AMHERST, N.Y. (WKBW) — Amherst Pizza & Ale House has been serving the Western New York community for 15 years.
“Ironically we celebrated that two days before St. Patrick's Day when things started getting a little different in our world," owner and operator of the business Jason Bona III said.
And for first the first time in those 15 years, the business decided to close.
“It was a week after restaurants were not allowed to be open anymore," Bona said. "I saw the nervousness on the faces of our customers, our staff. The news was getting worse.”
So instead of navigating the waters, Bona decided to shut down until the restaurant could operate in the safest capacity.
“We were in a position fortunately to make that decision and not try to hang on because we need to continue operating,” he said.
Four weeks later, Bona and his crew figured it all out.
“I felt that with our set up, physically, and taking some of the best ideas from different places that we have seen and heard about, was gonna give us the peace of mind that we were going to be safe, our customers were going to be safe, and we were gonna be able to safely prepare the food for people.”
So, Amherest Pizza and Ale is back open for business.
“We’re doing a limited menu which is gonna feature pizza, wings, chicken fingers, fries and also our signature pizza fries," Bona said.
The restaurant will be open Wednesday thru Sunday starting at 4 p.m. And they even have a new special. 50 cent wings on Wednesdays!
“The wing market has gone down a little bit and although our prices don’t fluctuate on the menu, when they fluctuate for us, I felt like we could give a little back," Bona said. "Give everybody a little treat at a discount.”
At 1 p.m. on Wednesday Bona said the business already has 30 plus pre-orders ahead of tomorrow night’s NFL Draft here on 7ABC.
“It’s going to be bittersweet to not be able to really engage people like we use to, but hopefully that day’s coming soon."
