Greensburg’s Abie & Bimbo’s Pizza closes after 57 years in business

New Year’s came with a wave of sadness for Doug Mirolli, as he announced the closure of the pizza restaurant he has owned for nearly two decades.

Mirolli, 47, of Greensburg, has owned Abie & Bimbo’s Pizza along Greensburg’s Highland Avenue since 2007.

Known for its Pizzaroni subs and giant fish sandwiches, the restaurant first opened its doors in Jeannette in 1967. It later expanded into four additional locations — two in Greensburg, one in North Huntingdon and one in Latrobe — before condensing to the Highland Avenue location.

The original owners were close family friends of Mirolli — who attended culinary school and earned a hotel and restaurant management degree from IUP in 1995. Mirolli spent two years traveling across the country and working at ski resorts, national parks and local dive bars.

He was working at Seven Springs Mountain Resort’s slopeside lounge and coffee shop when his dad told him their family friends wanted Mirolli to buy the pizza restaurant. He took ownership two weeks later.

“It was very different,” he said. “The first couple of years definitely were very eye-opening for me, but as things got going, it got easier.”

Abie & Bimbo’s was one of about 77,000 pizza restaurants scattered across the United States, according to global restaurant consultant Aaron Allen & Associates. Major chains make up more than 50% of the market, the consultant said.

Chain pizza restaurants on average generate about $656,000 per year, while independent pizza restaurants generate $385,000 on average, the consultant said.

Closure is ‘emotional’ for longtime employee

Kayla Pisone worked at the Highland Avenue restaurant from 2010 to 2020 — spending part of the time with her cousins, Nick and Derek Hughes.

“We kind of did a little bit of everything,” said Pisone, 32, of Greensburg. “Doug cross-trained us on everything.”

Even after graduating and starting a job for a local primary care physician in 2012, Pisone continued to work at the restaurant on the weekends until she became pregnant with her daughter in 2020.

For Pisone, Abie & Bimbo’s was more than just a college job. It is where she grew up.

Pisone learned to cook from one of the restaurant’s longtime chefs. She met her husband there in 2010, when he came in to order a meal on Christmas Eve. They started dating the following spring.

“I got really emotional, so I texted Doug,” Pisone said, reflecting on when she learned of the restaurant’s closure. “All of these memories just came back. It’s just so emotional knowing my daughter won’t be able to go there.”

Owner reflects on 17 years

The decision to close the restaurant is a bittersweet one for Mirolli.

“The reason for shutting, it is truly my decision. A lot of factors went into it, and I do not want to get into the specifics of that,” he said. “But as life goes on, there is always time and room for change.”

Though Mirolli will not miss the 12-hour workdays that came with restaurant ownership, he looks fondly on the rush of serving 400 lbs worth of fish sandwich orders on Fridays during the Catholic season of Lent.

“I won’t use the terminology that the employees would give me,” he said with a laugh. “I would be very unpleasant for a couple of hours — very barky, very ‘I need this right now. Should have had it five minutes ago.’

“But then when it’s all over and done with at the end of the night, we’d all just take a big, deep breath and be like ‘Wow, that was fun.’”

Mirolli’s social media feeds are with farewell wishes to Abie & Bimbo’s.

“The outpouring of people posting on Facebook — friends, family members, past employees — of just ‘Oh my gosh, I can’t believe this.’ And, yeah, part of me can’t believe it either. I’ve done it for 17 years.

“But there’s always new things in life, and that’s what it’s time to focus on,” Mirolli said. “Family is the most important thing, and that’s what I’m going to focus on for the next few weeks.”