At Nino's, Atlanta’s Longest-Running Italian Restaurant, You Don’t Fix What Isn’t Broken | Bon Appétit
"Situated on Cheshire Bridge Road and open since 1968, this modest Italian restaurant is Atlanta’s longest-running of its kind and is beloved for timeless Italian cuisine and old-fashioned hospitality. Owned by Antonio Noviello since 1982 and now run day-to-day by his daughter Alessandra Noviello Hayes, it retains original touches—a black-and-white caricature of Nino Laporete, a blown-up copy of the initial menu and a plaster Roman-style statue—while introducing discreet updates like tiled floors, peach linens and larger wine glasses. The kitchen, guided by the owner’s recipes and long-serving chef Alberto Nevarez, makes its own ravioli and potato gnocchi, imports dry pasta from Italy and insists on thick Alta Cucina plum tomatoes for the signature red sauce. Classic items such as baked clams oreganata (a longtime favorite, once $2 and now about $12), minestrone, veal scaloppine Marsala, house-butchered veal and giant scampi with marinara remain staples, alongside family-named dishes like petti di pollo alla Alessandra. Despite a changing neighborhood and younger, Instagramming patrons, the ethos is to fine-tune rather than change: “I won’t touch what isn’t broken.”" - ByChristiane Lauterbach
