BINGHAMTON, N.Y. (WIVT/WBGH) – A restaurant that has been a staple in downtown Binghamton is celebrating 80 years of serving the community.
Little Venice hosted held a news conference this morning with local officials, employees and community partners to celebrate the occasion.
The family restaurant is owned by siblings Gina Minichino and Piero Lisio.
Minichino says their father Romeo arrived in the U.S. in 1974 and didn’t speak any English.
She says working at Little Venice was his first job and he never left.
Minichino says the most exciting part about working at Little Venice is all of the memories over the years.
“The memories in these walls, hearing all the stories as everybody has mentioned, from the customers who have stories that date back older than myself and the original restaurant,” Minichino says. “It’s comforting to know that this is other families’ comfort place where they come together. And that means more to us than we could ever express.”
Lisio says many of the Little Venice Staff has worked there for decades.
He says over the years they must have served tens of thousands of drinks and made millions of the famous meat logs.
“One of the things we’re incredibly proud of is as we’ve served the community for 80 years, you’ve come in here and seen familiar faces. We’re extremely proud of the staff we have, many of them were more like family,” Lisio says.
Little Venice is holding events all week long to celebrate the milestone.
Tomorrow there is a special $19.46 menu to recognize the year the restaurant was founded.
Thursday there is a Block Party Birthday Bash from 3 p.m. to 9 p.m.
Friday there is a Charity Throw Back Night where all tips will go towards the Southern Tier Veterans Support Group.
Sunday there is a Pasta Party with wine, appetizers and pasta tastings from 6 to 9 p.m.
For more information visit littlevenice.com.
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