A&W Rootbeer & Long John Silvers at Front & 3rd.
The A&W/Long John Silver’s hybrid restaurant located at the corner of Front Avenue & 3rd Street will soon be changing formats. The restaurant has been up for sale for several months now, after it was reported that the franchisers no longer wished to maintain a location in Bismarck. The last day in its current format will be tomorrow, at which time the restaurant will be remodeled to reopen in a few weeks as “Reza’s Pitch” – named after a Soccer term.
Reza’s Pitch will be a casual dining restaurant featuring such menu items as burgers and fries. The restaurant will also begin serving beer. It is unclear if the restaurant will still feature drive-through service.
The A&W/Long John Silver’s restaurant had opened in 1997. It was designed to mimmick the classic A&W Drive-ins, complete with carhops. Although the carports still remain, they have not been used for some time, replaced with a standard drive-through window.
Former A&W Drive-in on Memorial Highway
This is not the first time A&W has left the region. A location had existed for many years on Memorial Highway across from what was then known as the Holiday Inn, near the entrance to the Liberty Memorial Bridge. That location closed sometime in the early 1990s.
There were several later attempts to return the name to Bismarck prior to its location on Front Avenue, including a small concession stand at Kirkwood Mall and a location at Cenex on Divide, which had featured drive-through service.
In 2007, a second location was constructed on State Street; however, after reportedly being unable to find employees, the building soon became home to Wendy’s.
After rebranding, the closest A&W Restaurants will be located in Minot and Dickinson, and the closest Long John Silver’s locations in Fargo and Aberdeen.
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Here is my take on Reza’s Pitch. It stinks to high heaven. The reason is because the new restaurant is a soccer themed location and soccer isn’t that big in the state. The only time it is a serious issue is during the boys and girls state soccer tournaments which feature three games of round-robin play followed by the top teams in both groups going to the championship. Other than that, the only time soccer makes headlines is when the US Soccer teams make headlines regardless of the result. This concept would fly in Columbus, OH which is a soccer hotbed, not Bismarck.
Jessy, are you even from Bismarck or ND? There are hundreds of kids participating in local soccer teams and leagues, and it appears to be growing. Also, the 2009 Boys state soccer tournament followed a traditional format of Quarter-finals, Semi-finals, & Finals. I can’t speak for the past, but I know it was this way the past season:
http://www2.edutech.nodak.edu/edcsite/BSoccer/StateTournamentbsoccer.html
I’m not saying this will make their restaurant any more successful, but what does it hurt to try something new? Good Luck to them!
I’m thinking Jessy was saying soccer isn’t popular as a spectator sport. Football and hockey are definitely the dominate sports here so it’s certainly a gamble to open a Soccer-themed restaurant in Bismarck, but it is refreshing to see a new concept like this open.
I really don’t mind that they changed I just really hope they have somewhat the same food they used to have, like there chicken strips were the best and no one else makes them like that.
YOu would be suprised at how many soccer fans there really are in this area..The place is packed when there is a game on. There are several regulars that are there just about everyday, even early morning when a big game is on Rezza allows people in to watch it. It’s also not jsut Soccer, they shoue football, baseball, hockey, nascar and any other sport that you would like to watch, as long as someone else isn’t watching soccer on the TV you want. Have also broadcasted the Bobcats games and the Wizards..So maybe check into things before upi give it a Big Red mark..Burgers are Awesome…