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Frank Peterpaul, who's been running the Scotch Plains restaurant, says it has been sold as his family embarks on a new chapter.
Peterpaul went on to thank the customers who became friends, who became family, the valued staff, and noted the sense of belonging and joy that came from being part of the community.
And toward the bottom of Peterpaul's goodbye tribute, he left a special message for the critics:
"For the detractors, yelpers and self-proclaimed restaurant critics, I would relish the opportunity to review you at your job, every minute of every day, without interruption, and at your moment of error, give you a 1 star for all the world to see.
"For every person who tried Grillestone once and said they would never come back, there were ten other customers who enjoyed their Grillestone experiences and would return again and again. For the customers that said that the quality of the food isn’t the same, when faced with the choice of profits over product, we always chose to source superior product. Too often we dwelled on the nasty and offensive comments, so consumed with the one percent who didn’t enjoy Grillestone, however it never deterred us from our mission of providing the best food and service for the best value possible.
"I would invite anyone who has a negative perception of Grillestone or any other restaurant for that matter, to operate a restaurant for a day, a week, a month. I would suspect most would tap out rather quickly."
I often say that a restaurant is a microcosm of society, a cross section of humanity that shows the best and worst of people. Who in life doesn’t experience ups and downs? We never took the good times for granted and we used mistakes to learn and grow as a business and as human beings.
"Grillestone was a triumph. Grillestone was a success," he concludes. "Grillestone defied the odds. Grillestone will be missed."
NJ Advance Media reports Char Steakhouse, with locations in Raritan and Red Bank, plans on taking over the space with an opening set for later this year.
Daily Voice has reached out to Grillestone for comment.
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