Popular Greek Restaurant In Old Town Changing Hands And Name

The owner of the popular Greek restaurant, Kostas, which has locations both in Brewer and Old Town, let folks know via a social media post on Facebook at the beginning of the week, that one of those locations has been sold.

Local restauranteur Jeff Solari took over ownership of Kostas in Brewer at the beginning of 2020.

He went on to open Smoke & Steel BBQ on Stillwater Avenue in Bangor and another Kostas location in Old Town that next year, in 2021.

"Opening two restaurants on the heels of Covid was something...Those first few months I started blood pressure meds, " jokes Solari.

Solari and his wife have been running the 3 restaurants for the last couple of years and decided it was time to downsize what was on their plate.

"The summary of this whole things is that we had 3 restaurants and 2 Freshman girls in High School and it was just too much. We hadn't listed it or anything, but the opportunity came with Jennie, who has done this her whole life and has been with Kostas for a decade...so the rest is history."

Solari says the new owner is someone he's known for a long time, and who folks who frequent Kostas will be familiar with.

Jennie Goddard, current General Manager at Kostas in Brewer, and who started in the industry working at Barnaby's when she was a teenager, made Solari and offer and he accepted.

"I'm doing it anyway, so I might as well do it for myself."

Goddard says Kostas will stay open through the rest of the week. Then the restaurant will close for a couple of days, and reopen as something new: Main Street Grill.

She says while opening with the new name will be immediate, it will take some time to implement some of the other changes.

"The changes will happen gradually. We want to keep as many employees as we can...The menu will change a little bit, adding more sandwiches."

Goddard says once they get the new rhythm going and they build up their staff, the menu will expand.

Have a gift card to Kostas? No need to worry about that. They addressed what to do right online.

"We’ll still be here all this week to serve up some of your favorite food and drinks. Kosta's Restaurant & Bar in Brewer remains OPEN and will honor your gift cards for the Old Town location. All of the parties and weekly events planned at Kosta’s Old Town remain, too!"

Solari says the City of Old Town has been great to work with and thinks Goddard will do a great job with the new place.

We wish everyone involved the best of luck in the future.