'Genuine improvement' replaces Chestnut Street eyesore

Mar. 27—Things are looking better these days from Rich Thomas' perspective — specifically, the view from his Chestnut Street storefront.

Where Thomas used to face a horizon of fading brown from inside Techbox, 250 Chestnut St., today it seems as though he can see all the way to Mexico — well, perhaps not to Mexico, but definitely to Margarita King Bar and Grill, the new Mexican restaurant that opened across the street a month ago.

"It's a genuine improvement over what I've been looking at for several years now," Thomas said Tuesday. "I've been looking at paper for the last few years."

Following the closure of the former Chestnut Street Pub and Grill and the sale of the property at 251 Chestnut St. in 2020, the location had remained vacant and seemingly frozen in time at the beginning of a planned renovation that seemed indefinitely delayed. Long strips of brown paper hung over the windows grew increasingly faded and obstructed pedestrian views into the unoccupied storefront several months ago.

Since then, extensive renovations have taken place inside, the paper has been removed, and a new sign now covers the outline of the previous establishment's name.

"It certainly looks better," Thomas said, "and I certainly get a better feeling from it so far."

Thomas is not the only person impressed by the changes, according to Marco Melchor.

Inside the restaurant late last week, Melchor sat at the bar munching on nachos as the lunch hour wound down and music played on the sound system.

"It's been a whole month of success," said Melchor, general manager of the family-owned business. "People love it — they love the homemade street tacos, the homemade tortillas."

Margarita King joins several other Margarita King-branded restaurants in northwestern Pennsylvania and eastern Ohio owned by the family as well as several Compadres Mexican Restaurant locations, including the Conneaut Lake Road branch in Meadville.

The restaurant makes its tortillas fresh each morning, Melchor said, and draws inspiration for its street tacos from the flavors of the Texas and California border. Other menu highlights include Mexican street corn and a variety of Mexican drinks, including horchatas and mangonadas, a spicy summery drink flavored with Tajin, a chile-lime salt, and chamoy, a combination of fermented fruit, salt, sugar and chiles.

One thing the drinks don't have at this point, despite the Margarita King name, is alcohol — unless customers bring their own, Melchor pointed out.

"Sadly, we don't have our liquor license yet," he said. "It's going to be a while."

The restaurant does have margarita mix, however, and the fixings for plenty of other drinks, Melchor said.

The same pandemic-related concerns as well as time demands from other ongoing projects that caused the renovation delays at the restaurant also contributed to issues with the liquor license, according to Melchor. The license had been in "safekeeping" with the Pennsylvania Liquor Control Board, meaning it is still valid but deactivated, since the property bar purchased, Melchor said, but because some safekeeping requirements were not met, reactivating the license has proved problematic.

In pursuing the reactivation of the license, Margarita King has perhaps an unexpected supporter.

"We're willing and looking forward to working with them in pursuit of the return of their liquor license," Chief Michael Stefanucci of Meadville Police Department said earlier this month. "And they've shown interest in cooperating with us to address all of the prior issues they've had even though it's now under different ownership."

Stefanucci emphasized that prior issues associated with the location had all occurred under previous ownership when Chestnut Street Pub had operated at the location.

He also said the issues that arose were significant, recalling in particular a brawl in August 2019 that involved numerous people who had been at the bar and occurred just after the bar's normal 2 a.m. closing time. Four people involved in the melee eventually faced charges. One man was stabbed and a responding city police officer suffered a serious injury from broken glass when several of the large front windows of Techbox, directly across the street, were broken in the fighting.

Stefancci said another incident involved a driver intentionally targeting a pedestrian on the sidewalk near the bar.

In response to such incidents, Meadville City Council, the new owners, and former property owner Joseph LaBruzzo II, entered an agreement that imposed a variety of requirements on the new establishment. The requirements prohibit certain large containers of alcoholic beverages and prohibit alcohol from being served after 11:30 p.m. on Fridays and Saturdays and 10:30 p.m. on other days. The agreement also requires numerous security cameras both inside and out and requires the bar to share its security video with city police upon request.

Both Stefanucci and City Manager Maryann Menanno said they were optimistic about the new business.

"We're happy to see it up and running and see that space filled," Menanno said, "with a good restaurant."

Stefanucci approved of the food as well.

"I have personally patronized this new restaurant," he said. "I'm happy with the improvements they've made.'

Melchor said he was not concerned about the requirements imposed on the restaurant given the family-oriented atmosphere of Margarita King and said he didn't anticipate staying open past 11 p.m. The No. 1 priority is customer service, he said.

"I'm trying my best to keep everyone happy," Melchor added.

Across the street, behind the new windows and storefront that have since replaced the ones damaged in 2019, Thomas was optimistic too.

"There's no cause for concern," he said regarding the prospect of the new restaurant regaining its liquor license, "as long as its managed well."

In the meantime, he anticipates being one of those happy customers.

"I'll let them get rolling first," he said, "then pay them a visit."

Mike Crowley can be reached at (814) 724-6370 or by email at mcrowley@meadvilletribune.com.