Malia’s Restaurant Will Reopen in November Under New Ownership in Downtown Aiken

Greg Pierce and Angelia Roberts will reopen Malia's Restaurant at 120 Laurens St. S.W. in downtown Aiken starting in November. The couple closed a deal to buy three downtown buildings from Malia Koelker, including the one where the restaurant sits.

"We didn't buy it (the property) for the restaurant," Pierce said, per the Aiken Standard. "We bought it as an investment for us in the city. There just happens to be a restaurant it in it that we loved, and we used to eat at a lot ourselves."

Koelker founded the restaurant in 1987. It became a downtown fixture. Pork scallopini, steak salad, and raspberry pie were among favorites on the menu.

Pierce and Roberts will reopen the spot "in coordination with" Koelker. "We have Malia's menu. We have Malia's recipes," Pierce said. "There are several people who were with her for over 30 years that are going to come back and work with us. Her senior staff in the kitchen is going to be on our team."

Roberts said, "We're going to bring in some of the best servers from all our restaurants." The focus will be on "extremely great customer service," according to Pierce. He doesn't believe it will take long to get things up and running again. "We don't have a whole lot to do," Pierce said. "We've got to do some business licensing, liquor licensing, stuff like that. We've also got to paint a little bit."

Fixing up the courtyard behind the building is also on their agenda. Pierce declined to share the purchase price from Koelker.