The Real McCoy hosts grand opening in new Scarborough location months after forced closure

Nearly nine months after news The Real McCoy was forced to close its doors to make way for a condo, the 54-year-old business has officially reopened in a new Scarborough location.

“I’m very excited. Honestly, a little overwhelmed right now with the volume, but it’s fantastic,” George Mihail, the owner of The Real McCoy, told CityNews in between orders on Tuesday.

“We had a slow, slow start … a soft opening on [Aug. 14]. There was nothing soft about it.”

Mihail alongside his team held a grand opening celebration at the restaurant, located at Bellamy Road North and Lawrence Avenue East, Tuesday afternoon. Customers began congregating at around 7:30 a.m.

By the time the doors opened at noon, Brayden Williams was first in line to pick up an order of chicken fingers, fries and onion rings.

“I wanted to come here and show my support. You know this place has been here longer than I’ve been here,” Williams said.

“Now to see it come back after almost a year … it’s just so surreal and it’s a great feeling.”

Mylez McLymont, a proud, longtime Scarborough resident who first started visiting The Real McCoy while at Cedarbrae Collegiate Institute, was third in line and said he missed visiting one of his go-to restaurants.

“I love burgers, man, and it just it’s just such a home feeling … It’s a very Scarborough spot,” he said.

“I’ve been crying. Honestly, every time they post (social media), I’m sad.”

McLymont said another draw to the restaurant has been the service.

“Just seeing George every time he always welcomed me with a smile. He’s always there in the morning. One time I was like up early and he’s like, ‘Hey, I’m here; if you want a burger just give me a call.’ So I’ll never forget something like that,” he said.

RELATED: The Real McCoy, popular Scarborough restaurant forced to close, set to reopen at new spot

The grand opening also inspired a few big names to show up, including assistant Toronto Raptors coach and community ambassador Jamaal Magloire.

“Scarborough is very unique and where we support our own and we continue to help each other and this is just another example of that,” he told CityNews.

“It should have never closed but we understand due to circumstances things happen, but we’re all just glad that it’s opened back up and you can see by the people here that everybody’s so excited.”

As Mihail settles into the new restaurant, joining him once again behind the prep counter is his wife Sophie. She said they both missed their customers.

“I didn’t realize how much I missed them until today and through the last few days, they’re coming in and wishing us well. It’s overwhelming,” Sophie said.

But also joining George, Sophie and the staff of The Real McCoy are two new investors, Saye Sathiyakumar and Brett Punchard.

“Well for me it was very little about business. It was more about community and culture and what it was that I was not willing to lose, and I knew that we needed a little bit more young blood to come in and back up this business, get the community together,” Sathiyakumar said.

He started visiting The Real McCoy when he was eight years old, coming across it randomly with his uncle while getting a haircut at the former Brimorton Plaza.

“The rest was history … it was the energy, it was Louie (George’s father and a founder of the business), it was George all back in the day kind of building that culture and it stayed with me throughout,” Sathiyakumar said.

Meanwhile, there are hopes all around the future will be as successful as the relaunch.

“I just hope we just stay successful because I just hope we just can build a legacy on top of this one just like the old one,” George said.