Chuck’s Steak House, a mainstay in the Outrigger Waikiki Beach Resort since 1967, is closing at the end of the month to make way for a luxury Voyager 47 Club Lounge for hotel guests.

During its 51-year run, the iconic restaurant has served a classic menu of steak and seafood to some 4 million locals and tourists in its premier space overlooking the beach with a clear view of Diamond Head.

It’s a reflective time for Scott Rolles, owner of Chuck’s, as the last days count down.

“The thing a lot of owners don’t factor in is that if a guest is happy at your place, it’s like having relatives over for dinner,” Rolles said.

His father and partner, Chuck Rolles, founded the Chuck’s chain, which in its heyday in the 1970s comprised 13 restaurants in Hawaii and more than 50 nationally. The elder Rolles, 84, is semiretired.

A former Navy pilot, Rolles graduated from the Cornell Hotel and Restaurant School in 1956. His then-wife, the former Jean Kelley, grew up in Hawaii. She is the daughter of Roy Kelley, founder of the Outrigger hotel chain.

“Mom spent one winter back East, and home started looking pretty good,” Scott Rolles said.

The couple moved to Hawaii and Chuck Rolles opened the first Chuck’s in the Edgewater Hotel in 1959.

“Everything was high-end on the strip here,” Rolles said of the restaurant scene on Kalakaua Avenue at the time. “But one place that made sense to my father was Buzz’s Original Steak House. He was friends with (Raymond) “Buzz” Schneider. So he set out to do something like that. It was a simple concept: good quality food with a comfortable style, as if you were going to his house for a meal.”

Today, Chuck’s Steak House, and Chuck’s Steak House and Margarita Grill operate in California, Connecticut, Massachusetts, South Carolina and Florida.

In Hawaii, one restaurant will remain after this month, Chuck’s Cellar in the Ohana Waikiki East by Outrigger.

“Our approach has continued to be, ‘Keep it simple, do it well.’ There’s a realness and simplicity to what we do. Our food is easy to grasp. It’s not in your face,” said Rolles. “This is USDA prime meat, butchered on the spot, aged and grilled. Our chef can turn and burn ’em with the best of them.”

Some of the earlier restaurants ended up being co-owned and run by trusted employees.

“My father had a lot of partners. He didn’t expand in the stereotypical way of franchising,” said Rolles. “His M.O. was that the head waiter would be the general partner of the next one. (The workers) got a shot at it — maybe they’d have to move to Kansas City, but they got a shot.”

The Voyager 47 Club Lounge will open in June. It will be a spot where guests can enjoy a casual breakfast as well as cocktails and pupu at sunset. The space will also be available for meetings and private events such as weddings.

These days, said Rolles, there are a lot of hugs at the restaurant as the more than 40 staffers, some of them longtime employees, get ready for the closure. A handful will move to Chuck’s Cellar.

Outside on the beach is a surfboard advertising the restaurant to beach-goers. It was given to the Rolles family by one of Chuck’s first waiters shortly after the restaurant opened. He ended up becoming Scott Rolles’ fifth-grade teacher and a close friend.

“I’ll have to return it to him now,” Rolles said with a wistful smile.