The date is set, the doors are coming back open, and an old name is stepping into a very different world. For some, Chi-Chi’s means birthday celebrations, sizzling plates, and overflowing baskets of chips. For others, the name immediately brings back memories of a headline that changed the restaurant chain forever.

Now, decades later, Chi-Chi’s is preparing for a new chapter. A Minnesota location is set to revive the familiar name, bringing a wave of nostalgia to customers who remember the brand from its earlier years. But reopening a restaurant with such a complicated history is about more than putting an old sign back on the building.

Chi-Chi’s became one of the best-known Mexican-style restaurant chains in the United States before its original business collapsed in the early 2000s. Its story was later overshadowed by a devastating hepatitis A outbreak linked to contaminated green onions served at restaurants in 2003. The outbreak affected hundreds of people and resulted in several deaths, becoming one of the largest foodborne illness incidents in the country at the time.

That history remains part of the brand’s legacy, even as the new owners look toward the future.

For longtime customers, the reopening could feel like stepping back into another era. For others, the name may bring back memories they would rather forget.

Either way, when those doors open again, Chi-Chi’s won’t simply be serving food—it will be reopening a chapter of American restaurant history.