Garda’s Restaurant to Reopen Thursday

 by Nathan Lasher

Employees of Garda’s Restaurant in Ford City will be able to go back to work Thursday, February 11 when the restaurant is planned to reopen. “We had to lay our employees off after the fire, but now we’ll be calling them back to start coming in again,” said owner Dennis Cuffia.

The restaurant was closed for renovations after a fire started in a kitchen broiler and spread to the walls and ceiling on January 7. “We had to put a while new kitchen in and bring everything up to code after the fire,” said Cuffia. “We were under the grandfather law before, so we had to totally redo it, but we got it done.”

Between three and four different contractors were brought in to do the work in order to reopen the restaurant. Work was done on the gas lines and the flooring. Also, cleaners had to be called to clean damage from the smoke. “I can’t say off hand how much it cost, but it was quite expensive,” said Cuffia. “We installed a new hood and equipment; everything. It will be like a brand new kitchen again.”

Garda’s Restaurant will be open during its regular hours, from 11AM to 10PM on Thursday, and is planning a special event for the future. “We are going to reopen Thursday, and then we will have a grand opening at a later date,” said Cuffia. “We want to get our feet on the ground and get it open again. Then we will run a special.”