NEWBURYPORT — Years of waiting and legal wrangling came to an end Friday when The Goat restaurant opened for business that afternoon.
A spokesperson for Newburyport Development, which owns the two-floor, waterfront building off Merrimac Street, called the occasion a “soft opening.”
Building Inspector Greg Earls said The Fleury Group-affiliated eatery got the green light to open the first floor after obtaining food and liquor licenses. Opening the second floor will have to wait until The Fleury Group obtains a liquor license for that level.
Earls explained that a separate license was needed after the second-floor design was modified to meet city requirements for public access.
The Hampton, New Hampshire-based Fleury Group, which also owns other eateries, hoped to open Luchos Barra de Tequila in October 2021 but the city’s Building Department placed a cease-and-desist order on the restaurant in December 2022 after its owners failed to submit updated designs showing how the building would conform to the Americans with Disabilities Act. By then, the restaurant had been renamed The Goat.
The cease-and-desist order was lifted in April 2023, and a building permit was issued to general contractor Jay Caswell of Caswell Development. In August, The Fleury Group held a two-day open house to recruit bartenders, servers, waitstaff, bussers and other workers essential for running a restaurant.
About that same time, The Fleury Group joined the Greater Newburyport Chamber of Commerce & Industry and hinted it would have a ribbon-cutting ceremony in the near future.
The building was last home to Plum Island Coffee Roasters, a coffee shop owned by former Newburyport City Councilor Bruce Vogel, but has undergone a dramatic transformation.
Nathan Allard, the Chamber’s executive director, said that based on The Fleury Group’s track record with its Hampton-based Goat restaurant and other establishments, Newburyport residents are in for a treat.
“It’s going to be a big year for Newburyport’s waterfront,” Allard said. “We are extremely excited to have The Goat open and will be planning a ribbon cutting in the near future.”
Newburyport resident Laurie Webber said she went to The Goat twice last weekend, Saturday and Sunday afternoons.
“We’ve been waiting forever for that place to open,” Webber said. “It’s stunning, the building is gorgeous.”
Webber said The Goat, with its wraparound deck and country music, is unlike other Newburyport establishments and should fit in well without posing a threat to other eateries.
“They crushed it,” Webber said, adding that the crowds during both visits trended younger than her fortysomething years.
Webber said she heard of The Goat’s opening through word of mouth Friday night and vowed to stop by the next day. On Saturday, The Goat accepted only cash but by Sunday was processing credit cards and other point-of sale methods, Webber added.
“It’s going to be very difficult getting in in the summer,” Webber said.