He was in his early 20s and working in construction when his father interrupted whatever life plan Joey Maroon had adopted after college.
Now, 30 years later, Abbey’s Restaurant at 145 Zane St. continues to thrive seven days per week.
“When I got out of college, I decided to work construction for a few years, and that’s when my father came to me and asked me what I wanted to do,” Maroon recalled. “My dad had the Merrymint here on Wheeling Island until it burned down, and the lot had been vacant for about five years. At that time, we had Abbey’s Lounge at the Ohio Valley Mall, but that was only a bar. It was a really fun place to work, but we didn’t have food there.
“But after 10 years at the mall, we made the decision to come here and get into the restaurant business,” he explained. “I always had a dream to open a restaurant, so that’s what we did, and now we do both the food and the bar, and both have worked out very nicely.”
Family Affair
When Abbey and his son Joey were planning to open the eatery, several friends and family members offered their ideas for the appetizers and entrees, but it was the patriarch who mandated the new place to go “light and airy.”
“Anyone who ever came to the lounge knows that we brought a lot of the same ideas to here,” Maroon explained. “My dad never liked having a dark bar because he always said they were depressing. So, our interior is decorated to be a fun place, and it works very well.
“When it came to the menu, I’ve always loved to cook, but I had a lot of help when coming up with the appetizers and the dinners,” he recalled. “A lot of people jumped on, and I had a ton of family who wanted to be involved, too. Our family is the only reason why Abbey’s has been here for the past 30 years.”
These days, not only have his parents and siblings been involved in the business from the beginning, but now Maroon’s nieces and nephews are employed as servers and cooks. His father, though, remains the backbone of the business.
“My father has been dealing with a couple of knee replacements lately, but he is still here every morning seven days a week, and he still does all of the banking and the business things,” he said. “The man is 82 years old, and he hasn’t slowed down at all. My mom is very involved, too, my son Abbey and my son Joey when he is in town and my sister Angie all are a huge part of it. Plus, her daughter Lauren has gotten much more involved, too.”
30 More Years?
Joey Maroon is now 53 years old, but his goal is to literally follow his father’s footsteps while continuing a seven-day-per-week work regimen.
“I can say that now,” Maroon said with a smile, “but we’ll see. Maybe six days.”
While his son, 22-year-old Joey, moved to Arizona for employment, 25-year-old Abbey works full-time at the restaurant and has become much more involved with all aspects of the business.
“I’ve never told my kids that they had to be involved with the restaurant. That’s always been their decision,” Maroon explained. “But Abbey has really grown into it, and he works very hard. I really enjoy working the bar with him during the evenings. We have a lot of fun.
“I do put a lot of hours in, but I don’t work harder than anyone else here. I work differently than most of our people,” Maroon said. “I work the evenings, and I am away from home a lot, but I’ve not missed any of those special events for my kids or my wife, and that’s because I’ve had family to fall back on. That’s the key in the restaurant business because there are a lot of hours involved each and every day.”
Whether it’s the rosemary ribs, one of the cheeseburgers, or a broiled lobster tail and sirloin steak, one thing is for certain: Abbey’s Restaurant on Wheeling Island welcomes a plethora of repeat customers every day.
“We have been very blessed with a lot of regulars,” Maroon said. “My father got into the bar business at an early age, and every time he would sell one and open another, his loyal customers would follow him to the new one.
“The same happened with the lounge at the mall and here at the restaurant, too, and I take that as a supreme compliment,” he added. “And it is fun for me knowing most of the people at the bar. On any given evening, I could be involved with 10 conversations at the same time, and I wouldn’t want it any other way.”
