I have been writing Youngstown Eats for over two years now, and I have never reviewed a Youngstown institution…the one and only…the watch ‘em cook on WFMJ every Monday morning…here a restaurant there a restaurant…get yourself a monkey salad…ANTONE’s.
Antone’s Restaurant and Confetti Lounge was the quintessential Youngstown restaurant when it was located on Market Street. It was one of the Market Street corridor’s see and be seen places during the 60’s and 70’s. It was the Scianna family that over the years created, developed and perfected what many of us now refer to as Youngstown food. Just about every other Italian restaurant in the area owes a debt to Antone’s for pointing the way. I can give you the names of many people who refused to leave here, or moved back here, because they miss Youngstown food!!!
It was the first to bring us fried cheese, the Antone’s salad (and its smaller cousin the monkey salad), veal francaise…the list goes on and on. It was probably the first spaghetti sauce that was deemed acceptable to eat out by my family. It was quite a place.
When it burned down, many of us felt a sense of loss. By then, the operation of the restaurant had been taken over by Ross Scianna, the son of the founder. Ross is nothing if he is not a promoter, and he modernized the operation by opening up smaller more casual restaurants called Antone’s II out in the suburbs. Ross kept the more popular restaurant favorites, and added a whole bunch of oversized sandwiches named after members of his family and various popular figures in the Youngstown area. The sausage pepper and onion sandwich took a Canfield Fair mainstay and put it on steroids.
That seems to be the theme for the doggedly uneven development of the Antone’s Restaurant Group over the years. If some is good…more is better…ALL THE TIME!!! Make it bigger, and they will come!! Not always.
And Lord knows they tried...and maybe spread themselves too thin. While operating the Antone’s II restaurants, now known as Antone’s Italian Grill, the Scianna’s opened and closed Oscar’s, a white table cloth restaurant in Boardman…replaced, opened and recently closed sports bar entry called Jeremiah Bullfrog’s. In the process, it developed a fast food version of Antone’s called That’s Italian which they are currently franchising. One recently opened in Worthington in Columbus. Like I said, Ross and his son Chad are nothing if they are not promoters. You really should watch them cook on the local early morning shows. What a hoot!
Today, there are three Antone’s restaurants in the area, plus an Antone’s Express in Warren and an Antone’s That’s Italian in Boardman. There is also the Antone’s Banquet Center, one of the premier banquet facilities in the Mahoning Valley. These guys know how to cook for lots of people.
Here is the skinny. Antone’s still offers the best Italian food in the area. Its sauce is great. The portions are substantial. The food is hearty…not for the timid. The wedding soup is terrific. The Antone’s salad is a mainstay at many holiday meals. The meatballs are great. The sandwiches are huge. This is Youngstown food at it’s supposed to be…what people stay home and move back here for.
We patronize the restaurant located on Route 224 near West Boulevard. It has been there a long time. The exterior looks a little shabby, but the interior is rustic…both by design and age!!!! The service is friendly, and it is a very attractive space. Prices are more than fair…there isn’t item on the menu that I have seen that goes much over $12.00, and that’s for a steak. I don’t know how they do it at these prices.
My advice to these folks is to stick with what works, and do it better than anybody else. I don’t think anyone in the restaurant business can go ten different directions and be successful at them all. But the basic Antone’s operation is so good, it has been able to withstand with flying colors all of the other business ventures of its colorful, true Youngstown originals, owners.
I like Antone’s a lot. At the end of the day, it’s the food that makes a place. And the wonderful Scianna family uber succeeds in its basic restaurant operation even if some of the other stuff has been dicey, at best. GUYS…PAY ATTENTION TO WHAT IS WORKING.
Antone’s Italian Grille and Bar gets a well deserved four meatballs.
2 comments:
I am from Pittsburgh and can't believe you call this over priced food good italian food. It is so bland and unappealing looking I thought it was a joke. I had heard alot about this place, but only found rip offs of other restaurants, such as the famous Primanti's sandwich from Pittsburgh. For anyone that thinks this is good italian food, I suggest you take a trip down to Friendship ave in Pittsburgh and taste some real italian food.
Sorry you don't care for Antones. I spend alot of time in Pittsburgh and I know that they love Primanti's. I am not so impressed.
I suppose it is what you are used to.
Post a Comment