MANCHESTER, N.H. – The rumors are true: Caesario’s is back.
With decades of history serving pizza on Elm Street, customers have been treated to a soft opening of the reborn Caesario’s with an official grand opening coming on the 23rd of February.
Following a fire that closed down the restaurant in 2022, the path to reopening came thanks a family with a long history of running pizza places in New Hampshire and Rhode Island before taking over Caesario’s as new owners.
One member of that family, Sami Ahmad, is looking to take his pizza experience from Mamma Mia’s on Hampton Beach and other restaurants on the Seacoast into the new Caesario’s, but the needed renovations were nothing compared to what he had seen before. Updates included a new ceiling, a new HVAC system, modifications to plumbing and electrical systems, and a $250,000 grill hood that required a crane to install. The changes to the restaurant create an atmosphere that feels familiar yet updated.
Like the atmosphere, Ahmad says that the food seeks to recapture the essence of the old Caesario’s while incorporating favorites from the beach he perfected in Hampton. They will have new items like fried Oreos, fried dough and new types of subs but it will also have the New York-style thin crust pizza the restaurant is known for, with dough made on-site.
And even though there are differences from the old Caesario’s, Ahmad wanted to keep the core of what customers came for, intact. Even the iconic sign outside the restaurant has been restored at a cost of $60,000 when a new sign could have been bought at $8,000, he says the pull of the nostalgia was worth that cost for the sign as well as rejuvenating the restaurant’s soul.
“(Caesario’s) is a name that has its own value, so we’re trying to keep that value and bring it up to what it once was,” said Ahmad. “If we wanted to, we could come up with our own name and make it work, there are many empty storefronts we could have gone to. But, we wanted to bring Caesario’s back to the way it was, with all its history, and bring it back to life.”
Eric Lesniak of the Manchester Economic Development Office was impressed with the family’s ability to keep moving toward the re-opening despite all the renovation obstacles. He noted how it has begun to pay off with the early reviews.
“To keep the name, the signs, we talked about the history (of Caesario’s), how it has a very deep-rooted history. People are nostalgic,” he said. “(After the soft opening) everyone got excited. Now, when you see feedback, you see some negative thoughts here and there but for the most part its positive stuff that reflects the effort put into renovating and the quality food and the friendly environment.”
Lesniak and other local dignitaries will be on hand for a ribbon cutting at 3 p.m. for the Feb. 23 official grand opening day. More information can be found at Caesariosnh.com. NOTE: The ribbon cutting has been moved to 2 p.m. on Thursday, March 5 following the snow storm on Feb. 23.