Italian restaurants with “non-Italian” names

[kphoger]

have you ever eaten at - or at least heard of or seen - Italian restaurants with names that don't suggest those places are Italian?

Millie's Italian Restaurant

It takes a special kind of person to not realize that a place named Millie's Italian Restaurant is an Italian restaurant.

I think that user meant to say just "Millie's".

nope

[gonealookin]

This sign is up in the window of the former sandwich shop in the neighborhood strip mall.  I'm curious as to the concept.  The initial thought is "a calzone except in a tortilla rather than pizza dough" but I'm not sure the tortilla stands up to pizza sauce without making a sloppy mess after two bites.

[Dirt Roads]

Hillsborough, North Carolina has one that is brand new:  Willie's.  This is an updated version of an old pizzeria location, and it seems to be operated by the same folks.  Some 25 years ago, it was named "Pizza Transit Authority"; later became "Pop's Pizzeria" and more recently "Anna Maria's".  Needless to say, the original name was intriguing to the railroader/rail transit guy. 

As of June 2023, the GSV still shows "Anna Maria's".

[elsmere241]

Only because Olive Garden is crud wrapped in the Italian flag.

Yet my wife loved the place, and dragged me there a few times.

Then a friend of hers took her to a local place called "Cafe Napoli" that has food that's much more authentic.  The family that owns and runs it closed for a week recently because they went to a family reunion in Italy.  We actually went there for years - and loved it - before trying the pizza.  The pizza is Americanized but they do it better than anyone else around here.

[SEWIGuy]

Not Italian, but there is a restaurant around here called "Jennie's Boxcar" that has good Mexican food.

[GaryV]

When I was a kid, a local spot was called "Fred's Pizza". Maybe short for Frederico?

And it was just about as classy as the name. The exterior looked more like a construction shack than a pizzeria. It would have to go up 2 or 3 notches to qualify being a dive.

[Hunty2022]

Does Papa John's count as Italian?

[Big John]

Does Papa John's count as Italian?

I wouldn't count their food as Italian.

[TheHighwayMan3561]

Does Papa John's count as Italian?

I wouldn't count their food as Italian.

Chain pizza is its kind of own weird thing, even the Domino's/Pizza Huts that do have some more Italianesque offerings like crappy pasta.