The sign outside the newly renovated Fin Inn Again, 1500 W. Main St. in Grafton, on Oct. 1, 2026, the day of its grand opening.
Steve Whitworth/The Telegraph
Sameh “Sammy” Motan uses scissors to cut the red ribbon outside the newly renovated Fin Inn Again in Grafton on Oct. 1, 2026. Motan’s wife, Haneen, is to his left and Grafton Mayor Mike Morrow, to her left, holds the ribbon.
Steve Whitworth/The Telegraph
Jerilyn Perkins, 60, and her brother, Todd Eberhart, 63, both of Bethalto, were excited to dine at Fin Inn Again on the day of its grand opening on Oct. 1, 2026.
Steve Whitworth/The Telegraph
Server Aleigha Towell, 22, takes Jerilyn Perkins’ order at the newly renovated Fin Inn Again in Grafton on Oct. 1, 2026.
Steve Whitworth/The Telegraph
Sameh “Sammy” Motan, owner of Fin Inn Again, talks with a customer on Oct. 1, 2026, the day of the newly renovated restaurant’s grand opening.
Steve Whitworth/The Telegraph
Haneen, left, and Sameh “Sammy” Motan are the new owners of Fin Inn Again in Grafton, which had its grand opening Oct. 1, 2026.
Steve Whitworth/The Telegraph
GRAFTON — A Missouri couple cut the ribbon Thursday on the new version of Grafton’s longtime restaurant, the Fin Inn.
Now branded as Fin Inn Again Seafood & Steakhouse Aquarium Restaurant, the building at 1500 W. Main St., which originally opened in 1981, looks roughly the same outside as diners will remember from years past but has undergone extensive interior renovations.
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The dining areas have been painted in lighter colors, and the interior lighting has been improved.
“It’s brighter,” said Sameh “Sammy” Motan, 30, who bought the restaurant this year with his wife, Haneen. “I remember when I first bought it, I came in one day and was like, ‘Where’s the light switch?’ It was just so dark. I mean, people want to come here and see their food, at least. So we just had to go with the brighter color.”
Ride on Grafton Ferry leads to opportunity
The Motans live in St. Charles, Missouri, and a visit to the building, then operating as Fountain Hill Steak & Seafood, earlier this year led them to buy the restaurant.
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“It all started from a ferry ride,” Sammy Motan said.
The Motans had taken the Grafton Ferry across the Mississippi River from St. Charles County to visit Grafton and stopped to dine at Fountain Hill. It was Haneen’s first visit, but Sammy had been to the original Fin Inn at least a couple of times before it closed in 2019.
“We were just coming in to dine, and the owner (Mohammad Khamee) offered to sell it to me, just like that,” Sammy said. “It was quick.”
Although Sammy said he has never owned a restaurant before, he owns two gas stations in St. Charles County, including the Gas Mart at 14010 U.S. Highway 67 in West Alton.
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“One of those gas stations has a kitchen,” Motan said. “So I’ve had my time with kitchens before.”
Motan also said many of his customers at the West Alton station live in Grafton.
“A lot of my customers are from this area, so I knew a lot of people, and I wanted to be part of Grafton,” he said. “I really did.”
Aquariums restored, new owners promise high-quality dining
Along with the brighter interior, the Motans have restored the trademark aquariums that entertained diners at the original Fin Inn. The booths have tables that butt up against aquariums filled with colorful fish.
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Asked about the similarities between Fin Inn Again and the original, Motan said: “To be honest, the similarities will be the experience. The fish tanks are all functioning now.
“The difference will probably be the quality of the food,” he said. “We wanted this restaurant to be a higher end of steakhouse, so we’re only using prime product, prime meat. It’s a little different than what it used to be. But I think this area needs it.
“You know, if you have an occasion when you want to take your wife or your girlfriend to a nice place to celebrate an anniversary or birthday, you want to have a nice, intimate setting. That’s what we’re trying to provide.
“But we do also want to keep the legacy of this place, because it means so much to the people of Grafton,” he said.
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Motan said he found out how much the traditional Fin Inn dishes meant to Graftonians when he was consulting with local residents about the menu for Fin Inn Again.
“Turtle soup is one thing that we had to put on the menu, because we had so many people asking about it,” he said. “And that was hard to get. Turtle meat is really hard to find.”
Calling the new menu “a little different,” Motan described it as simple but with a good variety.
“We have three kinds of each protein,” he said. “So for seafood, we have sea bass, we have catfish and we have salmon. We do have chicken, and we also have steaks. And we got a couple of smokers, and we smoke meat here, as well.”
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New chefs come from area, previous wait staff retained
The wait staff at Fin Inn Again consists of former Fountain Hill employees, but Motan said he hired all new line cooks, an executive chef and a sous chef.
“Most of them actually live around here,” he said. “Some of them are from Alton, and some of them are from Calhoun County.”
Sammy credits his wife, Haneen, an architect, with spearheading the brighter interior design.
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“She basically did all of our coloring,” he said. “She would say, ‘You’ve got to put that color there and that color here.’ Honestly, she was the one behind all this.”
The couple has two sons, ages 8 and 3.
After ribbon-cutting, restaurant opens to diners
A ribbon-cutting ceremony was held at 11 a.m. Thursday, with the Motans and their employees, Mayor Mike Morrow, Police Chief Dave Womack, other dignitaries and Grafton residents attending. Fin Inn Again then officially opened for business as most attendees went inside to order lunch.
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At one table, Jerilyn Perkins, 60, and her brother, Todd Eberhart, 63, both of Bethalto, were looking over the menus.
“We were camping up at Pere Marquette (State Park) when we saw it on Facebook about the grand opening today,” Perkins said. “So we thought we’d pop in.”
She praised the restaurant’s new look, noting she had “always loved” the original Fin Inn.
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“It’s beautiful. They freshened it all up,” Perkins said. “They did a great job. I was anxious to try the food.”
Fin Inn Again will be open daily from 11 a.m. to 9 p.m.
Dining and Cooking