Ippolito's Italian Restaurant
Ippolito’s is a family-style Italian restaurant consisting of six locations throughout the Atlanta, Georgia metro area established in 1989 by Connecticut natives George and Toni Ippolito.
Background 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. Just a short two years afterwards, location number four was opened in Kennesaw located right across from the mall 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 in Lawrenceville- Suwanee. After 15 years of serving in their original location, the Roswell store was relocated a mile down the street into a free standing building. They 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 guests.
The Menu
Ippolito’s offers traditional and trendy Italian dishes served in generous “family-style” portions that have many guests walking out the door with to-go boxes. They have made a name for themselves when it comes to their garlic rolls, pizza, award-winning calzones, and homemade tomato and marinara sauces. Chicken Francaise is a specialty of theirs alongside “The Pepe,” an appetizer that they created which is made up of spicy Italian sausage baked in dough with honey drizzled over the top. Since 1988 the menu has had many additions including low-carb dishes that do not involve pasta. The chefs have offered more dishes nightly by coming up with their own specials. 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 four other men who are all partners at specific locations alongside George and Toni Ippolito. Frank Genovese is a partner at the Norcross location, Brian Mackey and Jeff Reed are partners at the Windward Parkway location, and [...] 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.
Reviews
- http://www.accessatlanta.com/restaurants/content/restaurants/neighborhoods/stories/2007/03/21/0323ippolitoitalian.html
- http://www.insiderpages.com/b/3713539799
- http://cityguide.aol.com/atlanta/restaurants/ippolitos-family-style-italian-restaurant/v-103460015
References
- http://ippolitos.net/aboutus.html
- A Dash of Family Values, page 14. Serve Smart, 2000.
- http://atlanta.citysearch.com/profile/3020329/atlanta_ga/ippolito_s.html
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- CO: Irresistible Italian has Atlantans flocking to Ippolito's, page 31. Jezebel Magazine, 2001.