Otto's Pizza, Ice Cream and More closes

CASTALIA — Les and Debbie Hall closed Otto's Pizza, Ice Cream and More last week after more than 10 years of running the restaurant."I was recovering from some strokes and couldn't work for anyone," Les said. "My wife had experience as the head cook, so we bought this place and its provided us a good living all these years."The restaurant, on East Lucas Street in Castalia, was an official meeting place for students from the nearby Margaretta School to try some of their signature dishes, including wings, Carolina pizza and hand cut fries."The kids would all come down to eat before their games or get ice cream afterward," Les said.They became strong supporters of the community and school by offering coupons to kids who completed swimming lessons and employed many students."It's been nice to see them go to college, get married, have kids, they've become like a part of our family," Les said.Despite all the happy memories, Les's health started to deteriorate and he decided to retire at the end of the year. But a storm last week forced the restaurant to close immediately."The storm that came through took out our walk-in cooler and it was too expensive to fix it when we're trying to sell the place anyway," Les said. "We were hoping a young couple would buy it. A family can make a good living here, but people don't want to be in business for themselves anymore."The Halls believe someone will buy the building for at least the real estate value, but they hope the restaurant will continue. They said they'd miss the customers, the people they got to meet and all their employees."We're going to miss the all their smiles the most," Debbie said.The storage units in the back will continue to be used, but people have to mail their checks instead of dropping them off to the restaurant.Reach reporter Michael Harrington at michaelharrington@sanduskyregister.com, follow the Register at Facebook.com/SanduskyRegisterDebbie and Les Hall closed Otto's Pizza, Ice Cream and More after 10 years of serving ice cream and pizza to the community.Otto's Pizza, Ice Cream and More, located at 514 E. Lucas St., closed last week.