Owners bring Rachel's back home
The owners dropped menu prices 25 percent to attract more business.
By CYNTHIA VINARSKY
VINDICATOR BUSINESS WRITER
AUSTINTOWN -- Rachel's, a fine-dining restaurant that closed in Boardman last year, has reopened in Austintown just around the corner from where it got its start nearly a decade ago.
Brothers Les and Frank Horvath renamed the eatery The New Rachel's Restaurant & amp; Bar when they chose the new location at 3657 Mahoning Ave.
They said they invested about $75,000 remodeling the building, which had been home to several other restaurants over the years.
Steak is the specialty at Rachel's, said chef Chris Steinbeck, but the menu also features seafood, sandwiches, pasta and chicken dishes.
Eager to get a jump-start on rebuilding their business, the Horvaths reduced their menu prices 25 percent last month. Entree prices generally range from $9 to $17.
"With the economy the way it is, we had to cut our prices. We had no choice," Les Horvath said. "We want to get out the word that we're not very high-priced. We have a fine-dining menu with a casual atmosphere."
What happened
The Horvaths were on a roll back in August 2000, when they decided to move Rachel's from its original location on South Four Mile Run Road to a building three times larger at South Avenue and Western Reserve Road in Boardman.
Rachel's was so busy then that they often had to turn guests away, especially on weekends, so they chose a space large enough to accommodate growth, with room for private parties and banquets. The casual Checkered Flag Restaurant they owned in the Austintown Plaza was also gaining popularity.
"We were so excited about the move," Les Horvath said. "We thought we'd be there forever."
But the move to Boardman didn't go well. People were becoming more bargain-conscious because of the sluggish economy and job losses in the region, he said, and the terror attacks Sept. 11, 2001, caused a further decline in the restaurant business.
A road construction project on South Avenue was another negative. "That practically closed us down," Les Horvath recalled, shaking his head.
"I think 90 percent of it was timing. With the changing economy and the high cost of operating, we just couldn't keep up."
False start
Determined to succeed at the South Avenue location, the Horvaths came up with a new concept, a casual, family-oriented restaurant they named the Shark Club. It opened in July 2002, and closed two months later. "It was a great idea, a great menu, great concept, but the timing wasn't right," Les Horvath said.
Now the two Austintown Fitch graduates are back in business in their hometown, and they've seen positive signs.
The Checkered Flag continues to do well, they said. At Rachel's some of their old regulars have returned, and their Mother's Day crowd was large enough to keep both their dining room and their banquet and party rooms bustling.
They plan to remodel the nightclub in the basement of their building and will open it this summer with live, local entertainment. "It's going to be a long road back," Les Horvath said, "but we feel we're the originals. We started it in 1993, and we're definitely the originators of fine dining in Austintown."
vinarsky@vindy.com