Poole’side Pies, the Poole’s Diner-adjacent pizzeria in downtown Raleigh, is closing for good at the end of this year. The restaurant’s final day of service falls just before Christmas, on December 23.

Originally opened in the summer of 2019, Poole’side has been a popular lunch choice for workers downtown, as well as passers-by tempted by good gourmet pizza. Some of the pizzeria’s standout menu items include the Pickle Juice Caesar and Sausage alla Vodka pizzas. The simple Margherita was also a customer favorite. 

Poole’side is closing “response to our community’s ever-evolving needs,” according to a press release from Ashley Christensen, who owns and operates the pizzeria (as well as Poole’s Diner next door, her first-ever restaurant). 

When pressed, Christensen wrote in an email to the INDY that “there is always room for multiple expressions of pizza in a community … For us, this particular location just wasn’t the right fit for it at this moment in time.”

“I certainly don’t feel ‘done’ with pizza,” she added. “And, like a lot of the wildly fun ideas in food that are always running around in my mind, I don’t think pizza is done with me yet either.”

A new Christensen restaurant will be opened in the space sometime in the future, although the exact timeline is unknown. An announcement may be made in “the months to come,” the press release states. 

“As for the future of the space, we’re not exactly sure of the full picture of what comes next, but that beautiful, wood-burning oven will certainly anchor the menu,” Christensen wrote. “I am so excited to re-light that fire in 2024.”

There won’t be any special events ahead of Poole’side’s closing—“the team is just hoping to fit in as many guests as possible to enjoy the food and the space,” Christensen shared. Nevertheless, another customer favorite will be making its way back to the menu in December: the potato doughnuts with cacio e pepe mayo. 

“In the meantime, we want to thank our wonderful team, past and present,” the press release stated. “[A]nd you, the community of folks who helped us sell out our pre-opening pop-ups, who ordered takeout and curbside throughout the pandemic when we were still so new, and who’ve dined with us ever since—thank you.”

Follow Staff Writer Jasmine Gallup on Twitter or send an email to [email protected]. Comment on this story at [email protected].     

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