Months of anticipation ended Thursday when the doors to Leiby’s Ice Cream House and Restaurant in South Tamaqua opened to everyone for the first time in almost 10 years.

The popular local eatery made the announcement on Facebook at 2:30 p.m., “to all of you who have been diligently following, messaging, asking, and WAITING, we would like to inform everyone that it is true, ... YES, WE ARE OPEN.”Shortly after the news broke, customers began to trickle in, including many headed straight for the pies and ice cream.“I don’t think it has really hit many of us yet,” said Daniel Leiby, owner. “It’s been such a long time and a lot of work has gone into this that I think it’s going to be a day or two until it seems real.”Customers have been waiting patiently on the restaurant’s return since learning via social media in February 2016 that Leiby planned to renovate it and eventually reopen.It closed in December 2007 due to declining sales.Over a year of physical work went into getting it back up and running, Leiby said. The doors opened briefly over the past few weeks on an invite-only basis as the staff got their feet under them.Initial hours are 11 a.m. to 10 p.m., seven days a week, with expanded hours likely coming down the pike.“We have the means to do breakfast, but we want to get back into this first and not take it on all at once,” Leiby said. “It is the same with the big group banquet dinners. We’ll eventually start doing those again, but not at the outset. We want to get a good rhythm going.”While you can sit down and have a good meal, Leiby’s has likely been more well-known for its desserts.It didn’t take long Thursday for that tradition to continue.“We made a handful of lemon meringue pies for today and they were all gone within the first hour,” Leiby said. “The bakery has really been cranking out their items. Of course we have our ice cream and sundaes as well. It’s all back.”Marie Tobish and her husband Al, of West Penn Township, had rave reviews after finishing their meal.“Everything was great,” they said. “We couldn’t wait to get back. We wanted to beat the rush. I think this place is going to be swamped once the word really gets out.”Appetizers, soups, burgers, hot and cold sandwiches, down home dinners, home style platters and more grace the menu.Leiby said an early seller has been the “Leiby’s Popular Reuben Melt.”The sandwich, priced at $8.29 and served with fries, features sliced corned beef with Swiss cheese, Thousand Island dressing and sauerkraut on grilled rye.“You’ll see a lot of the old menu items return,” Leiby said. “There are some changes to the restaurant overall, but we really tried to keep a similar feel so that when you walk in, you get that feel. The roots are still here.”Since announcing the eventual return, the phone has been ringing off the hook with inquires about an opening date.Thursday, Leiby could finally give the answer people had been waiting to hear.“It’s a nice sense of satisfaction,” Leiby said. “To see so many people come back and to see them enjoy their meals and spend quality time with one another. It means a lot to us.”