Arrivederci, Tony Roma's

A reader writes:

I drove by the Tacoma Tony Roma's location 2 weeks and saw it was closed. I was in Southcenter on Saturday and Tony Roma's is closed there also.

I'm getting disconnected numbers, or no answers, at Tony Roma's from Southcenter to Silverdale to Olympia to Federal way to Tacoma, including the corporate number.

Consider this the first draft of history. I'll get back to you when I dig up more.

By the way, I'm not crying in my barbecue sauce over this one. If Tony Roma's is closed, I say good riddance to rib rubbish.

Update: Someone at Romacorp, Tony Roma's HQ in Dallas, told me that several locations indeed shut down. The corporate parent did not buy back the franchises, he said. I'm waiting for a call from someone else with more info.

Update 3/23: Seems that Tony Roma's answers customers' online queries faster than they return reporters' phone calls. Whatever. Citizen journalism rocks:

From: Guest Relations mail@tonyromas.com

Date: 03/22/07 11:09:43

To: junebug@[redacted].com

Subject: RE: Locations

 

Unfortunately, the franchise owner/operator made the decision to close the Tacoma, Tukwila and Olympia locations, permanently. Thank you.

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From: junebug@[redacted].com [mailto:mail@tonyromas.com]

Sent: Thursday, March 22, 2007 12:30 AM

To: Guest Relations

Subject: Locations

Comments :

What happened to the restaurant in Tacoma at the Mall?

This story was originally published March 20, 2007 at 2:01 AM with the headline "Arrivederci, Tony Roma's."