Food News
Owner Kerri Lynch-Delaney said the Quincy Center restaurant will close in December.
The margherita pizza at the 16C restaurant in Quincy. Debee Tlumacki for the Boston Globe
16C, a beloved American restaurant in Quincy Center known for its sheet pan pizza and the original ‘Quiet Man’ steak tips, will close at the end of December. The announcement came Nov. 13 in an emotional Facebook post from owner and Quincy native Kerri Lynch-Delaney.
“It feels surreal to even type this, but the time has come to say goodbye to my happy place,” Lynch-Delaney wrote.
Lynch-Delaney is the niece of famed restaurateur Barbara Lynch, who closed all her restaurants last year following financial troubles, unpaid property taxes, and workplace misconduct allegations.
In the Facebook post, she said 16C was built on the legacy of her own father, a restaurant owner whose values she aimed to carry forward when she opened the space in April 2016. “I opened these doors for the first time ready to work hard, foster a community, and carry forward the values my father instilled in me as a restaurant owner himself,” Lynch-Delaney wrote.
After her father died, the restaurant continued to be gathering place for family. “My parents were here nightly for dinner, and after losing my dad to Alzheimer’s, my mom still made it in here almost nightly and found herself connecting and socializing more than she ever had before,” she wrote.
The closing announcement also served as a tribute to 16C’s staff, many of whom have been with the restaurant since its early days. “There really aren’t words to describe how lucky I’ve been with my staff. Some of you started with me back when you still had high school working papers, and you’re still here all these years later.”
Lynch-Delaney also thanked Quincy Mayor Thomas Koch for his ongoing support of small businesses.
Her post quickly drew a wave of community reactions and comments as of Tuesday. “Our Saturday nights will never be the same! Thank you for being our safe haven, our celebration spot and the place where everyone became a friend,” one Facebook user wrote.
Lynch-Delaney encouraged people to continue to visit her other Cottage Avenue spot, Kilroy’s on the Square.
16C will serve its final meals through the end of December. Lynch-Delaney invited customers to stop in “for one last meal, one more laugh, one more broccoli Caesar!”
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