It's Official: Olives Is Leaving Charlestown

Todd English’s Olives restaurant is leaving Charlestown.

In a statement released Friday, the celebrity chef said he will be relocating the City Square restaurant to a new spot in the greater Boston area, though did not specify where that location will be.

“It is with sadness that I will be leaving this neighborhood. We have been here since 1989 and so many wonderful memories are tied to this place,” English said in a press release. “But with the incredible way America’s culinary landscape has been evolving, I have decided that Olives—my first and signature restaurant—must also evolve.”

Rumors that the Charlestown Olives restaurant was closing first circulated in April, but English denied the rumor at the time, calling it an April Fools Day joke.

But recently the front windows of the business were seen papered over and a sign was posted stating that the premises were closed until further notice.

Patch reached out to Todd English Enterprises for more information and received a press release announcing the relocation.

In the release, English said that the “Olives version 3.0” would stay true to its Mediterranean roots while also becoming a “true representation of the evolution of America’s hunger for freshness and diversity.”

“I am very excited about this rebirth of Olives. Together with my eldest son, Oliver, who I am proud to say has just come onboard, and the whole English culinary family, we have been working for some time on the reinvention of our signature restaurant,” English said.

More restaurants are being planned in the Boston area, and in New York, Las Vegas and Birmingham, AL, according to the press release.

The new Olives Paradise Island is set to open this summer in the Bahamas, and an Olives Abu Dhabi is expected to open in 2014.

“During the relocation, guests in Boston can still enjoy Todd English’s two Figs locations as well as Isabelle’s CurlyCakes for their cupcake fix,” company officials said in the press release. “For Olives fans who cannot wait, the New York, Las Vegas and newly opened Mexico City locations are just a short train or airplane ride away.”