After a 9 month hiatus chef Matthew and Cindy Sarbak have announced the re-opening of Matthew’s Trattoria at Lovell Place. Sarbak’s indicated that while the economy and difficult lease negotiations led to the closing in the spring of 2009, the response of his customers led him and his wife Cindy to re-open the restaurant.
Sarbak said “we were getting 5 or so calls a week at our home asking us when and where we would be serving again. We looked at many other properties in and out of town but in the end, Lovell Place is the most cool and unique space. Lovell Place was designed for us, Lovell Place is the Trattoria’s home.”
Deanna Rosenthal of Altair Management, Lovell Place’s property management firm, indicated that both commercial and residential tenants were anxious for the restaurant to re-open. Rosenthal stated “in the months since Matthew’s closed, we learned how much our tenants and the community missed Matthew’s unique cooking style as well as access to the community’s most attractively fit-out Martini Bar.”
The restaurant had a soft-opening on Friday the 11th for staff training and testing of the new menu. Chef Sarbak has redesigned the menu to feature tapas plates which makes dining affordable and quicker for busy schedules.
The Restaurant is open Monday-Saturday 5:00PM-Midnight (and sometimes later on Friday-Saturday). Nightly drink specials will include SIN (Service Industry Night – not just for servers anymore) $1 off everything and “Twosdays” – 2 shots are better than 1 mixed drink. Reservations are no longer needed but are recommended on weekends for tables of 8 or more. The main dining room will now only be used for banquets.
Rosenthal, closed by saying “Lovell Place, Altair Property Management and Matthew’s Trattoria have worked very hard to freshen up the restaurant and are thrilled to announce the reopening.”
Matthew’s will be hosting an invitation only grand re-opening on Monday the 21st from 5pm-7pm. The public is encouraged to join the party after 7pm. For more information on Matthew’s Trattoria, please call (814) 459-6458 or visit them on the web at www.matthewstrattoria.com
I hope they are a little friendlier after their time off. It is such a cool space but I never felt welcome when visiting.
I organize monthly events around town for a local non-profit and this is the only place that ever wanted to charge us, in addition to us buying food and drinks. ALL of the other more refined places, not only opened their doors without charge, but some even gave us free apps to accommodate our group and didnt talk down to us.
Never will I ever.
Matthews restaurant is a welcome asset to any community. Quality food prepared and presented in a professional manner is a wonderful facility. Their new tapas style menu allow those of us that would prefer smaller portions of this quality food thus allowing those of us a more affordable experience more often.
I have always felt welcome at Matthews and have enjoyed their menu and especially the sensitivity to customers with food and chemical
allergies such as “glutten free” items on the menu.
Frankly, comfort and feeling welcome is a security you need to bring with you and expecting any business who deals in a truly quality product usually cost them money in food, administrative and marketing costs need to make a profit to stay in business. Nobody
sends them money for food, rent and overhead, just because they have a “business” does not mean they can supply “free” product and continue to stay in business. I for one, fully appreciate that they try again to invest in the Erie market and did not chose to leave to another area.
Welcome chef Matthew and good luck this time around.
As a lifetime industry insider, I have to agree that Erie is lucky to have a few select places where there are schooled chefs in the kitchen and an FOH staff that is both educated and matured. I wish all the best for the non-profits, but not everybody can afford to give out lots of free stuff. So, to “flagshipcity,” a challenge: tell us the names of the restaurants who’ve provided apparently unlimited free food to your guests in exchange for bar business. Also, please explain how many of which items were provided (was it bunches of fried mushrooms, leftover beef tips, a tray of diced block cheese or two with ritz crackers, gorton’s fish sticks? Or is it typically imported pastas with non-canned/non mass produced sauces, anything not deepfried, or cheeses that with non-westernized names and crackers that don’t taste like salted cardboard?). What are the kitchens like at the places that give lots of freebies? Have you ever pulled out any heavy equipment to see what kind of gunk is built up behind it? Do you visit during off hours when bar managers are watering down the liquor bottles? Do the chain restaurants with their advertising and purchasing power ever help your cause? How many places that helped you out three years ago are still in business?
I’ll confess that I’m a purveyor, but I’ve been around this industry for years–and I know all the shortcuts. Most independant establishments do far far far more for their communities than the chains do–and most of them make far far far less profits. So tell us all so we can seek out these great places that are well establihed, are clean, serve quality products, have an educated and highly trained staff, and can afford to give away their (non) profits. And maybe you could also tell us your non-profit salary–I’ll bet you money it beats the heck out of those of the typical local chef. Anyway, please tell.