Olazzo's Silver Spring Location To Close Permanently On Saturday

SILVER SPRING, MD — As native Silver Spring sons, Roberto and Riccardo Pietrobono always fancied the notion of opening and growing a restaurant in their hometown. For 15 years, they watched as Olazzo became a staple in the city’s downtown district while the sons of Italian immigrants provided their take on the cuisine to area diners.

But like everyone in the restaurant business, the two brothers have been forced to make difficult decisions over the past year when the coronavirus pandemic has taken a toll on the bottom line of their five restaurants. Although they have never closed a restaurant, that will change on Saturday when the Silver Spring Olazzo location will hang the “Closed” sign for the final time.

The restaurant announced in a Facebook post on Wednesday that it will close the location permanently as the owners wrote that “it’s time for us to focus on other pursuits and dedicate our passions evenly.”

Roberto Pietrobono told Patch on Friday that the decision to close in Silver Spring wasn’t easy, but that “everything has to come to an end.” The location on Georgia Avenue, wasn’t failing by any means, he said, but acknowledged that the mental toll of seeing a group of restaurants through the pandemic was greater than can sometimes be explained.

Pietrobono said that looking back at photos of opening the Silver Spring location took him back and reminded him just how much work went into opening what was their second location at the time.

“It was always a dream to open a place where we’re from,” Pietrobono said in a telephone interview. “It was always kind of a ‘Cheers’ type of a spot where everyone knew each other. We did very good there.”

He added: “I think the place meant a lot to a lot of people. It meant a lot to us, too.”

While business was always good, Pietrobono said that keeping the doors open at five restaurants was difficult over the past year. With constantly changing regulations and restrictions because of the pandemic, Olazzo’s business took a hit like everyone else. Eventually, Pietrobono, decisions had to be made about where energy would be best directed, which led to the choice to shutter the Silver Spring location for good at the close of business on Saturday.

The restaurant will remain open until 10 p.m., he said. The restaurant management has announced it will keep its Bethesda location open. Pietrobono isn’t closing the door of possibility on one day opening another restaurant in Silver Spring, but for now, the time has come to move on, he said.

“I don’t think it’s a surprise to anybody that the past year has been tough,” he said. “There’s always an unknown if you’re going to close down, open up – that’s a really tough way to run a business because you’re hiring people and there are a lot of livelihoods at stake there. People are looking to you for answers and you don’t have any answers because you’re at the mercy of not only the pandemic and other factors, too. …You don’t know what’s going to happen next.

“Every person has their breaking point I guess you could say.”

Pietrobono has appreciated the support of a community where he and his brother grew up and attended school — all the way through college. He has seen a lot of changes take place in the years since they opened and has watched as the restaurant has managed to survive through good times and bad. But after the past year, he said decisions had to be made and that at least for now, the choice to walk away from doing business in Silver Spring became a necessity.

He admitted the idea of closing the doors hasn’t sunk in yet but knows that he will always value the time Olazzo became a dining option for Silver Spring residents.

“It’s a tough decision because we do pretty well there,” Pietrobono told Patch. “It’s not like we’re a failing business, but eventually, the mental aspect of it gets affected. …the pandemic is a really tough time to operate.”