Advertisement

Fans of burger platter at Pach's Place take note: Eatery moving to Tahitian Inn

 
Cathy Maes, manager of Pach's Place and daughter of owner Isun Maes, center, speaks with Mary McDonald, who has served at Pach's Place for 20 years, right, and customer Mark Horvath, left. [GABRIELLA ANGOTTI-JONES   |   Times]
Cathy Maes, manager of Pach's Place and daughter of owner Isun Maes, center, speaks with Mary McDonald, who has served at Pach's Place for 20 years, right, and customer Mark Horvath, left. [GABRIELLA ANGOTTI-JONES | Times]
Published Jan. 25, 2018

TAMPA — For some, Pach's Place has been a daily routine for nearly 40 years.

The South Tampa restaurant, pronounced Patches Place, has served American-style cuisine to customers who date back to the eatery's opening in 1992.

"They come here every day, 365 days a year, for breakfast or lunch," said Cathy Maes, who, along with her mother Isun Maes, owns Pach's. "We have grown up together. We go through things together. We are a family."

But on January 31, those loyal patrons will be served their final meal at the 2909 W. Bay to Bay Blvd. locale.

The lease is up and the new rent is too high, Maes said.

But Pach's country fried steak and jumbo hamburger platter aren't going away, not even for 24 hours.

Pach's Place will reopen the very next day, Feb. 1, at a new location, taking over the restaurant space outside the Tahitian Inn at 601 S. Dale Mabry Hwy., less than three miles away.

"We are looking forward to the move but also a little sad this is all coming to an end," Maes said. "But the only thing that stays the same in life is that things change."

Pach's currently has 20 tables and 80 seats. The Tahitian location boasts 30 and 120.

Maes is not concerned about filling the extra chairs, confident that regulars will make the move while the inn's guests and those who live around it add to Pach's customer base.

"Absolutely I will keep going and I think everyone will," said Jack Harris, local radio personality and a Pach's diner for over 30 years.

"It is my family tradition that started with my dad to go there on Sundays and now I go with my son. Pach's and Cathy and Isun and the staff and all their customers feel like my family."

A customer since the restaurant opened, former Tampa mayor Dick Greco was elated to learn that the Pach's tradition will live on.

"Whenever I am there, I still see the same faces," said Greco, who moved to St. Petersburg but continues to dine at Pach's. "It is the type of place that doesn't exist much anymore. It is a true neighborhood place where everyone catches you up on their affairs and ask and care about yours."

Still, Greco lamented, "It will feel funny to drive by and not see Pach's on Bay to Bay anymore."

Pach's Place was established in 1982 by Al Pach, a Boston native who, while wearing flamboyant vests, was known to sit at the counter corner nearest the entrance and greet every regular by name. Some would even be invited to hear the impromptu musical recital in his office where he kept an organ.

"He was a real fun and interesting guy," Maes said.

Then his wife was diagnosed with cancer and he sold Pach's. But the new owner sold it a few months later, then it was sold again a few months later to Isun Maes, a native of South Korea who, after relocating to Tampa in the 1970s, operated a Chinese Restaurant and later a deli.

"After she told the deli she was supposed to take a long break," daughter Cathy Maes said. "But she read an ad for Pach's Place in the Sunday paper and a week later bought it. That was 17 years ago."

The ownership hot potato took its toll, Maes said, chasing away once loyal customers.

"My mom built business back up over time. She made Pach's Place great again."

She did it in part by bringing back Pach.

"He was maitre d'," she said. "He sat at the counter and watched over us, making sure we were doing things the 'Pach Way.'"

The Pach Way, she explained, is treating the customers like family.

Pach died in 2005 but the Pach Way lived on.

And that is why the restaurant is moving.

To afford the higher rent at the Bay to Bay property, they would have had to raise prices.

"I'm scared people would stop coming every day if prices were too high," Maes said. "I live to see those people who come here five to seven days a week."

Contact Paul Guzzo at pguzzo@tampabay.com. Follo @PGuzzoTimes.