Provincetown’s iconic Lobster Pot restaurant won’t be sold after all

Provincetown’s landmark seafood restaurant, Lobster Pot, is no longer on the market, according to chef and co-owner Tim McNulty.

The waterfront-view spot with its large neon sign, at 321 Commercial St., was offered for sale at $14 million in January of 2023.

“That was an exercise to test the waters,” McNulty said earlier this month.

John E. Ciluzzi, president of Premier Commercial, was hired to sell the land, the building, business, equipment and the brand. The restaurant went on the market late in the day on Tuesday, Jan. 17, 2023, Ciluzzi said. The next day he received calls from New England, the West Coast and overseas. 

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Ryder Street Beach in Provincetown. Photo taken July 20, 2026. (Tribekah Jordan/Cape Cod Times)

“The site has national interest and international attention,” Ciluzzi told the Cape Cod Times in 2023. “There is substantial interest.”

McNulty said Aug. 13 that there were people interested but they wanted to buy the McNulty family’s surrounding properties which were not included in the $14 million asking price, McNulty said.

The two-story, 8,293-square-foot building has two dining rooms, bars and a waterfront view of Provincetown Harbor.

The Lobster Pot Express in Provincetown and the Lobster & Chowder House on Route 6 in South Wellfleet were not included in the sale.

PROVINCETOWN — 021218 — Brothers Tim McNulty, right, and Shawn McNulty stand outside their iconic Commerical Street restaurant, Lobster Pot, which they have decided to franchise. Merrily Cassidy/Cape Cod Times

McNulty said the family sold the seasonal Lobster & Chowder House this year to Mario and Latoura Washington.

“They have similar food with a full bar. It’s a roadside dive that will knock your socks off. A lot of the locals go there now … We trained them (the new owners) so the transition was easy. They are good friends of ours and Latoura still works at the Lobster Pot,” McNulty said.

The McNulty family has owned the Lobster Pot for 47 years since the family’s late matriarch, Joy (Mary Joy) McNulty, bought the restaurant in 1979. Her sons, Tim and Shawn, and her daughter, Julie Nichols, currently own the business.  

“We have a lot invested here in terms of time and heart,” Tim McNulty said.

Gwenn Friss is the editor of CapeWeek and covers entertainment, restaurants and the arts on Cape Cod, Martha’s Vineyard and Nantucket. Contact her at gfriss@capecodonline.com.

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This article originally appeared on Cape Cod Times: Provincetown’s iconic Lobster Pot restaurant won’t be sold after all