ROCHESTER, N.Y. — The owners of a popular Puerto Rican restaurant in Rochester are literally picking up the pieces after an SUV slammed into their building overnight Thursday. Thankfully, no one was inside El Pilon Criollo when it happened.

The outside of the restaurant has been boarded up, but the tire tracks show just where the car went in. the entire dining room has been destroyed. Owner Alejandra Brown says she was sick to her stomach when she arrived Thursday night to find the SUV was still in the middle of her dining room. She spoke with News10NBC Friday but asked us not to show her face.

“It was just unbelievable, the amount of damage,” Brown said. “To see one of the nicest buildings on Clinton Avenue damaged that way was very sad.”

The building is insured. The city of Rochester connected the business with a commercial kitchen in the Sibley building which will allow Brown to fulfill the catering orders she has.

But it will take time for El Pilon to be back to what it once was. And perhaps the most heartbroken over the whole thing is Brown’s mother. Her daughter said she had been running it for 13 years beforeBrown and sisters took over.

“It’s very hard to see something that was so much hard work damaged like this but we have faith and hope that we will overcome this obviously,” she said.

Those who live and work right near the restaurant say they will do what it takes to help them overcome.

“Because they’ve done so much for this community, the community stands by them. I think I’ve seen more neighbors here than often, show their support and say whatever we can do to help this community and help El Pilon, we’re here for it,” said Mercedes Vazquez Simmons, of the Latino Youth Development and Resource Center.

The owner says she’s hoping to be back up on her feet as soon as possible, particularly because the kitchen was spared from any damage so at the very least she’s hoping maybe she can reopen that and can do takeout orders out of the back of the shop.