Axel’s restaurant in Mendota is permanently closing this month, the restaurant announced recently in an Instagram post.

“You could have been wonderful and we would like to thanks from the underside of our hearts for making us your destination to share so many memories with,” the announcement reads.

The restaurant, just off Minnesota 13, opened in 1941 because the Parker House, in keeping with a Dakota County listing of longstanding restaurants.

Linda Young and Charlie Burrows purchased and remodeled it in 1996 and renamed it Axel’s River Grille, in keeping with a Pioneer Press obituary of Young, who died in 2018.

Young and Burrows said they founded Axel’s, named after Young’s father, with the will to create a friendly place to work, eat and rejoice at an off-the-cuff supper club within the Twin Cities. Young’s parents, Janette and Axel Lofgren, each worked at Parker House when Young was growing up, in keeping with the restaurant’s website.

Axel’s became known for its steaks, fish and cocktails. Young and Burrows opened plenty of Axel’s and Axel’s Bonfires locations before selling the group to Nath Co., based in Bloomington, in 2008. Axel’s Bonfire on Grand Avenue in St. Paul closed in 2018 and the remaining Bonfire locations closed in 2020.

The Mendota closure will leave one location left, contained in the DoubleTree by Hilton Hotels in Roseville, in keeping with the restaurant’s website. There was a 3rd location in Chanhassen, but that’s permanently closed as well.

The Mendota location will close on Sept. 30, in keeping with the corporate’s Instagram post.

Reached by phone on Thursday, restaurant manager Carrie McAuley said she didn’t know what the present owners, Bonfire Restaurant Co., planned to do with the property.

The restaurant’s Instagram post invited fans to drop in over the ultimate weekend: “Before Axel’s passes into history, we would really like to ask you to affix us one last time.”