Say Cheese! Restaurant in West Reading is closing

Another West Reading restaurant has announced that it is closing. Say Cheese! Restaurant — which has been a fixture on Penn Avenue since 2012 — and the adjacent Wine and Cheese Shop will close at the end of business on Saturday, June 15.

The restaurant management posted the news on its Facebook page Wednesday evening.

“The closure is concurrent with a transaction to purchase Say Cheese’s assets and the buildings which house Say Cheese Restaurant, the Wine and Cheese Shop, Encrypted Escape, and six apartments,” the statement on Facebook reads.

The restaurant is owned by Adam Cocuzza, who announced May 30 that two other businesses he owns in West Reading — Nitro Bar and West Reading Motor Club — were closing indefinitely.

According to the Facebook statement about the Say Cheese! closing:

“The buyers of the assets are Massimo & Trisha Grande, Raffaele & Tina Cirandine. They will be establishing a new restaurant at 6th and Penn, maintaining this central Main Street site as a destination point for Berks County and beyond.”

The new owners of the Say Cheese! assets are West Reading restaurateurs. The four are owners of Nonno Alby’s Handcrafted Wood Oven Pizza, 701 Penn Ave.

Say Cheese! and the Wine and Cheese Shop are holding a closing sale through Saturday with food and bottled wine available at a 25% discount. Gift cards will be accepted through June 15, according to the post.

“We are very happy and grateful to our customers, our employees, our tenants, our Main Street business partners, the Borough of West Reading and WRCRF for their support over the last 13 years,” the Facebook post continued.

Cocuzza opened Say Cheese! in 2012, offering a menu that put the focus on cheese. In 2022, Cocuzza purchased the building next to the restaurant, connected the two and opened the wine and cheese shop in the adjacent space.