Fans of Mimmo’s Restaurant in Quitman will soon have a lunchtime bistro option from the popular favorite at 2100 Front St. in downtown Meridian.

Domenico “Mimmo” Rendina, who recently expanded the Quitman-born restaurant to Laurel, said he hoped the Meridian bistro option would be open by the end of October. 

“Everything’s moving quickly,” Rendina said. “We’ve got a lot of customers in Quitman who said they wished we would open a location in Meridian.”

Rather than run another, separate restaurant, Rendina said Meridian would operate during lunchtime hours as a bistro, offering pizza, sandwiches, salads and daily specials from 10 a.m. until 5 p.m. on weekdays. On Saturday, the bistro will be open from 10 a.m. until 2 p.m.

“(Customers) can’t come to lunch in Quitman. They only have an hour. They don’t have the time to just sit down and enjoy lunch,” Rendina said. “And then, when they have time, they can come down to Quitman for dinner.”

For those not wanting to cook, the new bistro would have take-home options that could be warmed up at home, such as stuffed chicken or lasagna, Rendina said. 

As for expanding in the future to a full-service restaurant, Rendina would only say, “We’ll see.”

For Rendina, customers should feel that they’re at home and he wanted to ensure he could find qualified employees in Meridian and his other locations. 

“We want to make sure we give them the whole package,” Rendina said. 

The bistro will also have its own delivery service, since Rendina said he needed to trust the driver.

“This way, I know the car. It’s been cleaned in every way. The only thing in it is food,” Rendina said. 

In the meantime, Rendina asked for patience.

“We know people are busy every day, but just because it’s going to be a bistro doesn’t mean we won’t have good service,” Rendina said. “Every day it’s going to be something fresh.”