St. Charles restaurant and lounge set to close Friday

PIERRE — A longtime Pierre institution is closing its doors this week.

The St. Charles Restaurant and Caucus lounge has served food and alcohol in walking distance of the Capitol and many state office buildings for decades, but owners Lonnie and Cindy Roth said the poor economy and increased competition leaves them no choice but to close the restaurant Friday.

“Four new restaurants opened up in the last year in town, causing more competition than the population can handle,” Lonnie Roth said.

The closure is permanent, though the Roths said they might eventually open up a new restaurant elsewhere in town.

“We’ve got other options,” Cindy Roth said. “We’re not sure exactly what we’ll do. We just want to get our stuff out of this building, regroup and then decide what we’re going to do.”

The Roths have owned the St. Charles Restaurant for three and a half years. The restaurant serves food ranging from burgers to lamb, seafood and pasta. The St. Charles also included a bar and a to-go pasta shop called the St. Charles Noodle Company.

Representatives of Charisma Property Management Inc., which owns the St. Charles building, did not return calls for comment about the future of the restaurant’s space.

Lonnie Roth said he’s sad he is closing the restaurant but is relieved to no longer have to deal with falling revenues.

“We got to meet a lot of people,” Lonnie Roth said. “We enjoyed that more than anything.”

“That’ll be the hardest part, losing the contact with the people that we’ve met,” Cindy Roth said. “Some of them have been pretty loyal.”

Located just a block from the Capitol, the St. Charles Restaurant was a popular destination for legislators and state workers. Rep. Ryan Olson, R-Onida, said he’ll miss the restaurant.

“It’s a bummer, no doubt,” Olson said. “The food was always great. They had a little different menu, and it’s nice they had a bar where you could go after work. It was all good food and a nice atmosphere.”

The St. Charles Restaurant’s private rooms were frequently used by local groups for meetings. Carla Remmich, treasurer of Oahe Optimists, said her group has met there since it was founded five years ago.

“We’ll be greatly disappointed (with the closing),” Remmich said. “It’s convenient because it’s in the center of town, and they have good food there. Plus they have a room big enough to hold us.”

The closing will also mean the end of the Duos at the St. Charles weekly musical performances. The restaurant’s final event Friday will be a concluding Duos event.

Jodi Owen said she has performed at the St. Charles half a dozen times over the past three years.

“It’s been a great place to perform,” Owen said. “It’s a great smoke-free environment, the acoustics in there are great and the audiences are wonderful. It’s been a great opportunity for people to show their talent, and it’ll be sad to see it go.”