Ernesto's, Free Pizza No More
Bend Loses Best Happy-Hour Venue
By Joseph Friedrichs, 7-02-08
The first time I was told Ernesto’s Italian Restaurant in Bend dished out free pizza during Happy Hour so long as one ordered a cocktail that costs more than $3 my response was this: Can I order two?
My friend and informant of the free pizza nodded that indeed, you could.
“Hell,” he said, “you can order as many drinks as you want. So long as you don’t pass out or blackout and start smashing things.”
Well, dear reader, the free pizza is no more. Ernesto’s officially closed for business this week.
Ernesto’s was the perfect Happy Hour hideaway. Built in 1996, its dark den downstairs offered customers comfortable couches, spacious tables, gambling and cheap booze. Patrons were allowed to smoke. And then there was the free pizza. Truth be told it wasn’t the best pizza in Bend. But it didn’t matter; it was free, even if just for 90 minutes of greasy bliss each afternoon. Guests could also snack on an assortment of free vegetables, but we all know how boring that is.
The Bend Bulletin reports that soaring food prices, an economic downturn and possibly a theme that had run its course in restaurant-saturated Bend all contributed to the closure of Ernesto’s.
Revenues at the restaurant this year were down 25 percent, while costs had increased 17 percent over last year, Ernesto’s owner Michael Ceccanti told the Bulletin.
On Monday Ceccanti informed his 40 full- and part-time employees that they were no longer employed.
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