Spokane's downtown Ciao Mambo restaurant, 818 W. Riverside, is saying arrivederci, and plans to morph into a MacKenzie River Pizza operation.

The restaurant opened its doors in March 2011. It closed on July 30.

Plans for the transition are being reviewed by parent company Glacier Restaurant Group, out of Whitefish, Mont.

Its now-defunct Facebook page had said the goal was to reopen as a MacKenzie Pizza within a few months.

Notably, the Ciao Mambo ended up in a main level part of the building previously used by a Washington Mutual Bank branch, in the Lincoln Plaza Building. That bank's implosion made the space available for the restaurant.

More details on the next food operation in the former Ciao Mambo will appear in next week's Spokesman-Review food section.

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