‘Tears, shock, disbelief’: Iconic York County restaurant could change hands this month

One of York County’s most iconic restaurants may soon change hands.

Owners of T-Bones on the Lake now have a purchase agreement with Bottle Cap Group. The Lake Wylie eatery could change hands by the end of the month.

T-Bones confirmed the news Monday on the restaurant’s Facebook page. Staff was informed, according to the post, and there were “tears, shock, disbelief and some anger...but mostly, there was love.”

Haven Presley, whose family has run T-Bones since it took over for The Hungry Fisherman, said the announcement was bittersweet, but due.

“It’s time for someone else to do it,” she said. “I’m excited to see what they do with it. All things that I’d like to do, but that’s a young person’s game.”

The Hungry Fisherman opened in 1969. It lasted 24 years, until T-Bones opened in 1993.

Presley sees some meaning in having run the restaurant for as long as the original owners did.

Presley was 30 when her family started T-Bones. Her father had been bringing her to The Hungry Fisherman since she was about 10 years old. It had been closed for more than a year.

“The building was literally falling into the water,” Presley said.

The new ownership then worked from October to April, readying T-Bones for its debut. What they built was a gathering place that will live on in the hearts and minds of many.

“It was really a shock,” said long-time Steele Creek resident Lynn Smith, who heard about the coming change on Monday. “We’ve been here since the day it opened, and they’ve developed into a family. The friendships that you make with Haven and all of them, it develops into a family.”

That word comes up often among locals.

“When you think of Lake Wylie, you think of T-Bones,” said long-time lake enforcement officer Terry Everhart. “And you think of Haven, and they become family.”

The lakefront restaurant has been a staple for locals and visitors to the lake for two dozen years. It’s situated beside and shares parking with Buster Boyd Access Area, one of the busier boat launches on the Catawba River chain of lakes. T-Bones has its own docks and brings in regular traffic by boat, as well as cars off Charlotte Highway near the North and South Carolina state line..

T-Bones also has become a focal point for the community. It hosts annual gatherings from July 4 fireworks to Christmas boat parades, Riversweep festivities and the Lake Wylie Children’s Charity fall concert.

Online reaction was swift to the announcement Monday.

Facebook user Sheryl Love posted that she met a fiance there, while Heather and Ryan Phillips recalled their first date there.

Katie DeMarais posted that she and her husband got engaged on the back deck, 13 years ago on July 4.

Lauren Embry posted about choosing T-Bones for “every single birthday growing up.”

Smith said her family has held “every conceivable celebration and milestone there” through the years.

“We’ve had kids birthdays there, adult kids,” she said. “We had my 60th birthday party there. Family wedding things. Reunions. We celebrated every life experience you could have. That’s just where you go.”

Smith said she is “heartbroken” by the news, another sentiment she shares with others.

“It was a local meeting place,” Everhart said Tuesday morning, after hearing of the change. “To meet friends, a gathering place on the water, for years. Any kind of event. Man, I don’t know. That’s heartbreaking.”

For someone who spent a career on the water and plenty of after-hours at T-Bones, Everhart recalls annual events to the retirement party T-Bones threw for him with about 125 people.

“They’ve basic been an anchor, a foundation,” Everhart said.

Details about the new restaurant are still to be determined. Presley said others have been trying to buy the site for years, and she is glad to see someone who can revamp it.

According to its website, Bottle Cap Group is a restaurant group with several Charlotte-area eateries including Ink N Ivy, All American Pub, Slate Charlotte, Whiskey Warehouse, Jacks Corner Tap, Brazwells Premium Pub, Hot Taco, Rosemont and Oak Room. The group also has locations in Greenville and Charleston.

This story was originally published November 13, 2018 at 9:55 AM with the headline "‘Tears, shock, disbelief’: Iconic York County restaurant could change hands this month."