NORTH ADAMS, Mass. — A Main Street eatery has reopened under new ownership after being closed for four months.
Angie Mazza the new owner of Ramunto's Pizza & Pub, but she's no stranger to Ramunto's. Mazza has been working at the restaurant for about five years in various positions.
"I originally started here approximately five years ago," she said. "My brother had owned the restaurant at the time, and I was in nursing school and COVID had just hit, so I started traveling from Springfield down here to help him out, and then after COVID, I kind of I moved to this area eventually, and then I ended up taking on a bigger role here."
Once her brother, T.J. Maroney, left to pursue other things she became the manager and eventually was asked earlier this year if she would like to take over the restaurant. She said she loves the restaurant and what it brings to the community.
"I have been managing it for a while now, and I really love the environment that this restaurant provides to the community. It's just a great place for people to gather, and we host a lot of sports teams and family events, and I think it's a huge part of the community."
Ramunto's Brick Oven Pizza is a local franchise chain with eight restaurants in Massachusetts, New Hampshire and Vermont, and in four Jiffy mart locations. The closest Ramunto's is in The Log on Spring Street in Williamstown. The chain was started by the Ramunto family in West Lebanon, N.H., 30 years ago. The restaurant opened in North Adams in 2016 and has had several owners since.
In May, the North Adams pizzeria posted on Facebook the news it would be closing and Mazza taking over, in a post that partly read:
"We're proud to share that Angie Mazza — a local resident, new mother of three, and someone you all know as the face of Ramunto’s for the past three years — will be taking over as owner-operator. Angie's dedication, warmth, and commitment to the community make her the perfect person to lead Ramunto's into its next chapter."
Ramunto's hosted an invitation only night on Tuesday and a grand opening that included raffles and prizes was on Wednesday.
Mazza said she and her crew have been working hard on renovations like replacing the HVAC system, redoing some of the floors, replacing chairs, renovating bathrooms, and more. The brown paper that covered the windows was removed on Tuesday.
"It was a lot of hard, physical work, and there's something to be said about all the work that we put in. My manager and I work here day in and day out, especially the last few weeks, working non-stop around the clock to get this place to look the way it does. And we did most of the work ourselves," she said.
She's also thankful for her family who came in and helped her throughout the summer as well. Mazza also mentioned that most of the staff are the same as before and is thankful for their help.
The menu hasn't changed but she plans to expand it and make a couple of changes. She also plans to bring back special nights and hopes to add trivia nights as well.
"For the next couple of weeks, there will be slight menu changes in the near future as we update our like physical copies of menus, and we'll be adding some new fun flavors to the menus," she said. "We're going to implement specials. So there's going to be daily specials and monthly specials. We're going to try to bring back our wing night and our pasta night, and we'll also have burger night, and then we also would like to implement trivia in the near future."
The current hours are 4 to 9 on Wednesday and Thursday, 11:30 to 10 on Friday and Saturday, and noon to 9 on Sunday.
Mazza said the once everything in settled in the hours will eventually go back to the way they were; check the Facebook page for updates.
(Note the new Facebook page is named Ramuntos Pizza and Pub North Adams, MA.)
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North Adams City Council Hears Housing Authority Grievances
By Tammy Daniels iBerkshires Staff
NORTH ADAMS, Mass. — Unhealthy odors, drugs, mold, peeling paint, unsecured doors, lack of security and frightened residents.
That was the list of grievances that current and former tenants of the North Adams Housing Authority's high rise on Ashland Street laid before the City Council on Tuesday.
"I've stayed quiet long enough. I've been professional long enough. Somebody needs to do something. Damn it! It's getting too bad over there. It's worse than it's ever been. There's more drug people there. There's more dealers there. There's drunks rolling around in there, drinking out front, doing drugs out front," said Tenants Association President Cory Fortin.
"Everybody's pointing fingers at everybody. Let's all get together and do this damn thing. Get it done. I'm sick of it."
Tenants have been speaking out at council meetings about security issues and Councilor Lillian Zavatsky, liaison to the authority, requested time for Fortin to speak. The authority has been in some upheaval lately with the loss of commissioner and the abrupt resignation of the executive director last week.
The association had called for a formal grievance hearing against Jennifer Hohn after she locked their offices. Hohn has not publicly spoken about her resignation. The Housing Authority is meeting on Thursday for "acknowledgement" of the vacancy.
"My paperwork that I put in for my maintenance request, ah, disappeared. We have nothing on record. There's a lot of things that this board, this council, the mayor, everybody needs to look at the big picture," Fortin said, adding that some tenants were worried about attending the meeting because of fears of retaliation. "All I'm asking for is the right support and for this this council, this mayor, and everybody to do what's right."
That was the list of grievances that current and former tenants of the North Adams Housing Authority's high rise laid before the City Council on Tuesday.
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