BANGOR – The sign on the front of Smokey Bones Barbeque & Grill on the Hogan Road was covered Monday with a blue tarp and the parking lot was empty.

The 70 employees learned Saturday morning that the restaurant had closed.

The doors to the barbecue restaurant shut after Friday evening’s shift, and employees were surprised by the news after arriving at work Saturday morning.

Darden Restaurants Inc. of Orlando, Fla., which operates Smokey Bones, Olive Garden, Red Lobster and Bahama Breeze restaurants nationwide, “made the difficult decision to close 54 … Smokey Bones restaurants after dinner on Friday, May 4,” the company’s Web site said Monday. It cited lack of consistent customer traffic.

The Bangor employees were given two weeks’ pay or the opportunity to take a job at the Hogan Road Olive Garden, a spokesman for Darden said Monday.

“We are moving to try and place as many people as possible at the nearby Olive Garden,” spokesman Joe Chabus said by telephone from Orlando. “They did a great job and hopefully they’ll find positions.”

Those who choose the severance package also will be offered job placement counseling, he said.

Smokey Bones, which featured ribs, pulled pork and other barbecue favorites, succeeded Paul’s Restaurant and Speakeasy after it closed in 2004.

“That restaurant has been struggling since opening,” Chabus said, saying that barbecue was not a big drawing point for Bangor-area residents.

Two experimental Rocky River Grillhouse restaurants, located in Ohio and Indiana, also were shut down on Saturday.

Darden Restaurants is selling off the remaining 73 Smokey Bones restaurants located mostly in the eastern United States.

The closest Smokey Bones restaurant to Bangor is now in Tyngsboro, Mass., a distance of 195 miles, the company Web site says.

“This was a difficult decision because guests continue to give the Smokey Bones experience solid marks and there is a core of restaurants with good sales and earnings levels,” Clarence Otis, chairman and chief executive officer of Darden, said in a news release posted on the company Web site. “However, the Smokey Bones concept and related business model was designed to be a nationally advertised brand. Since it is not on a path to achieving this vision, we have concluded that it is not a meaningful growth vehicle for Darden.”