Red Cedar Grill, a restaurant in Williamston, was renovated during the COVID-19 pandemic and turned into a new establishment, Zynda’s Barbecue Smokehouse.
Zynda’s is located on 150 E Grand River Rd., directly across from Williamston City Hall.
The family owned restaurant worked hard during the pandemic to turn the space around allowing for a brighter environment and rustic feel.
Zynda’s closed right at the start of the pandemic to do the renovations and opened up around mid-july
Renovations
The inspiration of these renovations were fostered by Zynda’s owner Adam Zynda. The building was dated so renovations were needed, said bar manager William Young.
“Adam had a vision of how he wanted things to be,” said Young. “The bar was completely moved from the west side to the east side of the restaurant, and there are more windows bringing in light, so it’s not as gloomy.”
The new renovations added windows, moved fixtures around, and amplified the space for customers to sit and enjoy the restaurant’s food.
Covid-19
Although the restaurant wasn’t open at the start of the pandemic, they reopened for business during unusual times. Young said that employees returned around April and May, right around the time that the vaccines became available to food service workers
“We opened at the right time, when some of the resticitions were already lifted,” said Lori Robinson, a bartender at Zynda’s. “It’s super new and clean, and the people here are wonderful.”
Starting this business from fresh at the start of these times, leaves unpredicted results for the restaurant.
“Coming back it’s hard to tell right now, we are in the phase where we are still a new restaurant but where are people comfortable coming out to eat with the variants of Covid?” said Young. “Williamston seems pretty open to it, and it’s been a pretty good response from the town.”
Impact on customers
With a relatively lively response from the town of Williamston, customers seem pretty happy about the renovations and the restaurant’s food, Young said.
Tracy, a first time customer at Zynda’s, was very pleased with the atmosphere and her time at Zynda’s.
“This is our first time coming here and it’s been awesome, we would definitely come again,” said Tracy.
Zynda’s restaurant is in full swing, and open to customers to come see the new renovations and experience the atmosphere and food. Zynda’s is open Tuesday-Sunday from 11 a.m. to 9 p.m.
