Flancer’s Incredible Sandwiches and Pizzeria has done some impressive remodeling to its very successful Gilbert restaurant.
“Flancer’s Gilbert location has made a change that will rock Wall Street—or at the very least, Main Street in Gilbert,” joked owner Jeff Flancer. “Seriously, though,” he continued, “the restaurant has enclosed its outdoor patio area, greatly expanding its seating capacity.”
Those familiar with the location will recall that the outdoor patio ran along the front of the building, facing east toward Gilbert Road, and wrapped around along the north side entrance. Now, the entire east patio and about half of the north patio have been enclosed by replacing the wrought-iron railings with walls and an ingenious bank of vertically rolling windows, somewhat like glass garage doors.
“The window design allows staff to convert the area in minutes from an outdoor seating space to part of the indoor air-conditioned or heated main restaurant,” Jeff explained. The previous outside wall has been replaced with a steel-paneled half wall.
“By enclosing this area, customers will be able to eat in air-conditioned comfort during the hot summer months, while still enjoying pleasant weather the rest of year,” he said. “We also will be better able to accommodate our loyal diners by reducing the wait time during popular dining hours, as well as welcome larger parties.” This new space also can be used as a semi-private room for meetings or special events.
“In addition to creating the new indoor/outdoor space, we also improved and remodeled the existing interior,” explained Jeff. “Our goal was to maintain the comfortable neighborhood feel with the displayed record albums our customers like, while incorporating some of Gilbert’s history via a number of old photographs. We’ve also given our space an even cooler, hipper vibe through the use of steel, different lighting and new colors.”
Interior designer Naomi Siegler, of Siegler Designs, coordinated the remodeling. “Gilbert has a rich rural-industrial history,” she said, “and we wanted to pay homage to that history and the people who were a part of it. This is partially accomplished through some interesting wall treatments, utilizing a combination of local history pictorials and the original record-album collection,” she continued. “Mixed with some period furniture, it gives it a ‘mod rocks rural-rustic roots’ feeling.”
According to Jeff, a Culinary Institute of America graduate, a goal is now realized. “We have always had the goal of bringing people together in shared culinary happiness by providing unique food on freshly baked bread by a staff that gets to know the customers by sight,” he stated. “With the expansion improvements, we hope to have the generations ‘come together…right now.’”
Flancer’s is located at 610 N. Gilbert Road, one-quarter mile south of Guadalupe Road, in Gilbert. Call (480) 926-9077. Flancer’s Mesa location is at 1902 N. Higley Road, just south of McKellips Road. Call (480) 396-0077. For menus, events and information, visit www.flancers.com or www.facebook.com/flancerscafe and www.facebook.com/flancersmesa.