(WWJ) A popular and well-loved Wayne County restaurant, known for its yellow perch and alleged ghosts, is closing its doors for good after nearly four decades in business.
In an emotional post on Facebook, the owners of the Waltz Inn in the village of Waltz (within Huron Charter Township) said they would not be reopening after “much thought and consideration.”
“Throughout the years many of you have become like family,” the Facebook post read. “We have made lifelong friends and cherished memories along the way. It is YOU that has kept our independent, small-town restaurant going these past 37 years.”
They had been closed since mid-March of 2020.
The post garnered more than 800 reactions and counting, and hundreds of comments.
“I’m so sad to hear you’re closing,” Stephanie Gates commented. “Waltz Inn was my favorite place to eat lunch with my Mom and Dad when I visited them…Be sure to keep my Dad’s oil paintings that hung on the walls.”
Gina Kanack shared a similar sentiment in the comments: “We have enjoyed many meals there and have some wonderful memories.”
In addition to its lauded yellow perch and walleye basket, legend says the Waltz Inn has a ghost or two in its halls.
Radio station 99.1 WFMK shared the legend of the “Prankster Poltergeist of the Waltz Inn” in 2019. They said the ghost of the original owner “Tom” still lives in his upstairs bedroom where he died two weeks after his wife.
Tom apparently pranks employees of the restaurant by moving objects around, switching the lights on and off, and even playing hosts to other “ghostly” guests upstairs, 99.1 wrote.
Spooked guests reported multiple alleged ghost sightings at the Waltz Inn on GhostsofAmerica.com.
The Waltz Inn, located at the corner of Mineral Springs Road and Waltz, was built in 1900.
It is one of thousands of restaurants to close in the past 14 months as the pandemic has hit the restaurant industry hard. The National Restaurant Association told WWJ as of September last year that 1 in 6 restaurants closed across the United States since COVID-19 hit with at least half of them expected to never come back. The Detroit Free Press reported in March that about 3,000 of Michigan's about 17,000 restaurants have shuttered permanently.
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The owners of the Waltz Inn did not say why they decided to permanently close, or if the pandemic played a major factor.