MESA, Ariz. -
There's no other restaurant like it in the state. And soon it could close its doors forever.
But some employees at Monsterland in Mesa are hoping to raise enough money to save the restaurant from an untimely death.
It's tough to make it in the restaurant business -- not to mention the valley's only monster-themed eatery.
"It's pretty elaborate here and everyone is just blown away by the props and how realistic everything looks," says Alyx Luttermoser, Monsterland server.
"I like going to places where they're not all of them the same, this place is very unique," says customer Russ Zimmers.
"It's definitely a unique place in the valley," says customer Cameron Whitney-Smith.
Sadly, the initial buzz died down, and the Mesa Monsterland experiment fell victim to a slow economy.
There's been so much life at Monsterland over the months as people come in to enjoy the food and the atmosphere.
"The high point is definitely October."
"We took some big risks in creating this horror themed monster restaurant, we started out as a haunted house and that itself was a huge investment," says Aly Gangemi, Monsterland manager.
Aly Gangemi can't pinpoint exactly what it was that spelled doom for Monsterland, but some of her employees' effort to start an online public funding blitz to save the place was enough to lift everyone's spirits.
"We hope that that happens either a buyer comes in or something crazy like that, to have your employees to step up with the fans, that we have to make a business make it."
Come Saturday, it's a nail in the coffin for Monsterland unless horror fans come to the rescue.
"We don't want to go and find another job, it's so unique there's nothing else like it out here in Mesa or Arizona in general," says Luttermoser.
Save Monsterland
www.indiegogo.com/savethemonsters?c=home
18 W Main St
Mesa, AZ 85201
