The owners of Portabella’s are hoping for a miracle after they suddenly closed the Foley restaurant, along with Safari and Vine at the Alabama Gulf Coast Zoo in Gulf Shores, last week.

The closures were announced in a Facebook post on each restaurant’s page Thursday, July 9, where Pam and chef Rich Lee said they “ran out of time and money” while also saying Portabella’s is for sale as a turnkey with staff.

Pam Lee told Gulf Coast Media she and her husband are “in shock right now and heartbroken.” She said they are meeting with an attorney to discuss their next steps and potential sale options for Portabella’s. She said the employees are interested in purchasing the business if they get the money to do so.

Portabella’s served patrons for the last time on Saturday, July 11, on a cash-only basis along with half-priced bottles of wine. At 3 p.m., there was a line of about 30 people waiting to dine at what has become a local favorite that was once already at risk of being lost.

According to previous reporting by GCM, Portabella’s, located in downtown Foley, was open for 10 years before briefly closing for the first time in March 2023 before it was acquired by the Lees and reopened a month later.

Rich Lee has over 40 years of culinary, front-of-the-house and management experience that took him around the world as a chef in the Marines before he settled in Panama City, Florida, then New Orleans.

The Lees connected with Portabella’s when a friend and restaurant regular told them it was closing and for sale.

The couple opened Safari and Vine at the Alabama Gulf Coast Zoo in March, offering patrons Italian cuisine up Hwy. 59 and a “global-inspired menu” at the zoo, “whether it be Australian comfort food or wings made using spices from Africa,” according to a previous Gulf Coast Media article. Both are now closed, as of July 9. The space is accessible without needing admission to the zoo, following renditions under previous owners of Savanna, which opened in 2025, and Safari Club.