Tarentum Station Grille owner eyes reopening ahead of Valentine's Day weekend

After scrapping earlier plans to reopen, John Greco says that his Tarentum restaurant will be open for Valentine’s Day weekend “come hell or high water.”

Greco plans to reopen JG’s Tarentum Station Grille on Feb. 10, the Wednesday before Valentine’s Day. The restaurant, in a historic former train station in the heart of Tarentum, has been closed since March because of the covid-19 pandemic.

“We look forward to reopening and to see all of our loyal customers again,” he said.

Greco said he has invested in new lights and fans in the main dining room and bar, and bought new wooden table tops that can be easily sanitized between settings.

“We are cleaning, repainting, reorganizing and preparing to follow all the guidelines to operate a safe restaurant,” Greco said. “As always, our customers and employees’ safety is a major focus and priority.”

While state regulations currently limit restaurants and bars to 25% of indoor capacity, Greco said he has opted into the self-certification program that will allow him to increase capacity to 50%.

In addition to following all required public health and safety measures, restaurants participating in the voluntary program must require mask-wearing, social distancing of at least 6 feet, limited indoor and outdoor seating and alcohol sales ending at 11 p.m.

A searchable directory of enrolled restaurants is available online.

Greco chose to keep his restaurant shuttered last year because he said he wasn’t sure it would be economically feasible to operate limited to 25% or 50% of capacity.

After wanting to reopen Nov. 1 but not feeling they would be ready, Greco and his team set a date in early December, but called that off after Allegheny County officials issued a stay-at-home advisory in mid-November because of a spike in covid cases. The cancellation of many Christmas parties also factored into Greco’s decision to not reopen then.

The next target was the week of Jan. 4.

Greco said they were not able to open Jan. 4 because there was not enough time to be ready after state officials announced about a week before that covid-19 restrictions would be lifted as of that date, and because the remodeling was not finished.

“Certainly, trying to be ready for Valentine’s Day was a factor,” he said. “There is no question whatsoever that we will be ready to open on Feb. 10 unless the governor decides to step in again. I do not think that will happen, but your guess is as good as mine.”

Greco said he’s hoping to have a busy Valentine’s Day weekend.

“We are not sure about a special menu, but every other Valentine’s Day we have had a special menu,” he said. “We most likely will follow that plan.”