Gorilla Pizza to close in mall at the end of July

ASHEBORO — “I want to stay.”

That’s the feeling of Rasha Elslkawy, owner of Gorilla Pizza at Asheboro Mall, who was able to keep her Italian-style restaurant open during the COVID-19 shutdown, reverting to delivering meals while the mall was closed. But now a series of challenges may force her to close permanently.

It’s bad enough that foot traffic by Gorilla Pizza has diminished with the closing of Foot Locker and a holiday pop-up store at the end of 2025. The only other businesses in that section of the mall are Cinemark Theatres and Dunham’s Sports, both of which have their own entrances that bypass Gorilla Pizza.

Now a series of water leaks, a faulty hood ventilation system and a sewer overflow have pushed Elslkawy toward the limit.

She opened her restaurant in 2008 as Capri Pizza before changing the name about a decade ago. “I changed it to Gorilla because of the North Carolina Zoo. It’s an unusual name to attract people. It’s strong like a gorilla, kind of like me. I like to be strong.”

The COVID pandemic tested her strength but she prevailed during the shutdown by going to delivery to her customers. 

“I have to make a living to keep my daughters educated, to do right for them,” said the single mother of Nour and Jasmine. “I didn’t get any help (during the pandemic) and I’m proud of that. I kept going by myself, but it was very struggling.”

After COVID, Elslkawy kept her prices down, even though she uses top-quality meats and other ingredients. Eventually, she raised prices reasonably in order to “keep what I’m doing. It’s more challenging with (rising) costs but I want to give our customers the best I can while I pay my bills on time.”

In fact, Gorilla Pizza gets “very good reviews from customers.” Restaurantji, a rating service, gives Elslkawy’s business a rating of 4.8 out of 5 stars with glowing reviews by customers.

A typical review says, “I don’t normally do reviews but I thought this place really deserved one. The food was delicious but the customer service was amazing. …”

But still, the challenges keep on coming. Elslkawy said there were water leaks from the ceiling. One ceiling tile fell, making the place unsafe before the leaks were fixed.

Then she paid to have the ventilation hood cleaned. Afterward, it didn’t work right and Elslkawy called the business owner to make it right. She said that even though she paid him $1,000, he kept making excuses for not coming out. 

Finally, after she told him she would have to report him, he sent her money back. She struggled to find someone else to fix the hood.

One day she came in and found a sewer leak in the food locker. The mall got that leak solved. through the floor. She was asked, “If we fix it, will you stay?”

Elslkawy replied, “This is like my home. I’m here more than I’m at my house. But now it’s like a desert” with the Foot Locker and pop-up store both closed.

The water leak in the floor was repaired but Elslkawy didn’t like the way the payment was handled.

Then she said she wanted out of the mall. But her “customers are begging me to stay in business.

“I love what I’m doing,” she said. “I have to make a living and I love the customers. But I have no Plan B. I don’t want to lose everything.”

As things stand now, Gorilla Pizza will close to customers at the end of July.

“Gorilla Pizza tried its best to serve its customers,” she said. “We’ll try to stay in business.”

Even if it might mean moving to a new location.