Claim Jumper in the Willows shopping center on Diamond Blvd. in Concord has closed.
The signs were removed from the business this morning, and Regency Centers, the company who manages the Willows, shows the 11,400-square-foot building as vacant and available for lease on their website.
The business phone has also been disconnected.
Thanks to Phillip for the photo and newstip!
Stopped eating there after cockroach report(s). Their dessert was so good, though.
That’s to bad it used to be a great place
That’s the key word, it USED to be a great place. I haven’t eaten there in years and the last time I did the food was not good. Hopefully a good restaurant can move in. Sadly, it’ll most likely be some mediocre chain restaurant.
I used to love the claim jumper when it was under the original ownership. once that Texas company bought them they went downhill in a big way.
I agree! The previous owners provided a option to order a bread pudding dessert! My wife and I ate at the Jumper for that alone. Otherwise, the other menu items were decent.
Yep. Quality and quantity took a nose dive, but the prices remained the same. The place was always empty. Not sure why it took so long. Service was also terrible. Good riddence. This would be a great place for a Texas Roadhouse. or………OLIVE GARDEN!!
Surprised it took this long The last time we were there the service was so bad we swore we’d never go back there and that was like 10 years ago. Remember when it opened and was soooo good and great service and always packed Such a shame really
I never cared for this restaurant. Adios. Sad for all of you liked this place.
When that place opened it was under huge fanfare. And the bar was poppin after work. Sad… yardhouse and Lazy Dog were the nails in the coffin
No surprise
became a mere shadow of what it once was
a faded shadow at that
This use to be Concord Joe’s, Basta Pasta and Hungry Tiger….any others?
Hi Rocco! used to work with you at the punchline! Back then it was also Charlie Brown’s
was this the same site of the old Charley Brown’s too?
Charlie Browns
Please make it another Rocco’s Pizza! Rocco’s is the best and it would be closer to my home 🍕🍕.
It is sad when a company that people really like are bought and the newer owners are consumed with maximizing profit that they kill the business on their way to greater rewards.
But as long as the Execs get their bonuses – they often don’t care about what happens to the company years later.
Number one priority in all Restaurants …Excellent consistent Cooks
Service is usually always bad in the area due to high school/college hires that know nothing about food or good customer service, call the customers high maintenance, when in reality they are the ones.
Management is important to keep on top of the lazies,but usually they are just as lazy.
Beware who you hire and watch them closely.. . Don’t assume they have your best interest at heart.
this would be a great place for texas roadhouse or the old tahoe joes spot
Loved Tahoe Joes, my steak was always done perfectly…..
I think Tahoe Joe’s was a bit over-rated but the food was good and the place seem clean!
It went downhill when it started to smell like sulfur farts and the manager stopped caring and it traveled down thru the servers.
So many negative, angry comments. Whether you liked or not, another business closing is a sad piece of news. People should take a look at themselves with so many keyboard courage comments.
The last jumper is on the roof. Just waiting for someone to,say Olive Garden😲
Most times, a closing business is strictly bad management.
Sad for people who lost jobs, but for “The Business”??? not so much.
The entire chain had been an amazing place, no longer…
Bad business with mediocre food and mediocre service should NOT be rewarded. That place sucks, and always has, and it closed for a reason. Funny how people are all against this “Trophy Society” until something/someone they like gets shafted and all of a sudden it’s “not fair”. Seriously, people.
Yes, it is sad when a place closes, although I see some negative comments, I don’t think any of them are angry. First of all we have a capitalistic system, survival of the fittest. It sounds like their quality of food went down hill, and although they might have survived on mediocre quality for years, when something like Covid 19 or an earthquake hits, it weeds out the weakest ones. People are not willing to spend their hard earned money on a restaurant if the food is mediocre. I feel bad for the workers. I also want to mention that because of Covid 19 I’m sure some smaller eateries that were excellent will close, not everyone will have the extra saving to hang on, I think I might have eaten there ones, but many years ago at least 15 so just have to take the word of other posters here.
OLIVE GARDEN!!!!
Gag!!!
You go Martinez Mom!
My partner and I had our first date there 12 years ago, so sad to see it go, however we haven’t been back since the cockroaches incident.
Sad to see another restaurant closing. Seems like you can find a headline about one shuttering permanently every day. I work in the industry as well, you don’t want to see bad things happening to other restaurants whether you consider them competition or brothers/sisters in arms.
I’m worried for Hotdog Palace, honestly. Dunno how they’re staying open but hope they weather this point in history.
The Hot Dog Palace place used to be a hardware store.
This will be a growing trend this year due to indoor dining bans. That amount of indoor restaurant footage is not sustainable at the moment.
Hadn’t been in 6 years or so but this place was great back then, huge portions of great food, wood-fired pizza oven, amazing desserts, great decor, always packed, staff always friendly.
