Gina Maria’s Pizza, a Twin Cities favorite since 1975, stunned customers this fall when all four of its Minnesota locations abruptly shut down. The sudden closure — affecting longtime shops in Eden Prairie, Plymouth, Edina, and Chanhassen — left generations of fans wondering if the beloved brand was gone for good.
The shutdown came without much explanation. The company’s website posted a brief farewell message thanking customers for decades of support. Then the website itself disappeared, adding to the mystery. At the Eden Prairie location, a handwritten sign offered the only real clue about what might come next. It read: “We will be back open with the same great recipes but with a new name as soon as we can, employee owned.”
And just a few weeks later… that promise came true.
In early November, the Eden Prairie location quietly reopened under a new name: Pizzas Gina. The shop, located at 7416 Mitchell Road, is now run by former Gina Maria’s manager Ulises Godinez, who helped oversee two of the original restaurants. When Gina Maria’s closed, he received permission from the previous owners to keep the recipes alive — and even began the transition using leftover ingredients from the former restaurant’s freezer.
Pizzas Gina isn’t just inspired by Gina Maria’s. It’s effectively a continuation of it. The menu is nearly identical, featuring the same dough, sauce, toppings, and preparation methods that customers loved. Even the interior still looks familiar, preserving the warm, neighborhood feel of the original shop.
Heck, they haven’t even had time to change the signage!
Godinez and his family now operate the business together, giving it a personal, community-driven touch. Regulars who walked through the doors for the “new” opening were greeted by familiar faces, familiar smells, and familiar slices — all under the new branding.
The return has sparked a wave of nostalgia and relief for fans who worried the 50-year legacy had ended for good. Many customers have remarked that the pizza tastes exactly the same, and that the rebrand feels more like a continuation than a replacement.
As for the other former Gina Maria’s locations, there’s no word yet on whether they’ll receive similar revivals or whether it’s perhaps wiser to consolidate all the love on one location.
But the reopening in Eden Prairie shows that the story of Gina Maria’s (or Minneapolis pizza) didn’t end — it simply changed names. And for many in the southwestern suburbs, that’s more than enough to celebrate.
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