The exposed beams and high-pitched growl from the saw cutting concrete made it clear that the basement-level restaurant on Depot Street wouldn’t open for a while.
Meanwhile, at the upstairs restaurant, the fully stocked bar, neatly placed and properly spaced tables, and soft lighting signaled it is ready to welcome you in for dinner.
Such is the current status at 11 Depot St., where two of Concord’s most popular restaurants – Angelina’s Ristorante Italiano and Revival Kitchen and Bar – have taken turns receiving major overhauls, after a steamy water pipe burst on the third floor the weekend before Christmas.
Revival is open. Owner Corey Fletcher is in the middle of his three-day soft opening, which cuts his 75-person capacity virtually in half. It ends Thursday, and the restaurant swings wide open on Friday.
Fletcher sat at his bar Tuesday, about six hours before his soft crowd was due to arrive. He said he laid no one off during the one-two punch of COVID and the flood, and he wanted to ease his staff back into the groove.
“We’re doing (the soft opening) just to have a controlled environment,” Fletcher said, “so we’re not just completely crushed with people. It helps us to get back into tune with what we’re doing, and if there are any issues or problems food-wise, beverage-wise, with the computer systems and with protocols, we’ll have time to fix them.”
Fletcher, 40, opened the Revival 4½ years ago, as both its chef and owner. By then, Angelina’s had been open for two decades, and its owner, Rick Dennison, became close allies with Fletcher.
The burst pipe sent torrents of water into the two restaurants on Dec. 20 of last year, nine months after COVID had already crushed America’s economy. Fletcher arrived on the 21st to view the damage.
At the time, water was everywhere, pouring in at a quick pace. A weak pipe in an empty office above Revival was the culprit.
Saturated tiles, drywall and insulation dropped from their ceilings to their floors from the weight, creating soaked piles of debris everywhere.
But, with water forever seeking a downward path, Angelina’s got hit harder.
“Ours was a little more cosmetic than downstairs,” Fletcher said. “Both places had to have completely new wiring, but all the main water pipes and sewer pipes go through their space.”
Those pipes were beneath Angelina’s floor, making that concrete-cutting saw necessary to get to them. Surgery had already been performed in the outer room, immediately off the steps, where a long scar of concrete remained visible after that section of the floor had been cut open.
Dennison, who opened Angelina’s 24 years ago, could not be reached for comment.
Tony Ward, who runs his own construction business out of Bedford, was hired to bring both places back to life.
He predicted Angelina’s will need several more weeks of work before opening day.
Ward, a past resident of Concord, and his crew took care of the Revival first, then moved downstairs for the bigger job.
“We had to saw and had the floor opened up all the way back so we ended up putting new plumbing in, new drainage,” Ward said. “In this area, everything was damaged, because we’re the lowest spot. This is a shell of a building. Everything is being redone, floors, walls, ceilings, new heat pumps.”
Ward said when the work is done, Angelina’s would be sparkling new.
Upstairs, Fletcher is grateful to be back in business.
“It’s enjoyable for us to restock the kitchen and restock the bar,” Fletcher said. “We’re restocking all the supplies, then we’re accepting full reservations. That starts Friday.”