Coverage spread: 2 sources — 2 unrated
Lean ratings via AllSides / Media Bias-Fact-Check. How this works.
Where they agree
- Crust Concepts opened its fifth Italian restaurant location in downtown Mesa alongside a hidden speakeasy (The Raven) and a new coffee/gelato shop (Bombolino).
- The three eateries occupy the ground floor of a mixed-use development at 233 E. Main St. that now includes a Hyatt hotel and housing.
- The project was announced years earlier (around 2023) and delayed by the original developer’s 2024 Chapter 11 bankruptcy before a new developer, Soltrust, took over and restarted work.
- Owner Michael Merendino said he considered abandoning the project during the delays but chose to continue.
Where they differ
- ABC15 frames the story mainly around the bankruptcy and construction-delay timeline, with fewer details on the food or design.
- Phoenix New Times gives extensive detail on the restaurant’s design, menu, and the unplanned origin of Bombolino, plus Crust’s five-location expansion history.
- Phoenix New Times notes downtown Mesa’s recent wave of restaurant and bar closures as context; ABC15 does not mention this.
- Phoenix New Times specifies the hotel brand (Unscripted by Hyatt) and Crust’s nearby university connections (Benedictine, ASU), details absent from ABC15’s account.
Crust Concepts has opened its fifth Italian restaurant location, along with a bird-themed hidden speakeasy called The Raven and a new coffee-and-gelato shop called Bombolino, on the ground floor of a mixed-use development in downtown Mesa. The three eateries, first announced in 2023, sat stalled for years after the original developer went bankrupt, and only opened once a new developer took over the project and finished the building.
What exactly opened, and where?
The three concepts occupy the ground floor of The 233, part of a development at 233 E. Main St. in downtown Mesa that now includes a hotel operating as Unscripted by Hyatt, along with multifamily housing. Crust itself is a roughly 7,300-square-foot dining room and bar with floor-to-ceiling windows facing a Main Street patio, wood tables and round black iron chandeliers giving the space an industrial-but-warm feel. The menu leans East Coast-style Italian: personal “rustica” and family-size New York-style pizzas, chicken Parmesan, and pastas in alfredo, bolognese or vodka sauce.
Alongside the main restaurant is The Raven, described as a hidden, bird-themed speakeasy, and Bombolino, a cafe and gelateria. Bombolino wasn’t originally part of the plan — Crust owner Michael Merendino said the idea came about after the hotel asked about adding a coffee option. Inspired by a trip to Sicily, Merendino built out a menu of specialty lattes, croissants, breakfast burritos, traditional and stuffed-and-glazed doughnuts (bomboloni), gelato and affogato.
Why did it take so long to open?
The Mesa project was first announced in 2023 but ran into repeated setbacks. Construction had already been slowed by the Covid-19 pandemic, and the project stalled further when the original developer filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in 2024. A new developer, Soltrust — a real estate firm with offices in Scottsdale and Seattle — took over last summer and restarted construction, at which point the project also shifted to include the hotel component. Merendino said he considered walking away from the Mesa location more than once during the delays but ultimately decided to stick with it.
Where does this fit into Crust’s expansion?
Crust Simply Italian was founded in Scottsdale in 2007. Since then, Merendino has grown the brand to five Valley locations, including Chandler, Gilbert and Peoria, with Mesa now the newest addition. The Raven speakeasy concept previously appeared alongside Crust’s Peoria location as well. Merendino said he’s optimistic about the downtown Mesa spot because of its shared building with the Hyatt hotel and its proximity to Benedictine University and Arizona State University’s Mesa presence, calling it a well-positioned location.
What does this mean for downtown Mesa?
The opening lands in a stretch of downtown Mesa that has recently seen other restaurant and bar closures, positioning Crust and its sister concepts as an anchor on the east edge of that district. The completion of The 233 also marks a milestone for a mixed-use project that had been in limbo for years amid a developer bankruptcy, suggesting renewed momentum for redevelopment along Main Street even as some existing businesses nearby have struggled.
How do the two accounts differ?
Coverage of the opening is fairly limited and consistent in the core facts, though the two available accounts emphasize different details. One focuses mainly on the years-long delay and bankruptcy timeline as the news hook, framing the opening primarily as the resolution of a stalled construction saga. The other spends more time on the food, design and backstory of each of the three concepts — including the unplanned addition of Bombolino and Merendino’s Sicily-inspired gelato idea — and situates the opening within Crust’s broader five-location expansion and downtown Mesa’s recent business closures.
Sources
Featured photo: midiman from Tempe, USA via Wikimedia Commons (CC BY 2.0)