Mezz moves toward opening

WOONSOCKET – Steve Seagrave is getting close to opening his new The Mezz! Pizza, Ribs and Wieners restaurant at 800 Providence St. after completing a substantial renovation of the business location.

Seagrave had operated the Firehouse Tavern in Blackstone until closing that restaurant after losing parking space to the new Blackstone River Bikeway route and turned to Woonsocket for a new opportunity.

The result is the pizza and smokehouse set up he is now completing in the former Chicken Power restaurant at 800 Providence St. next door to Providence Street Liquors.

The restaurant space is being completely redesigned and a new awning with The Mezz! logo on it was put up this week.

“We’ve got the awning up and we are almost done with the remodeling work,” Seagrave said on Thursday. “We have redesigned the whole kitchen and put in booths and some tables,” he noted.

The business now has a handicapped accessible restroom and Seagrave put in lunch counter seating along the front store windows to provide patrons with a bright area to sit during the daytime.

The restaurant business has already been granted a beer and wine license by the City Council as part of its local permitting and Seagrave is working up a menu that will offer everything from pizza to smokehouse- cooked beef brisket and pulled pork, to rotisserie chicken and Woonsocketstyle wieners. The restaurant will feature an on- site

smokehouse cooker for its brisket and pulled- pork menu items, and Seagrave is also planning to offer roasted half- chicken dinners with shells and fries as another local staple.

The new restaurant will have seating for 30 to 35 people and also offer takeout and delivery services, Seagrave said.

“We have done a lot of work inside and there is a whole new look to the place, it doesn’t look anything like it did before,” he noted.

For now, Seagrave expects he will need another three to four weeks of work to get ready for the restaurant’s start up. “I still have to train employees and get the computer system up and running,” he said. “We are getting there but I want to be 100 percent ready when we open,” he said.

Seagrave is in the process of hiring employees and expects to have a staff ranging from 5 to 10 employees when the business opens.

Photo by Joseph B. Nadeau A new sign goes up at The Mezz! restaurant at 800 Providence St. in Woonsocket. Working on the sign from AA Thrifty Sign and Awning in Greenville are Steve Towne, Francisco Gonzalez and Eric Volpe.