Polo Grill plans renovations

LAKEWOOD RANCH — Six years after opening, the Polo Grill and Bar, home to the East County’s largest banquet venue, will be getting a facelift, albeit only to the restaurant area.

Polo Grill owners Tommy and Jaymie Klauber are busy preparing to renovate their roughly 25,000-square-foot dining area.

|The restaurant will remain open during renovations.

“It’s going to be a different place,” Tommy Klauber said. “Our goal is to add intimacy, brightness and more comfort.”

Jaymie Klauber agreed.

“We needed to go to the next step,” she said. “We needed to create a style more conducive to the style of dining (we offer).”

The new design includes some structural changes, including closing off the kitchen, noise mitigation between the restaurant and bar areas and also the sectioning off of the back part of the restaurant into a separate dining area that can be reserved for parties and other events.

The private-dining area will be called the “tack room” and will be used for regular dining when not reserved.

The main area of the restaurant will be reorganized and designed to create space that fosters a sense of intimacy.

“I would have liked to do (these changes) from day one,” Tommy Klauber said. “I don’t think the restaurant was properly finished, even according to the (original tenant’s) plan.

“We wanted to make sure we were going to be here after five years,” he said of the timing for the project. “We see us being here for a long time, and we want to make this investment now. The economy has grown. It’s a good time to do it. We don’t want to close at all (during renovations); we ask the public to get excited about it and pardon our dust.”

Jaymie Klauber’s mother, Nancy Barrie, an interior designer, has been working with her daughter to pick out colors and fabrics for the new design. She called the new scheme “smart and elegant.” Jaymie Klauber said the colors will complement the Murano glass lights the restaurant already has.

“It’s fun, but a little stressful,” Jaymie Klauber said of finalizing design details. “We can’t walk in here anymore without getting excited. It’s going to look totally different.”

The restaurateurs are using the opportunity to re-brand the facility, as well. The Polo Grill will have a new menu — although signature dishes will remain the same — and new staff uniforms, among other changes.

The Klaubers anticipate a grand re-opening of the restaurant in November.

Contact Pam Eubanks at [email protected].