Restaurant destroyed by fire on track to reopen

TABOR CITY, NC (WWAY) —  A popular Columbus County restaurant that burned down last month is on its way to reopening.

Dale’s Seafood has been a Tabor City staple since the 1980s.

Owner Rusty Tyson built the original restaurant 33 years ago.

When it burned down on June 15, he vowed to reopen.

Tyson says crews demolished what was left of the old restaurant, and are preparing to lay the foundation.

“We’re hoping to be open by the end of October, maybe the 15th, I don’t know, just according to how things go. We’re making good progress. I told you we would be back. A quitter never wins, and I don’t give up,” said Tyson.

Tyson says he had someone come out to inspect his angel oak tree that’s a few hundred years old and has become a tourist attraction, since he was worried it might have been damaged by the fire.

It got a clean bill of health.