Pizza Rock, a stalwart of the K Street dining scene, closes indefinitely amid pandemic

Pizza Rock, a stalwart of the K Street dining scene since it opened in 2011, has closed indefinitely amid difficult business conditions in a downtown emptied of state workers and others by the coronavirus pandemic.

Restaurant management made the decision Sunday, after operating as a takeout-only establishment for the past two weeks.

In a strip of downtown Sacramento where state employees, convention center visitors and Golden 1 Center-goers make up the majority of customers, business has been dormant since stay-at-home orders went into effect, said manager Tim Benham.

After deciding that outdoor dining was not viable – the restaurant can only place about three tables outside the business – Benham said the restaurant is likely to remain closed until in-person dining is allowed to resume.

“It’s kind of a wait-and-see approach,” Benham said. “It doesn’t make sense for us to reopen until we have more bodies (in downtown).”

San Francisco-based investor George Karpaty paired up with pizza chef Tony Gemignani to open Pizza Rock on K and 10th streets almost a decade ago. The restaurant drew crowds and acclaim for its eclectic interior design that included a flaming monster truck and a Michelangelo-inspired fresco. The success of Pizza Rock was one component in a renaissance that helped turn the western edge of K Street from blighted eyesore to one of the central core’s liveliest destinations.

In late March, the business saw its strong numbers crash as dine-in restrictions went into place and the foot traffic on K Street disappeared. Nevertheless, Pizza Rock stayed open even as the clubs adjacent to it closed due to public gathering restrictions and other businesses chose not to reopen after multiple nights of vandalism in downtown following the George Floyd protests in late May and early June.

Pizza Rock was forced to cut its workforce, then slowly started rehiring when it resumed dine-in service in early June after the state began to “reopen” its economy, according to Benham. But that ended on July 13 when Gov. Gavin Newsom announced the most recent orders to close indoor businesses, a mandate that included dine-in restaurant services.

The uncertainty of business and the dropping number of takeout orders made it difficult for the restaurant to efficiently order ingredients and meet other costs, Karpaty said.

Yet with money coming in from his other businesses and an “understanding” landlord, Karpaty said he is certain Pizza Rock will reopen when it is safe to do so.

“We will absolutely reopen that restaurant, that’s a guarantee from me,” he said. “And we’ll be more creative than ever.”

This story was originally published July 29, 2020 at 10:33 AM.