Update (7:29 p.m. Wednesday): The article has been edited to give the correct opening date for Gino's, which is Aug. 17—next Wednesday—not Aug. 18, as previously reported. "I said so many dates prior it was killing us," franchisee Scott Autry said.
Your Gino's Giant is coming right up.
The new Towson location for Gino's Burgers and Chicken is set to host its grand opening at 11 a.m. Aug. 17.
And not a day sooner, franchisee Scott Autry said. He wants the first official burger off the grill to come with a side order of fanfare.
"We don't want to bother or take away from anyone who wants to be the first to grab a Gino's Giant," Autry said.
Much of the new restaurant was finished during a Tuesday test run as Autry hosted neighboring businesses and local officials.
"Everybody's very positive and excited about Gino's opening," he said. "I'm glad to be able to bring something back that has so many fond memories."
None of those memories belong to Autry, however. He was 4 when the last of the franchises closed, but bringing the chain back to Maryland is very personal for him.
"My memory of Gino's is that I wouldn't exist without Gino's," he said. Autry's parents met and got married while they worked there.
County Councilman David Marks attended the small party on Tuesday and told Patch that the legendary Gino's Giant "tastes like a Big Mac, but creamier."
"It was great and the food was wonderful and I think it's going to be a big asset to the area," Marks said, adding that his Perry Hall constituents had been asking when a new restaurant might open there.
Nancy Hafford, executive director of the Towson Chamber of Commerce, moved to the area 23 years ago, long after the chain's heyday. Hafford said she didn't know what to expect as she dove into the Gino's Giant.
"It was so funny, because there were so many people you could tell as young people used to go there a lot," she said. "They were like a bunch of adults in Disney World. They were so happy to be there for a hamburger."
Gino's, named for the Baltimore Colts legend Gino Marchetti, opened in Dundalk in 1957 and closed its last location in Pasadena in 1991.
The new Gino's opened its first new location in 2010 in King of Prussia, Pa., with many familiar menu items, including milkshakes, fries and, of course, the Gino's Giant.
The Towson restaurant, located in Maryland Executive Park on East Joppa Road, is the first of the rebooted chain to open in Maryland. Autry is looking at other locations in Baltimore County, Harford County, Howard County and others, but said no leases had yet been signed.
"We were offered tons of locations," he said. "We chose Towson specifically because we wanted to bring it back to where it started."
white iphone gal
5:47 pm on Tuesday, August 9, 2011
We need this like we need another crack house
Ellen Clampitt
6:26 am on Wednesday, August 10, 2011
Nobody said you had to eat there. It's a part of our history. If you never ate at Ginos then you don't know that it was ten times better than McDonald's, Wendy's and the rest of the fast food chains.
LalainMaryland
9:42 pm on Wednesday, August 10, 2011
Wow, you sound like a truly educated young lady!
Jay Addis
6:42 pm on Tuesday, August 9, 2011
But it didnt start in Towson! The last line of the story is incorrect. It started in Dundalk and I will not return to Gino's until it is back home in Dundalk!
Bart
7:58 pm on Tuesday, August 9, 2011
I'm sure they'll miss you.
william trexler
6:47 pm on Tuesday, August 9, 2011
gino giant the orig. big mac
Needaname
8:34 pm on Tuesday, August 9, 2011
Is Gino's taking up 2 spots on Joppa Rd ? There is a store front with a Spanish
sign next to Gino's. Since the sign is printed in Spanish no one I know understands what it says.
Tyler Waldman
8:51 pm on Tuesday, August 9, 2011
I believe that's a "now hiring" sign. I only saw work equipment (ladders and the like) on that side of the building.
county lady
9:15 am on Wednesday, August 10, 2011
Gino's wants to hire ILLEGAL ALIENS! If they can't read English, how can they work there.
Ola !
LalainMaryland
9:43 pm on Wednesday, August 10, 2011
County lady, 1-that may not even be for Gino's
2- there are plenty of bilingual families in the County that are not ILLEGAL
Mary Lurz Hoffman
8:46 pm on Tuesday, August 9, 2011
Jay... You are correct.
Linda Kelly
8:51 pm on Tuesday, August 9, 2011
Wow! I haven't eaten a Big Mac in probably 20 years but I WILL have a Gino's Giant when it opens!!!
