FAIRHOPE, Ala. - As Robin Lambert walked the floors this week of the Old Bay Steamer restaurant that she and husband Ray have owned and managed since 1994, she pointed to pictures on the walls and a display in memory of her late brother, who did carpentry renovations when the business moved in 2004 to its current location on Section Street.

Many of the keepsakes brought back fond memories of the long hours spent in the restaurant. But Lambert also struggled not to choke up, as she talked about those years.

”We’ve made so many wonderful friends,” Lambert said Monday. “We’ve seen their children grow up, who’ve also become our customers with their own children. It’s been a wonderful experience.”

The landmark Eastern Shore restaurant that first opened in 1985 in the historic Tumble Inn on Fairhope Avenue will be closing for good Sunday.

“We’re going to have a party on our last day,” Lambert said. “There will be music and complementary hors d’oeuvres. It will start at 7 p.m. and last until whenever.”

Owning and managing a restaurant has never been easy, Lambert said, but the BP oil spill that hit the Gulf Coast this spring was a devastating blow to an industry already struggling to survive the challenging economic conditions of the past two years.

“We’re a seafood restaurant” she said, noting a recent poll that showed a majority of people are still afraid to eat local seafood. “We lost our lead product.”

The restaurant filed claims with BP, and then with the Gulf Coast Claims Facility administered by Ken Feinberg. They received one check for $8,000 in June, and a second one last week for $16,200. That didn’t approach their projected loss of $25,000 a month over the next six months, she said.

“We went to Orange Beach last Wednesday to see Ken Feinberg when he was there,” she said. “They had 20 claims adjusters there, and we talked with them, but we learned the next day that our claim amount would not be increased and also that we could not appeal.”

The business has not been able to make its mortgage payment for some time, she said, and they finally decided it was time to close the business last Thursday morning.

Later that day, they called the restaurant’s 12-person staff together to break the news.

“They’re doing OK, I guess,” she said. “Some have been with us more than 10 years. A couple might have jobs lined up, but the others don’t know what they’re going to do yet.”

Robin said that while business was very slow in 2008 it began improving in 2009 and in the first few months of this year.

“It’s had an enormous impact,” she said of the BP oil spill. “Just as things were begining to really turn around, this happened. The whole experience has been very frustrating and disappointing.”

For 10 years prior to owning Old Bay Steamer, the Lamberts owned Rob-and-Ray’s Pub in Daphne, which is now called Bayhouse Pub and is owned by Robin’s sister, Cheri Cleveland.

“We wanted to run more of a restaurant and less of a bar,” said Lambert of their reason for buying the restaurant that had become well known for its steamed snow crab, shrimp and mussels. “Fairhope has been so supportive of us these past 16 years. We’re going to miss everyone.”

On Monday, the staff and owners gathered together for a picture in front of the trademark giant royal red shrimp in front of the restaurant. They put on a brave face and smiled for the picture, but afterwards many staff members came up one by one and hugged Robin.

“It’s the end of a tradition,” Ray Lambert said. “Twenty-five years and it’s gone. It’s what it is.”