Now the 1005 Eaton Ave. eatery is back in business behind the Fig Tree Florist & Gifts, serving up the same homemade Italian cuisine area residents enjoyed at restaurants owned by her mother and father, as well as her uncle and aunt.
Isgro and new co-owner Bobby Collins brought back well-received menu favorites, including mostaccioli and meatballs and an Italian steak hoagie, but also added five kinds of 10-ounce homemade, hand-pressed specialty hamburgers.
There’s also specialty homemade spaghetti sauce and salad dressings, all of them based on family recipes.
Isgro also put more family into the second-generation family restaurant by hiring cousin Zachary Isgro and sister Nancy Isgro as cooks and sister Maria Isgro Spurlock as a server.
She also added a digital jukebox, Keno, a video game and a claw vending machine to enhance the eatery’s family-friendly reputation.
Collins said he wanted to be a part of the restaurant because of the hard work and dedication Isgro puts into the place, as well as the restaurant’s dedicated following.
Besides addressing recent air conditioning issues, the restaurant also underwent a facelift that helped brighten the place, courtesy of Wayne Vierling and Adam Hartman.
“We couldn’t have done this without them,” Isgro said, noting that Hartman also helped organize the business end of things.
Dining there Friday afternoon, lifelong Hamilton resident Dick Herzog said he was happy the close-to-home dining spot reopened and made sure he was the first customer in the door.
“It’s great for the West Side, and it’s even better now than it used to be,” Herzog said.
Carl Lewis, another lifelong Hamiltonian, said he eats at the restaurant about three or four times a week.
“This is probably the best Italian food I’ve ever had,” he said.
For more information, call 513-889-1530 or visit the restaurant’s Facebook page.
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