Mystic - Jerry Johnson nursed an afternoon drink at Jamms Restaurant and Bar as his 18 years of dining there wound to a close on Monday.

"We spend a lot of time here," said Johnson, a local resident and regular diner who until his retirement last year worked at Foxwoods Resort Casino. "Gonna miss the people. We eat dinner out about three nights a week. We go to Go Fish and Steak Loft and downtown, but to us this place is more friendly."

Twenty-five years and six months after opening, the steak and seafood restaurant shut down at 10 p.m. Monday night, the victim of a recession worse than any business owner Scott O'Neill had witnessed.

"They've been a mainstay," said Tricia Cunningham, president of the Greater Mystic Chamber of Commerce. "The food was great, the service was great, so we will be sad to see it go."

Perched on a hill at 8 Coogan Boulevard, within walking distance of Olde Mistick Village and the Mystic Aquarium, the roomy restaurant features dark woodwork, a bar and several distinct dining areas that seat 125 people, as well as a downstairs banquet hall that accommodates 60.

The lease expires at the end of 2010, O'Neill said. Bhikhu Ghandi, who owns the building, also owns the nearby Holiday Inn, O'Neill said.

"I'm sure he'll find somebody else" to occupy the restaurant, O'Neill said.

Ghandi could not be reached to comment.

The economic downturn started affecting Jamms last fall and stubbornly persisted through all four seasons, O'Neill said. "We were hit hard," he said. "You find people don't want to spend as much. They just don't have it to spend."

Around 2 p.m. Monday afternoon, a smattering of customers ordered late lunches or drinks at the bar, served by employees who would soon be out of work. All told, Jamms employed 22 people.

"In our heyday, we had 55," O'Neill said.

One of the workers who will be jobless is waitress Kaitlyn Hill, 23, who lives in Mystic and is a sophomore at Mitchell College.

"I'm really sad that it's closing," Hill said, when reached by phone as she prepared to go in for her final shift. "The owners are just really nice and laid back and they make working there really easy."

Hill has worked part-time at Jamms three or four shifts a week for the past year.

"It's been noticeably slower even during our busy times, during the summer," she said. "People would be leaving less tips. You can tell that the economy is affecting people."

Financially, trying to stay in the black has felt "like running in place," O'Neill added. "The winters are very hard anyway, have been for 25 years. If you don't have a great summer, you aren't going to have a good winter, and we did not have a great summer."

Cunningham noted that the cold summer rain hurt a lot of businesses.

"Going into 2010, we'll see an increase in people being more comfortable with consumer spending, but I think there still will be many financial challenges hitting our local community," she said. "Hopefully we'll be able to pull through."

Within a mile, on the other side of Interstate 95, the Ground Round, which was a part of Best Western, has also closed its doors, but Tomato Joe's Restaurant and Pizzeria will replace it by the end of the year.

Tomato Joe's owner Joe Granato, one of three partners, said he is open for business with a limited menu as he renovates the building and continues to serve hotel customers. When all the work is complete, the family restaurant will feature Italian food, New Haven-style brick oven pizza and a sports bar.

"We're very excited about this location," said Granato. "Our concept is geared toward a recession because we're giving large portions for low prices. There (are) some fine restaurants in Mystic and I eat at all of them, but our concept is a different niche. Hopefully, the area will support us."

p.daddona@theday.com