Angie’s celebrates 30 year anniversary

<strong>LOGAN –</strong> It’s been 30 years since Saboor Sahely opened Angie’s Restaurant on the corner of 700 North Main in Logan. The popular restaurant was opened by Sahely October 21, 1983.

Prior to that, the restaurant was named Sambo’s. Sahely first started working there in the fall of 1978 while attending school at Utah State University. At the time, he had no car or phone and would walk around downtown Logan looking for a job.

“It was kind of a hopeless situation,” said Sahely. “I had no money and I was afraid of what was going to happen to me. One morning I walked in and they were pretty busy, it was Sambo’s at the time. The dishwasher hadn’t shown up that morning and the manager was frantically running around. I walked in, he said ‘when can you start?’ I said, ‘right now.’ So he grabbed me an apron and put me to work back there and that’s the beginning of my restaurant career in Logan.”

Sahely later became a cook, assistant manager, and eventually general manager. It was his sister-in-law’s idea to purchase the restaurant and name it after his daughter, Angie. Looking back, he feels like he’s the luckiest man on earth.

“It has not been just a job,” said Sahely. “It’s been just an experience of a lifetime for me. To be able to make a wonderful living, make many many friends, and my kids worked here. Four out of five have all worked here multiple times. And then to see how many of the employees who have worked here graduate from college and move on.”

There were 15 employees when Angie’s first opened. Sahely said they now have more than 80.

Sahely was the first in his family to flee Afghanistan, his native home, in 1978. Since then, his goal has been to help the rest of his family leave the country. He now has three family members living in the United States and two in England. His brother is still in Afghanistan applying for a visa to leave.

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