Birmingham’s Smoke House Steak & Seafood Restaurant is planning to close this month after more than six decades in business.

Donna Watson, a cashier at the restaurant, said the last day for customers will be Dec. 22 as owner Theo Hontzas, 90, is retiring.

Customers have already started to come in to say how much they’ll miss the place, she said.

Located at 348 Finley Ave. West, the restaurant opened in the mid-1950s. The meat-and-three cafeteria features more than 30 vegetable dishes and a dozen or more entrees daily.

It is known for its fresh vegetables — turnip greens, green beans, black-eyed peas and creamed corn to stewed squash, mashed potatoes, broccoli casserole and fried okra.

Theo Hontzas, the brother of Niki’s West owner Gus Hontzas, bought the Smoke House in 1960, not long after he came to America from Greece.

Decades later, Theo’s son, Pete Hontzas, who started working at the restaurant when he was 10, took over the Smoke House when his father retired, continuing a family tradition that began nearly 60 years ago.