A shuttered Grand Rapids' diner is getting new life as a pizza restaurant.

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Royals in Grand Rapids to Reopen as Pizza Place

In June we told you that Royals in Grand Rapids' East Hills neighborhood would be temporarily closing.

Royals has had a rough go, taking over the old Johnny B'z space at 701 Wealthy in March of 2020, just as the pandemic began.

The Lee family, owners of All In Hospitality Group LLC, also own the nearby restaurants Donkey, Hancock, and Winchester.

At the time the Lee family vowed Royals would reopen, saying,

Our intention is to retool, reevaluate, and re-conceptualize to help relaunch Royals later this summer/Fall.

Well, we now know that Royals will relaunch as a pizza joint!

According to the restaurant's Facebook page, Royals is "a modern take on the classic neighborhood pizza parlor and sports bar."

When Will Royals Reopen in Grand Rapids?

Royals has been sharing teasers about their reopening on Facebook and Instagram. A post this week gave a sneak peak at a new menu items, saying "T-7 days!".

According to MiBiz, Royals will officially reopen Tuesday, August 30, 2022. Leading up to that, the restaurant will hold a soft opening this week.

On temporarily closing Royals and pivoting to pizza, co-owner Paul Lee tells MiBiz,

Before the pandemic, we were going for a breakfast and brunch spot, and I think it could have worked. But one of the things that happened with the pandemic is people were working at home, not in offices, and schools were closed. There were fewer people going out for breakfast and having those meetings at restaurants...

Pizza is one of those things that in good times and bad times, everyone loves pizza. But what the pandemic really did was, if you weren’t set up for convenient takeout, then places did struggle. But that’s one of the things we built into this from the get-go: Opportunities to capture takeout and figure out what’s missing.

Lee says he's going for more of "a little more of a throwback” pizza parlor vibe at  Royals.

MiBiz reports that the new restaurant will feature stone-baked pizza and a full bar, including wine and cocktails.

Check out Royals' menu here.

Follow Royals on Facebook and Instagram for updates.

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