The Legacy Sandwich Shop closed suddenly on Tuesday, a day after Bangor received a complaint about the restaurant.
The city sent the complaint to the state the same day, according to spokesperson David Warren.
The Maine Department of Health and Human Services did not respond to questions about whether an inspection took place.
The Legacy was last inspected in 2019, according to the Maine health inspection website. It failed an inspection in February that year but passed less than a month later.
The shop was closed at 10 a.m. Friday with a sign on the window that read: “I tried. I failed. Legacy is closed. Love you all and thank you. Diane.”
This is the second time the Legacy, located at 163 State St., has closed in the past nine months. The Legacy was known for Bangor’s iconic “coffee pot” sandwich, inspired by the sandwiches made for decades at the original Coffee Pot. The coffee pot sandwich is a Bangor specialty made with ham, salami, cheese and other toppings.
Diane Bernosky, owner of the Legacy, reopened in September after hiring Robert Kearns and Christy Spencer to help operate the restaurant after Bernosky said she was running it on her own and had to close.
The latest closure sparked hundreds of social media comments on a Facebook post from the Legacy Sandwich Shop announcing the closure and on a video from Kearns explaining why he recently quit.
Bernosky declined to speak to a Bangor Daily News reporter.
In a post about quitting his job at the Legacy, Kearns alleged that there was a rat problem that stemmed from a hole in the basement.
Kearns said he did not call in the complaint to the city.
Bernosky said in announcing the closure that she didn’t have energy left to fight to keep the Legacy open and mentioned Kearns, but didn’t say exactly how he was involved.
“I will not bad mouth and throw stones,” Bernosky said. “Suffice it to say I never realized anyone could be so vindictive and vicious. People keep saying fight back. The truth of the matter is I don’t have it in me.”
Kearns and Spencer were said to have been leasing the shop, but Kearns recently said in a video on Facebook that he never signed a lease agreement.
A lease was never agreed upon because Kearns didn’t obtain his ServSafe certification, he said.
