Rio Cristal Won't Close After All

At a time when so many restaurants are deciding to close up for good, Rio Cristal's owner decided to keep the Cuban restaurant going.

Rio Cristal was going to close on August 31 due to business dropping due to the pandemic. After customer's lined up during what was supposed to be the restaurant's final days and Miami deciding to allow limited dine-in restaurant service, owner Ely Acosta decided to keep her family's restaurant open. The restaurant even sold out of the steaks that it serves under a mountain of fries last weekend.

“The way the community came out to support us was absolutely amazing. We couldn’t just let it go," Acosta told the Miami Herald.

Acosta is now the sole owner of the 46-year-old restaurant after buying out her mother and brother, according to food writer Sef Gonzalez on his blog Burger Beast. Acosta pulled back a down payment on a Tesla to come up with the funds to keep the Winchester location in businesses.

Acosta's late father Pepe Acosta opened Rio Cristal in 1974. She helped out in her family's restaurant from time to time, but her older brother Jose Manuel Acosta ran it. Acosta said her brother and mother will help her take the business over, but she's confident she can keep the restaurant running with the staff that has been at Rio Cristal for decades.

Photo: Flickr