7 Things Pennsylvanians Know About Primanti Bros. That Out-of-Staters Get Wrong

Primanti Bros.’ first customers were the workers unloading produce in Pittsburgh’s Strip District.

Pennsylvanians know the story. Out-of-staters still go looking for a side of fries.

Here’s what Pennsylvanians know about Primanti Bros. that out-of-staters get wrong.

1. Cart Before Storefront

Primanti Bros. started out as a humble sandwich cart, not a restaurant.

You might picture a full restaurant from the start, as many out-of-staters do.

Joe Primanti stationed that cart in the Strip District during the Great Depression, Pittsburgh station WPXI reports.

He then partnered with his brothers and opened a storefront restaurant.

That storefront opened in 1933.

2. 18th and Smallman

Primanti Bros. opened its first restaurant at 18th and Smallman in the Strip District.

Pittsburgh station WPXI lists the address as 46 18th Street.

The company’s restaurant list shows a Strip District location at the same 46 18th Street address as of October 2026.

The company calls the Strip District its original neighborhood.

A Primanti Bros. opened inside Pittsburgh International Airport on March 13, 2019.

A Fraport USA press release calls that restaurant an offshoot of the original location in the Strip District.

The headline on the company’s website reads “Almost Famous Since 1933.”

The airport location came later.

If you want the original Primanti Bros., put 46 18th Street in your phone’s map app.

3. Produce Workers and Night Hawks

Primanti Bros.’ first customers were workers who unloaded produce in the Strip District.

By the 1970s, the Post-Gazette was calling its customers night hawks from all walks of life.

A 2018 WPXI profile says the first store was open from 3 a.m. to 3 p.m. most days.

Primanti Bros. says its storefront fed truck drivers and shift workers at all hours of the day.

Those hours drew a crowd.

If you’re used to a noon lunch, that schedule may sound strange.

4. Fries Inside the Sandwich

Primanti Bros. puts the fries and coleslaw on the sandwich instead of serving them as sides.

Like many out-of-staters, you might expect the fries on the side.

The company traces the fries to Joe’s nephew, John DiPriter, who recalled a winter when someone drove up with a load of potatoes.

He fried some of the potatoes on the grill.

A few customers asked for them, so he tossed them on the sandwich.

The Post-Gazette tells the same story from that account.

The fries ride inside.

5. Two Thick Slices of Bread

Primanti Bros. builds the Almost Famous on two thick slices of Italian bread.

Inside, you get a choice of meat, cheese, coleslaw and french fries.

The bread does the work.

The company says the sandwich was an instant hit with drivers working near the restaurant, who could eat it with one hand.

The Post-Gazette says Primanti Bros. sandwiches won its readers' choice vote for the best sandwiches in Pittsburgh several years in a row.

6. From Family Shop to Chain

You can trace Primanti Bros. from family shop to chain through its owners.

Primanti Bros. began as a family business, with Joe's brothers Dick and Stanley and their nephew joining the business.

Jim Patrinos bought the business from Dick Primanti in 1974, TribLive reports.

Patrinos added pizza, wings and salads to the menu.

By 2013, the chain had 18 restaurants in Western Pennsylvania and three in Florida.

Private equity followed.

Catterton Partners made the chain's first outside investment in 2013.

A 2018 television profile listed 27 shops in Pennsylvania.

In 2022, Garnett Station Partners made an equity investment in the company, joining L. Catterton Partners as an owner.

7. Outside Pennsylvania

A television station's April 2018 list of Primanti Bros. locations covered seven states: Pennsylvania, Ohio, West Virginia, Florida, Indiana, Maryland and Michigan.

That list named towns such as Indianapolis in Indiana and Novi in Michigan.

The company's restaurant list shows five states as of October 2026: Pennsylvania, West Virginia, Florida, Maryland and Ohio.

Indiana and Michigan aren't on it.

That's two fewer states.

If you're road-tripping through either state, don't plan a Primanti Bros. stop.

Eight restaurants on that list are outside Pennsylvania.

Four are in West Virginia.

Two are in Fort Lauderdale, Florida.

The other two are in Hagerstown, Maryland, and Niles, Ohio.

The Garfield Closing

Primanti Bros. opened a restaurant in Garfield, a Pittsburgh neighborhood, in 2017.

Eight years later, it closed.

On June 5, 2025, a local television station reported that the Penn Avenue restaurant had closed permanently.

A sign on the door asked customers to visit other Primanti Bros. restaurants around the city.

If you're planning a trip, take that advice.

TribLive's report says the company chose not to renew the lease so it could focus on its four other restaurants within Pittsburgh city limits.

Those four were Downtown, the Strip District, Oakland and South Side.

Closings in 2026

Primanti Bros. closed its Boardman, Ohio, restaurant in February 2026, the Tribune Chronicle reported.

The Boardman restaurant had opened in September 2015 as the chain's first in Ohio.

The chain closed its Camp Hill and Lancaster restaurants in February as well.

Seven closed within a year.

The same article says the company rescinded plans to open a restaurant in the Harrisburg area.

Maryland's Linthicum Heights restaurant near Baltimore, which opened in spring 2024, had closed by late February.

In April 2026, local news station WPXI reported that the Monroeville and North Versailles restaurants had closed too.

The company cited a shift in consumer behavior over the past few years.

The report said Thorn Hill Tap-House would open in the Monroeville space.

Smash Pub, a sister restaurant to The Smash Shack on Pittsburgh's North Side, would take over North Versailles.

Before you drive to a Primanti Bros. outside the Strip District, check the company's restaurant list.