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The Crystal Grill, the 88-year-old Greenwood restaurant, has closed its doors.
After hours of reports circulating on social media and around town, its owner, Johnny Ballas, confirmed the news that has left generations of diners in Greenwood and beyond saddened.
“With careful thought and a heavy heart, we are announcing that our family restaurant, The Crystal Grill, is closing,” Ballas and his wife, Beverly, posted to the restaurant’s Facebook page late Tuesday afternoon.
“After many years, we have made this hard decision to close our doors effective immediately.
“We are very grateful to our loyal employees throughout the years. Our success couldn’t have happened without your hard work.
“Most of all, we are thankful to our customers in Greenwood and beyond. We enjoyed being a part of your lives as you gathered and celebrated throughout the years. Your belief in us has played a huge part in the success of the restaurant.”
Ballas did not provide reasons for the closure, although he had shared in recent months with some patrons his frustrations with the local labor market and rising food costs.
For years, Ballas had shut down the restaurant around the Fourth of July holiday so that he and his employees could take a break. A sign at the entrance to The Crystal Grill and on its Facebook page had said it would be closed from July 1 until Wednesday but would reopen Thursday. In the interim, Ballas apparently changed his mind, and employees began to learn of the decision Tuesday morning.
Krista Whitfield, a waitress at the restaurant, posed on Facebook that Ballas, who is in his 70s, “has given his life to that place” and “deserves retirement.”
Greenwood Mayor Carolyn McAdams echoed the widespread sentiment in town as word of the closure spread.
“I was devastated when I heard that news this morning, and I am so sad because it is such a huge part of our history,” she said Tuesday.
The building where the restaurant is located — on the corner of Lamar Street and Carrollton Avenue — was built in 1914 and once housed both the Lamar Hotel and the Elite Cafe, according to the Mississippi Encyclopedia.
In 1936, under the ownership of Jim Liollio, the Elite became The Crystal Grill. Liollio’s brother-in-law, Mike Ballas, who was raised in Greece and came to Mississippi in the 1940s, soon became a partner and eventually took over and shaped the restaurant into the regional dining destination it became.
Called simply “The Crystal” by many, it operated at one point during the civil rights era as a private club for white patrons only, reflecting the city’s resistance to desegregation. Decades ago, though, it abandoned that practice and welcomed patrons of all races.
Mike Ballas and his wife, Deomi, who were Johnny Ballas’ parents, were credited for creating a hospitable atmosphere paired with a huge menu of well-prepared and -presented food.
“They appreciated the people who came,” McAdams said, noting that the Ballases would leave the kitchen and come out from the back of a counter to say “hello.”
“The Crystal Grill is a huge part of our history that is going to go away,” she said. “I keep hoping somebody will take it over.”
She also said, “Every time I go somewhere, everybody talks about The Crystal. They ask, ‘Is The Crystal still in Greenwood?’”
Johnny Ballas began working at his family’s restaurant as a child, then became a full-time employee in the mid-1970s after graduating from Mississippi State University. He and his father began running The Crystal Grill together in 1986, and Johnny Ballas took over the responsibility fully after his father retired in 2012. Mike Ballas died in 2015 at the age of 97.
For a 2008 article in Leflore Illustrated, Johnny Ballas said, “You know so many of the patrons firsthand. … Families from grandfathers to sons to kids to grandkids — have been here as long as I have. You build up relationships with a lot of these people.
“You know their families and their history and where they’ve come from.”
The Crystal Grill becomes the second landmark restaurant in Greenwood to close recently, joining Lusco’s, located just a few blocks away.
– Contact Susan Montgomery at 662-581-7241 or smontgomery@gwcommonwealth.com. Contact Tim Kalich at 662-581-7243 or tkalich@gwcommonwealth.com.