Lower Burrell’s food scene has some new tastes, from tableside guacamole to fajitas, plus an array of popular flavors of the Central American beverage agua fresca.
Gio’s Mexican Food celebrated its grand opening Friday at its Leechburg Road location.
Lower Burrell already has embraced the family-run restaurant, said owner Erica Juarez.
“We’re really happy because the community is really nice,” Juarez said.
The restuarant offers burritos, tacos, ceviche and horchata, among other items, she said.
Juarez used to sell home-cooked meals out of the family’s home. Her husband/co-owner Giovanny Osorio worked in various restaurants and was a cook in Mexico, which led them to the decision to open their own place.
“We love cooking,” Juarez said.
The restaurant is named after Osario and the couple’s daughter, Giovanna.
Lower Burrell Mayor Chris Fabry said he thinks the restaurant will do well in its location on a main road, and he’s glad to see another empty building filled in the city.
“It’s always exciting when a new restaurant opens, but it’s even more so, in the fact that it’s an entirely new style of food for residents to pick from,” Fabry said.
The restaurant opening adds to recent momentum in the city’s business district, he said, following the recent opening of MW Mechanical Services, a heating and cooling business.
Juarez was aided in the year and a half lead-up to opening day by the Small Business Development Center at The Institute for Entrepreneurial Excellence at the University of Pittsburgh.
Brent Rondon, the center’s senior management consultant, helped Juarez and Osorio maneuver through the permitting, legal and banking processes of opening a business.
He said the center also helps its clients with marketing and business-goal plans.
“I am so excited and in awe of Erica and Giovanny,” Rondon said. “I am really in admiration of their inner core, their inner spirit.”
The couple is showing up to their restaurant with a positive attitude and a hunger to benefit the community, Rondon said, which was reflected in their willingness to learn about running a business.
The restaurant is open from 11 a.m. to 9 p.m. Monday through Saturday and 11 a.m. to 8 p.m. Sunday.
