Italian restaurant La Villetta II opens in Ronkonkoma
Clams casino at La Villetta II, which has opened in a Ronkonkoma office park. Credit: Newsday/Corin Hirsch
A quiet corner of a Ronkonkoma office park that has hosted a string of Italian restaurants may have a keeper — an Italian restaurant with a busy original location in Farmingdale.
La Villetta II opened six weeks ago in the space where Mama Mia Ristorante, Ciao Bella and others have dwelled, and has about 100 seats across two warmly toned dining rooms. Servers adopt a formal, tag-team approach to meals that can extend, Italian-style, to many courses: Appetizers, salads and soups ($7 to $18) that take in classics such as carpaccio, antipasto, fried calamari, and tortellini in brodo. Pastas ($15 to $27) and entrees also tread quintessential Roman and Italian-American territory, from house-made ravioli and linguine with white or red clam sauce to chicken scarpariello and sole francese. The long list of daily specials might bounce from clams casino to osso bucco.
Both La Villetta locations are owned by Leo Ulaj and Tom Dushaj. Ulaj attended culinary school in his native Montenegro before coming to the U.S. in 1985; both have worked around New York's Italian dining scene for decades, from Westchester to Long Island.
La Villetta II is open during the week at 11:30 a.m. and on the weekend at 1 p.m. for lunch and dinner; a multicourse, $17 lunch special is offered during the week.
La Villetta II, 3505 Veterans Memorial Hwy., Ronkonkoma. 631-676-7775. lavillettaronkonkoma.com
Most Popular
Top Stories
