Industry Restaurant Founded 1989 Type of business Family owned | Headquarters Atlanta Number of locations 7 | |
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Products Authentic Italian Food, Pizza, Pasta Profiles | ||
Ippolito's is a chain of six family-style Italian restaurants located throughout the Atlanta, Georgia metro area. The chain was established in 1989 by Connecticut natives George and Toni Ippolito.
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History
Ippolito's is a casual family-style Italian restaurant located on the outskirts of Atlanta that first opened its doors to the public in May 1989 by a couple originally from Connecticut, George and Toni Ippolito. The first restaurant opened was located in Roswell, Georgia on Holcomb Bridge Road. The owners describe the cuisine as "authentic Italian". After 5 years of serving George and Toni Ippolito expanded their business by opening a restaurant in 1993 in Sandy Springs and another shortly after that in 1994 in the rapidly growing Alpharetta area. Two years later, location number four was opened in Kennesaw located across from Town Center at Cobb on Barrett Parkway. In 2000, once again a new location was opened off Windward Parkway in Alpharetta and finally the sixth restaurant is off Cobb Parkway in Atlanta. After 15 years in its original location, the Roswell store was relocated a mile down the street into a free standing building. The owners also moved the third store in Alpharetta, to Norcross in 2006 and the Lawrenceville-Suwanee location in 2007 to downtown Suwanee where they now have a private party room to accommodate 75 customers. In 2011, Ippolito's opened its seventh location.
Menu
Ippolito's sells traditional and contemporary Italian dishes served in "family-style" portions. The menu features garlic rolls, pizza, award-winning calzones, and homemade tomato and marinara sauces. Chicken Francaise is a specialty, along with "The Pepe," an appetizer, original to the restaurant, which is made up of spicy Italian sausage baked in dough with a honey finish. Since 1989 the menu has had many additions, including low-carb, no-pasta dishes. The price of a check is moderate averaging around $25.
Atmosphere
To get the real Italian restaurant feel they decorated with red and white checkered tablecloths, dimmed lights, and stucco and brick walls along with an opening into the pizza area where customers can watch the pizzas being made and placed into the large brick oven. Ippolito's play the sounds of Frank Sinatra throughout the restaurant to keep the mood fun. The walls are covered from head to toe in photos of the family, staff, and customers all adding to the home-away-from-home environment. Many of the restaurants are located in high-traffic strip malls, but still contain a homey, yet romantic atmosphere on the inside. Most locations seat around 130 people in the dining room and for those stores with a patio, usually sit around 40 people.
Owners
Each restaurant is a family-owned establishment by five other men who are all partners at specific locations alongside George and Toni Ippolito. Frank Genovese and Dan Smith are partners at the Norcross location, Brian Mackey and Jeff Reed are partners at the Windward Parkway location, and Dick Cunningham is a partner at the Suwanee location. As for the rest of the stores George and Toni Ippolito own them.
The Bocce Room
The Bocce Room is a new addition to the Roswell stores' relocated building. It is a private dining room for parties and receptions holding up to 112 people for a seated dinner or 120 people for a reception. Ippolito's offers a variety of menus to choose from and the option to have it stationary or butler style service.
Awards
In 2007 Ippolito's was awarded the 2nd Best Italian Restaurant by the Atlanta-Jezebel Magazine. In the same year it was also named the 36th Best Overall Restaurant in the Atlanta Metro Area by Jezebel Magazine.