Our long national nightmare is over.

Pao’s Mandarin House in Lakeway reopened yesterday.

At least, that’s the word on the street. I’ve been a little busy and didn’t get a chance to make it over there last night. Plus, judging from the reaction on NextDoor, I figure it was probably packed to the rafters.

In other news, the HouChron is reporting that Romano’s Macaroni Grill has filed for bankruptcy protection.

I used to go to Romano’s semi-regularly, but now I can’t remember the last time I set foot in one. (I do vaguely remember the last time I set foot in an Olive Garden, but only because I got so annoyed, I left before they even asked for my drink order.)

And I would have sworn Romano’s was a Brinker International restaurant. I was wrong: according to Wikipedia, Brinker has a minority interest, but:

  • the majority of shares were sold to “Mac Acquisition LLC, an affiliate of Golden Gate Capital” in 2008.
  • Ignite Restaurant Group (the parent company of Joe’s Crab Shack and Brickhouse Tavern, which also filed for bankruptcy earlier this year and was bought up by Landry’s) bought the majority stake for $55 million in 2013.
  • And then sold it to Redrock Partners LLC for $8 million in 2015.
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