Natili's to celebrate 70 years in city
Put on your party hat and dancing shoes. Natili Restaurant is celebrating its 70th anniversary Saturday.
Owners Vince and Jean Tavolario are hosting a combination anniversary and Columbus Day party Saturday night in the restaurant at 104 W. Wayne St., featuring Vince's own musical trio.
The restaurant was founded by Jean's father, John Natili, who owned the restaurant and lounge for 39 years.
"I came to help John run this place for one year. That was 41 years ago. I've been here longer than he owned it," Vince Tavolario said.
The restaurant opened Aug. 3, 1939, in the Boos building, now owned by Natili restaurants. A second location is on North Main Street. The entrance to the original restaurant was on West Wayne Street, where Natili put a grill in the window piled high with hot sausage, peppers and onions. He used the sight and smell of the food to draw in customers.
The Main Street front of the entrance, which now provides entry into the bar, was a pool hall with a card room in what is now the upstairs dining area when Natili first started serving food. After buying the building in 1950, Natili renovated the two upstairs floors with the lounge and dining area. Downstairs are two dining rooms and the kitchen.
Tavolario said when he graduated with a music degree from the University of Cincinnati, where he met Jean Natili, he traveled a bit and played music.
"But that was a hard life and we had kids, so I didn't think I should be away," he said, adding that when his father-in-law became ill, the Tavolarios helped run the restaurant.
Jean is one of four daughters Natili raised after the death of his young wife. Jean also is the sister who has remained active in the restaurant business.
The couple have carried on Natili's business creed of good food, consistency and "treating customers the way we would want to be treated if eating out," Vince Tavolario said.
He said the family has worked hard through the years to keep the business friendly and serving good food.
"There used to be chain restaurants in downtown (Butler). Eat 'n Park was downtown, and it didn't last. Pappas was downtown, but its gone," Tavolario said. "We're still here."
The two Natili restaurants employ 98 people, and a new pizza shop at the corner of West North and North Main streets will open by the end of the year, adding another six or so employees.
Located next to Natili North, the pizza, now served in the Main Street store, is based on Vince's mother's recipe. His mother operated a pizza shop in Youngstown, Ohio, for 30 years.
Stan Kosciuszko, president of the Butler County Chamber of Commerce, calls the Natili restaurants, "a phenomenal mainstay in the community.
"The amazing thing is that the Tavolarios are so active within the community, especially when it comes to Butler's downtown, being involved in the renaissance and the Butler Downtown organizations. You usually don't see that from the restaurant industry," Kosciuszko said.
Alan Offstein, owner of Furniture Galleries on Route 8, remembered how his parents took him to eat Sunday dinner in the restaurant his entire life. He became so familiar with the staff as he grew up that at the age of 22, one of the waitresses told him she didn't know if she could serve him alcohol because he seemed too young.
"They're just a big family, people who really are happy to see you because of you, not just because you're going to eat there," Offstein said.
