The American Grill & BBQ, Wyoming Ave., Exeter, recently enclosed the 40’ x 40’ pavilion at the rear of the restaurant to be utilized year-round.
Tony Callaio | For Sunday Dispatch
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Trista Cruz, partner of American Grill, demonstrates how the newly installed sliding doors could be closed, opened or removed to their 40’ x 40’ pavilion.
Tony Callaio | For Sunday Dispatch
Shown is an interior view of the newly enlcosed pavilion at The American Grill & BBQ. The pavilion is now ready for rental 12 months of the year.
Tony Callaio | For Sunday Dispatch
The service area, bar and smokers are just feet away from the large pavilion at the rear of The American Grill & BBQ.
Tony Callaio | For Sunday Dispatch
EXETER — The American Grill & BBQ took a major step to enhance dining at the restaurant by enclosing the 40’ x 40’ pavilion at the rear of the property for year-round dining.
Trista Cruz, 37, and her husband Shaun, 39, took over the former M.D. Sporting Goods, located on Wyoming Avenue across from Voitek TV & Appliances, in 2015.
The Cruz’s and the Bill Pambianco family formed partnership, creating the American Grill & BBQ, specializing in smoked and grilled BBQ meats.
“We bought the building in March of 2015 and worked for three months to get it all set up,” Trista said. “In July of 2015, we opened the doors after doing the entire inside over.”
Shaun always had a love for BBQ grilling working in the food industry and living in the south, according to Trista.
“My husband thought being a small fish in a big pond, how could we still out as a restaurant with all the pizza restaurants in this area,” Trista added. “We wanted to bring something different and with BBQ being his passion and living in the southern states he got the idea from living in those regions to create something of his own.”
It wasn’t easy breaking into the Greater Pittston area food arena, with many of the local restaurants featuring Italian food and pizza, but Trista and Shaun kept working their craft, improving the building and grounds, and getting their name out.
“In the beginning it was rough, especially on a Friday night,” Trista said. “As you know, around here Friday night is pizza night.”
As the American Grill & BBQ began to catch on, COVID hit in 2020, and Trista admitted it was a huge struggle to get through the pandemic. She feels even though things are better, they are playing catch up, saying she feels the pandemic set them back two years.
One advantage The American Grill had over many of their competitors was the pavilion and backyard outdoor dining.
Local restaurants set up temporary outdoor dining by erecting tents, but that wasn’t the case with The American Grill.
Prior to the pandemic striking in 2020, Trista said her and her husband discussed installing sliding glass doors to the pavilion that could be opened, closed or even removed to increase outdoor dining throughout the year.
According to Trista, the sliding doors were to be installed much sooner, but a supply issue during COVID pushed the project back until its recent completion.
“It’s something we had on the backburner because our outdoor dining was becoming successful, so we committed to it to the pavilion enclosure,” Trista said. “We had our materials ordered over a year ago and it’s taken this long to finally get them in to finish the job.”
Trista said the pavilion has been popular with parties of all sorts, from class reunions to family events, and now that the enclosure is finished, she hopes the gamble will pay off by being able to host events all year long.
“Right now, I’m fielding a lot of questions and that’s really exciting, there’s a lot of curiosity generated,” Trista admitted. “When I posted the enclosure photo on Facebook, we got more likes, shares and comments then the last few giveaways that I did, that’s how excited people are about the pavilion.”
There are a few minor details to button up before the pavilion project is 100% finished, but Trista said she’s ready for the public to rent the pavilion for catered parties.
“I’d love to do office parties, Christmas parties, birthdays, or anniversaries, just to give people a different venue with different food,” Trista said. “We will heat it during the winter and we should be able to fit 70 or more; it depends on what will be needed for the event. I’m really excited.”
For questions about The American Grill & BBQ or holding an event at the pavilion, call Trista at 570-655-1719.