Under new ownership. For devotees of a particular restaurant, those three words are enough to stir apprehension, carrying with them the specter of undesired changes to the menus and a decline in service.

Fans of Joe’s Pasta House, one of Rio Rancho’s oldest and most beloved restaurants, likely felt some of that unease last fall, when longtime owners Joe and Kassie Guzzardi sold the restaurant to local businessman Nadeem Shariff and his family.