CHINCHILLA, LACKAWANNA COUNTY (WBRE/WYOU) — After weeks of being closed due to flooding in September, a Lackawanna County pizzeria finally getting ready to fire up the ovens.
September 9th, Armetta’s Restaurant and Pizza in Chinchilla saw flood waters destroy the dining room, basement, and kitchen of the restaurant. The cleanup still has a long way to go, but Thursday is the first step to get back to some kind of normalcy.
For the last two weeks, from 8:00 a.m. to 8:00 p.m., the clean-up never stopped inside Armetta’s Pizzeria and restaurant. The restaurant, which has been closed ever since the flooding, will serve its first again slices very soon.
“My staff is my world, I just want them to be okay and for us to be back, but even in times like this when you look around you are very blessed. None of this would be possible without them being here every single day with me,” said Armetta’s Restaurant and Pizza owner Erin McLaughlin.
It wasn’t just the employees lending a hand, the community came through as well with fundraisers and Thursday marks the first step toward a full reopening.
The restaurant will open at 5:00 p.m. to sell round and square pizza and boneless wing bites. Owners say they’ll stay open until they sell out.
“We pride ourselves on always trying to do good, be kind eat pizza repeat. That’s our motto. So we want to bring people in here and show them we love doing what they do,” said McLaughlin.
Early September was a night the staff will never forget. Flood waters rose and the damage came with it. They immediately began to help and they haven’t stopped since.
“We are all missing it right now. It’s like a second home to us,” said Matthew Siegler, an Armetta’s Restaurant and Pizza employee.
“Save out stuff, save as much money as we could. doing our best and working together as a team. Trying to make the place 10x better than what it already is,” said Evan Andrews, another Armetta’s Restaurant and Pizza employee.
The cleanup recovery hasn’t been easy and it’s taken many hands to help but workers tell me they are making sure to keep the process lighthearted.
“Every day that we have come in here we have still said Happy Monday, Happy Tuesday. We are going to start off every day as happy as we can and we are going to get through this,” McLaughlin explained.
On Sunday, the restaurant will hold a fundraiser at Chinchilla Hose Company from 3:00 p.m. to 6:00 p.m.
For more information about Armetta’s Restaurant & Pizza you can visit their website.
