| | Published November 30th, 2016
| Round Table Pizza: Late Night and Group Options for Moraga
| | | By Michael Lupacchino |  | | The new interior of Moraga's Round Table. Photos provided |
The Round Table Pizza restaurant in Moraga is tucked away in between a 24-hour Fitness and the Saint Mary's College Rheem Campus at the intersection of Moraga Road and Rheem Boulevard. Though the location has served the Moraga community for years, the store itself hadn't been updated in years and due to its location, many have been unaware that there is even a Round Table in Moraga.
Greg Merritt has owned the Round Table Pizza in neighboring Lafayette since 1992. The opportunity to take over the Moraga location materialized last year and on Nov. 1, 2015, Merritt officially took over. His first task as new owner, give the store a makeover. "We went through the process of going through the town of Moraga to get permits to remodel the restaurant, and that took a few months. We just completed the remodel of our store," said Merritt.
Round Table is a Northern California institution. Its first restaurant opened in Menlo Park in 1959 and over the years has expanded to become a major pizza chain in California as well as in Alaska, Arizona, Hawaii, Nevada, Oregon and Washington. The chain offers a mixed menu of pizzas, wings, sandwiches, and their signature garlic parmesan twists. Some locations, like the one in Moraga, also feature a salad bar and beer on tap.
A full-service family restaurant, the newly remodeled location features eight large screen TVs -just in time for bowl season - a banquet room that is available for parties and private functions, a game arcade area, and a newly expanded beer selection with eight craft beers on tap. Additionally, Merritt has expanded the hours of operation from the previous owners. Monday through Wednesday the store is open from 11 am to 9 pm, until 10 pm on Thursday and Sunday, and on Friday and Saturday the Round Table is open until 11 pm. These new hours of operation make Round Table one of the few restaurants in Moraga that have operating hours beyond 9 or 9:30 pm.
Chai Saechao, the Operations Manager, said that "we want to be the place for the (Moraga) community to come and to have a good time." Merritt and Saechao want the Round Table to be a gathering place for families and for individuals looking to get a good meal and to even watch the game as well as a variety of other programming on the eight television screens on display throughout the restaurant. The restaurant also offers delivery for those not wanting to make a trip into town.
Next on the agenda is to have the front of the store remodeled. Merritt states that they are in the process of creating plans to present to the town to be able to update the front of the building this spring. According to Merritt, many people in the community had no idea that the inside of the building was recently updated as the outside features the same storefront that has been there for years.
Merritt always knew he wanted to open up shop in Moraga. "Since we were next door for so many years in Lafayette, opening in Moraga seemed like the perfect match for us," he said. Merritt also mentioned having Saint Mary's College as a central fixture in Moraga was a plus. He hopes that the restaurant will become popular among Saint Mary's students, especially with its expanded hours of operations. Students, staff, and faculty can present their Saint Mary's ID for a discount. Merritt and Saechao have also been hard at work building partnerships with the college and other local area schools. They just made a deal with the Saint Mary's basketball team and will be running promotions and handing out pizzas at games.
Saechao met with leaders of many student organizations on campus and gave a presentation on fundraising opportunities. According to Merritt "We're open to help any organization with fundraisers. We donate 20 percent of the proceeds from these types of events to the organizations and their causes." Both Merritt and Saechao are enthusiastic about building relationships with the community. They would love to see local youth groups and sports teams as well as school groups use their new private dining areas for events.
Stop by the newly remodeled Round Table Pizza at 361 Rheem Blvd, Moraga, CA 94556 or give them a call at (925) 376-1411 for delivery or carry-out.
Lamorinda Weekly business articles are intended to inform the community about local business activities, not to endorse a particular company, product or service.
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Lamorinda Weekly, Moraga CA