workers have had birthdays in the restaurant, baptism parties, farewell parties. I had my baby shower at O’s last year."

But despite that sadness, O'Keefe said she is leaving O'Reilly's with memories she will keep forever, and she hopes patrons feel the same.

"Our O’Reilly’s family would like to thank you all for being part of our story and making great memories with us," she said.

(Exterior photo courtesy of Google Earth, interior photos courtesy of Angelia O'Keefe)

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