Sad.
RIP their chicken tortilla soup, was amazing
Call it covld all you want but the Chinese Communists should pay for this big time. Never went to the claim jumper often but it seemed ok.
If you didn’t go often then CJ closing is your fault.
Well now maybe all the pasta lovers in Concord will get their wish and Olive Garden will open there. I personally have only been to an Olive Garden once and was not impressed with their food at all.
So many more real Italian restaurants with fresh sauces made instead of corporate canned sauces.
Go!
Charlie Browns
No pasta lover would want an Olive Garden.
Bring back a Chevys Fresh Mex minus the rats
Maybe a new unemployment benefits office will go there ?
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Going forward, who will be brave enough to open a restaurant in California?
The odds of success are remote.
In this current situation in the country, it would be “gutsy” to open any small business now.
I lived in Concord in ’97 when they opened…….or ’96………whatever………it was an amazing place…..HUGE portions
And don’t forget the vibrating pagers for those waiting to be seated.
That was the place to be for about the first eight months.
What an atmosphere
This makes me more sad than I would like to admit. So many happy memories.
Claim Jumper, a good restaurant many years ago, was purchased a long time ago by Landry’s, Incorporated, which owns over 600 restaurants, casinos, hotels, and other entertainment destinations.
Landry’s then proceeded to milk the brand by cutting quality dramatically while keeping their prices at a premium level. It got worse as the years progressed.
I used to enjoy their Sunday brunch, but there came a point when their food became almost inedible. Seriously, brunch food is not hard to execute. They managed to badly screw it up as a matter of standard practice.
The shut down merely accelerated its demise.
It’s a damn shame all those jobs are lost.
Landry’s will not learn a lesson from this.
Actually, they have NOT been under Landrys for a very long time, as their standards could not. Keep up to what Landrys expexts. Once Landrys pulled out of that particular location, they became even worse. We used to love Claim Jumpers and have many fond memories. But sadly over the last several they just quit really caring..
I’m sad for them, too, but because the food has always been mediocre and anyone who loved it obviously has bad taste. Peace out, Claim Jumper.
Used to go there many, many years ago for Happy Hour and munch on appetizers. The place was always packed, had to get there early just to get a table for the four of us. After the change of ownership, service went downhill and quality of food wasn’t the same. Never went back, any good steak houses left in Concord, Pleasant Hill ? No Claim Jumper, Tahoe Joes or Black Angus.
Where are the rats going to eat now?
Well, there’s a Golden Corral pretty much across the street, so how about…a Cracker Barrel, dag-gummit?
By Golly, Don! A Cracker Barrel sure would be as swell as a pickle on a plate. However, the parking there is worse than a ham sandwich in an Alabama Wal Mart!
@Mike, thank you for making me laugh. I’d hit the LOL button if there was one 🙂
you can still get frozen claim jumper pies at safeway and lucky’s. not too bad.
I’m open to Texas Roadhouse or an Olivegarden. But nothin opening with this darn pandemic going on! That buildings going to sit for a bit!
We went there once fairly soon after they opened. The food was pretty good, and the portions would hurt you. I think I remember there was a scales for kids to be weighed on and you paid 29¢ per pound of their weight for their meal or something similar. My @9 year old kid was not impressed, but I thought that part was fun, as the price was right (for him). He was an economy model, he didn’t eat much. It wasn’t within our budget for normal dining out, if we were in that area we’d go to Fuddruckers.
With our State being so business unfriendly and the notoriously thin profit margins for restaurants, who in their right mind would ever consider opening one up here?
This was one of my favorite places for years. I watched my kiddos grow up here. I met some awesome waiters/ waitresses who are still my friends. Sadly, when the new owners came in, the food quality went out the window and the service went from mediocre to downright awful. Sad to see it go. It will always have a place in my heart. Goodbye to my favorite happy hour.
I feel like Claim Jumper went through several major changes over the years. Their portion size was always generous, but the food was good, then okay, then pretty good again, then okay as of earlier this year. I’m not sure what happened this year. I remember revisiting a few years and was surprised at how good they were. I’m told everything was made to order. Even their salads, which is a pretty ordinary item, had these amazing soft cornbread croutons. It was unlike anything I’ve ever had anywhere else. But then, they removed them this year, and their salad was just ordinary, which I figured they either changed ownership and/or were cutting costs.
Anyway, I’m sad to see them go. They did have some really good items on their menu and they were always packed. Even the root beer candies had disappeared this year– which were always nice to have. Again, they were definitely showing signs of trouble earlier this year
what will be there next? Olive Garden?
The parent company of Claim Jumper also operated H’s Lordship’s, Rainforest Cafe and Spenger’s. They drove all three of those businesses into the ground.