Barry Guthrie
9:21 pm on Tuesday, August 9, 2011
I grew up on Ginos... Hated to see it close, when it was on Light Street in South Baltimore.
white iphone gal
11:51 pm on Tuesday, August 9, 2011
Please move Gino's back to Dundalk since we have enough obese people with clogged arteries already in Towson
RodgersForgeWatchdog
12:08 am on Wednesday, August 10, 2011
Opening August 18, 11am. But, I'm hungry now!
amdactivist
6:34 am on Wednesday, August 10, 2011
Unless its on the other side of the building they have a very large sign "in spanish" saying something like "taking applications".. The original gino's didn't hire illegals and now we full of them working our jobs..
Bart
10:25 am on Wednesday, August 10, 2011
Just because people might be more comfortable reading/speaking Spanish doesn't necessarily mean they aren't legal.
LalainMaryland
9:44 pm on Wednesday, August 10, 2011
Just because you speak another language you are illegal? Is that like saying that because you are blond you are dumb?
Robert Armstrong
8:52 am on Wednesday, August 10, 2011
You have no proof if they did or they didn't.
Todd J Thomas
9:47 am on Wednesday, August 10, 2011
Everybody goes to Gino's. Then goes to the bathroom 15 seconds later.
cheryl
6:36 pm on Wednesday, August 10, 2011
What's up with the hiring sign in only Spanish they can't just hire Mexicans isn't that discrimination?
LalainMaryland
9:45 pm on Wednesday, August 10, 2011
1-Just because you speak Spanish you aren't Mexican; Puerto Ricans are Americans and they speak Spanish!
2-There were plenty of Caucasians and African-Americans in Gino's the other day when I was in there at the soft opening
Robert
8:41 pm on Thursday, August 11, 2011
Great more people who only speak Spanish. Learn the language for the country you live in. maybe just maybe on the off chance they are legal and not a drain on our society then they need to learn English just like our four fathers did when they came to this country.
Max
12:29 am on Saturday, August 13, 2011
Great comment Robert. Just some comments on your comment:
1) It's forefathers. Unless you're speaking about only four of them. Then it would be four forefathers. Or if you had four fathers, in which case, to each his own.
2) The people who began our country already spoke English, but in a broader sense, the people who colonized the new world spoke many languages including French and Spanish; Spanish speakers had significant settlements in the new world long before the beginning of the US. Even then, when we arrived we forced our language on the native people here, so in a way immigrants who don't want to speak English are behaving appropriately.
3) Try to not stereotype next time. Most of the hispanic people I know are much more hard working than most of the americans I know. If the employees are indeed illegal, than they cannot receive government services. Moreover, it would be the american owner of the business illegally hiring employees without paperwork who would also be at fault. If the employees are legal and happen to speak spanish, then they pay taxes just like you and me and deserve public services. Many economic analysts put our immigration policy and increase in population as one of the few positive aspects to our economic situation; new ideas, new workers, and a growing domestic market are largely seen to be a good thing.
All in all, top notch comment, brought a laugh to my day. Thanks for that, Rob
Bart
9:54 pm on Thursday, August 11, 2011
Robert, the people who will respond to the sign offering employment won't be a drain on society, they're the ones getting the jobs! And, to be sure, there are, and were a whole lot of immigrants who didn't know the language very well when they came to this country, but they did eventually learn it, as will these folks.
melondy lar
7:15 pm on Tuesday, August 30, 2011
I ate at Ginos on Joppa Road and it sucked......just tasted grease and pepper......ewwwww!!!!!! Nothing like I remembered and I definately won't return:(
Tom Henry
9:29 am on Monday, September 5, 2011
I went there to stand in line....about 5 minutes into my wait, an employee came out to let us know it would be a 30 minute wait AFTER we placed our order to actually get our food. I've worked in restaurants, fast food places in my way-back-past with lines longer that Gino's, and never experienced that. Something is definitely wrong here. I'm thinking I will probably never go there again.
Bart
10:48 am on Monday, September 5, 2011
...reminds me of an old joke. "NOBODY EVERS GOES THERE ANYMORE- it's too crowded.......or, the food's bad, or the service is bad. Obviously somebody likes it!
Bob Kluver
6:52 pm on Friday, October 28, 2011
Went there today. Whatever that was that they call a GINO Giant is a Lye!
The sauce tasted somewhat like the sauce they used, but other then that . The sandwich sucked. The fries are nothing like the original. This is not a Gino's! Gino's is NOT Back! Imposters!!
Where is the Cheese Sirloiner .... Hmmmm???
False advertisement as far as I am concerned .. I will never go back there again!
Bart
9:07 pm on Friday, October 28, 2011
Good, then you won't be in front of me in line.
Todd J Thomas
9:47 pm on Friday, October 28, 2011
Went once to the one in PA. Thankfully there was a bathroom nearby. Way overrated.