Romanello's South in Hamburg is closing

HAMBURG, N.Y. (WIVB) - Romanello's South in Hamburg, one of three restaurants owned by the Romanello family, is closing its doors for good, Saturday.

The owner says costs kept rising and slumping profits just made it impossible to keep the popular restaurant and banquet hall open.

"It just got to the point that I couldn't throw any more money at it, nor my brothers. We kept on throwing money at it, and it got to the point where we couldn't do it anymore," said John Romanello.

After serving up dinners and parties for 33 years, Romanello says he just wasn't making enough money to keep Romanello's South afloat. Romanello and his two brothers own three Western New York restaurants between them, but as of this weekend, they're down to two.

"It's heartbreaking. It is heartbreaking for my family, it's heartbreaking for my children...it really is," Romanello said.

While the closing is this weekend, Romanello said the handwriting has been on the wall for quite some time.

Romanello said, "I haven't sold a gift certificate since November because we did not want to lie to them."

But Romanello's does have a number of bookings for the banquet hall that still have to be addressed, such as Jacqueline Tymorek's wedding reception scheduled for September.

This is the bride-to-be's second disappointment. Her first choice for a reception hall had to be canceled for re-modeling. Now Romanello's is closing. Her announcements have already been printed and she has no idea when she will get her thousand-dollar deposit back for the banquet hall.

"They were at the manufacturer waiting to be sent out, back to my invitation place to be sent to me, and I had to call and say that I need the reception cards fixed," Tymorek said.

Romanello plans to sell off the restaurant and equipment to help refund about $5,000 worth of deposits.

Romanello said, "If there is anything left, we will give the deposits back, and I hope to give them back, I really hope to give them back."

If you have a gift certificate, Romanello's will honor it right up until closing on Saturday. After that the Old Orchard Inn in East Aurora, owned by Romanello's brothers, will accept the gift certificates for a few more weeks.

But getting a return for a deposits for the banquet hall is going to be tough.