Elizabeth’s Spirito’s up for sale

An iconic restaurant in the Garden State is up for sale.

News 12 Staff

Jan 11, 2020, 1:04 AM

Updated 1,587 days ago

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An iconic restaurant in the Garden State is up for sale.
Spirito's Italian Restaurant in Elizabeth has been a neighborhood icon ever since it opened in 1932. Most New Jerseyans know a place like Spirito’s – a neighborhood eatery that has the best local food.
But would anyone want to buy one? That’s the question Elizabeth residents are asking with news that Spirito’s is up for sale, listed at $475,000.
News 12 New Jersey’s Brian Donohue went to the neighborhood around the restaurant to speak with some of the city’s residents about the beloved restaurant.
He headed down the block to Sacco's Butcher where the coffee cups say, ‘We're happy to serve you,’ but there's a baseball bat by the door just in case they get less happy. The shop is known to make a mean steak sandwich. The sale of Spirito’s was a hot topic.
“Yeah, I mean it’s a classic. It’s been here forever. Consistency. It’s always been… We’ll see. We’ll see what happens,” said one patron inside the butcher shop. But when asked if he would be willing to buy the establishment, he replied, “I got out of the restaurant business a long time ago,” with a laugh.
The customers inside the butcher shop all said that they guessed that Spirito’s’s would be bought by someone who would make it into a Colombian or another type of Latino restaurant.
Elizabeth has become known for its Latino culture and cuisine – immigrant family restaurants serving “old country” fare. Donohue says that it’s a similar story to how Spirito’s begins, just with empanadas replacing ravioli.
Regardless, Donohue says that it is said to see a longtime and beloved establishment disappear.
The real estate listing for Spirito’s includes the entire restaurant, liquor license and two apartments upstairs.


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