Catfish Willy's, the East Virginia Street seafood spot known for its make-your-own boils, is closing for good at the end of the month. The restaurant announced over the weekend that November 30 will be its last day serving the Tri-State, capping a run of 19 years.
The closure was confirmed in a statement shared October 31, in which the owners said they plan to retire, according to 99.5 WKDQ. As my1053wjlt.com reported, the business announced on October 31 that it will close at the end of November, with the owners writing that after nearly two decades of hard work, dedication, and countless memories, the time has come to begin a new chapter.
The owners also thanked their customers directly. “Your loyalty, friendship, and support have meant more to us than words can express,” they said, per the same station's report. 14 News reports that the restaurant's last day will be November 30, giving regulars a final few weeks to stop in before the doors close.
From an Owensboro Storefront to Evansville's East Side
Catfish Willy's didn't start out in Evansville. The restaurant began as a small operation off Frederica Street in Owensboro, Kentucky, before moving its operations to Evansville's east side in late 2018, the WJLT report notes. That move followed the closure of its Tamarack Road location in Owensboro, which tristatehomepage.com reported in October 2018 would be followed by a new Evansville location opening under new management and a new name, Catfish Willy's Seafood & Crab Shack, about a month later.
The relocation paid off. When the Evansville restaurant opened on East Virginia Street, it was drawing large crowds almost immediately, according to the Courier & Press. At the time, manager Angela Melvin said the restaurant had become such a popular destination for Evansville residents while it was still in Owensboro that she decided to open a location closer to them. The 2018 Evansville menu introduced a make-your-own-boil section that became one of the restaurant's signature draws.
A 2023 Menu Shift Broadened the Appeal
Catfish Willy's didn't stay purely a seafood house. In 2023, the restaurant rebranded its menu to include more non-seafood options, the WJLT account notes, a shift that broadened its appeal beyond diners looking specifically for crab boils and catfish. The restaurant's address has been listed as 5720 Virginia St. in recent reporting, though a 2018 Courier & Press article pointed diners to 5724 E. Virginia St., noting that 5720 was an older address kept for GPS purposes after the building was divided.
Reporting on whether the closure extends beyond Evansville has been inconsistent. A 14 News account referenced closing both the Evansville and Owensboro locations, while another detail from the same outlet described the Owensboro site on Tamarack Road as a location Catfish Willy's used to operate rather than one currently in business. That discrepancy has not been resolved in available reporting.
For now, what's confirmed is straightforward: the Evansville restaurant that built nearly two decades of goodwill with Tri-State diners is set to close its doors November 30, with its owners stepping into retirement after a run that began with a small storefront in Owensboro and ended with a seafood boil shop that became a neighborhood fixture on Evansville's east side.
