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Courtney Orton reporting A car crashed into a downtown Salt Lake restaurant this morning. Luckily, no one was inside, but it was a mess for the owners to clean up.
Police say a woman was driving along 200 South when she went to make a U-turn and got hit by a truck. The impact sent the car up over the curb and through the front of Rita Abe's restaurant, Ginza, located at 200 S. 209 W.
"She came in from off 200 South right into the dining room, hit the tables, took out all the brick," Abe explained.
That left Abe and her husband with a big mess to clean up. "We're left with a lot of dust, broken glass, and neon signs that are broken," she said.
The Abes just celebrated Ginza's 12th anniversary by remodeling the restaurant. Now, they'll have to fix everything that was destroyed.
They aren't sure who will foot the bill, but they're hoping insurance will cover the cost. They say they'll make the best out of what happened. "Just ready to go for the new year, and now get the dust and the rubble, and we'll just make whatever we can out of it," Abe said.
Luckily, the Abes had planned on being closed today and tomorrow. However, they hope to be serving up sushi by Wednesday. Although, with Christmas tomorrow and New Year's coming, finding someone to repair the damage could be tough.
"It happened at a good time, if there would be a good time for such an accident, so no one was hurt, so it's a blessing," Abe said.
A cleanup crew came out this morning, but there's still a lot that needs to be done to get this restaurant up and going again.
