New Owner Hopes to Bring New Life to the Wharf Tavern

If you ever drive down Water Street and wonder what business will fill the void of the old Wharf Tavern, well here is your answer, the Wharf Tavern.

Nearly six months after the previous owners, Nusan Realty, unexpectedly closed the restaurant due to financial instability, it’s new owner, Greg Esmay, hopes to reopen the Wharf under the same name, and he hopes to do it as early as June.

Esmay, who along with his wife, also owns and operates the in Seekonk, Mass., appeared before the Warren Town Council on Tuesday night in an attempt to attain a liquor license. The license has been in limbo for some time over back owed property taxes to the town and state but it is something that Esmay says is a prerequisite to reopening the restaurant.

“If there is not a liquor license there will not be a Wharf Tavern,” he said.

The Council agreed to issue a new liquor license on the condition that Esmay is able to pay back the almost $12,000 in taxes and improve the building to meet fire and safety regulations.

Esmay said that he will run the Wharf similarly to how the Old Grist Mill is run with a menu comprised mostly of traditional American cuisine, however, with a heavier emphasis on seafood. “I really believe in good simple food cooked real well and fresh, and fantastically nice people serving it to you,” he said.

The restaurant hopes to be open for the coming summer months and Council President David Frerichs expressed confidence in Esmay’s ability to return the Wharf to a staple of the Warren waterfront.

“We do want to make this succeed,” Frerichs said. “We have full faith in this gentleman, with the way he runs his other restaurants, to make this one a big success.”