The popular local family-run restaurant Liberatore’s and its more casual Lib’s Grill spinoff are opening more locations.
John Liberatore announced that his namesake restaurant will “finally” be coming to Ocean City, after about 15 years of planning.
He also just signed a lease for Lib’s Grill in downtown Towson, and is moving forward with plans for another Lib’s Grill in Sykesville, which was delayed in 2023.
The Towson Lib’s Grill will be in Court Towers, by the county Circuit Courthouse. It will replace Nalley Fresh, which has been there since 2019. Nalley Fresh also recently closed its store in Columbia’s Dobbin Center, per the shopping center’s leasing map and its Google listing.
For Liberatore, the Ocean City site is one that customers have long been asking for, he said Thursday.
It’s expected to open in August, and will be in the Montego Bay Shopping Center, on Coastal Highway near 127th Street.
The 2,700-square-foot “cozy” space will seat about 100 people, and will be a combination of the Liberatore’s, Lib’s Grill and Liquid Lib’s wine bar of Timonium concepts, he said.
“We always had a soft spot for Ocean City,” he said, noting he worked as a server there in the 1980s and has “a lot of memories. … People are always asking us, ‘Why don’t you open a place in Ocean City?’”
Liberatore said the Ocean City business community has already welcomed them. “It’s a very friendly town,” he said. “Everyone was very kind.”
Liberatore’s has locations in Eldersburg, Perry Hall, Bel Air, Westminster and Timonium. Liquid Lib’s is in Timonium, and Lib’s Grill is in Perry Hall, Fulton and Bel Air.
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