Today we’d like to introduce you to Michael Mancuso.
Mancuso’s Italian Ristorante is carrying on a family tradition. Mancuso’s original owner, Cathy Mancuso, started Mancuso’s in February 1987. After living in upstate New York until her late twenties, Cathy, following in her father’s footsteps, opened her own restaurant. In the late 50’s, her father, James Vincent Nessia, aka Jimmy Nash, owned and operated Nash’s in Utica, New York (You can view the original Nash’s menu in the restaurant).
When Cathy came to Texas, she soon realized that there were no real Italian restaurants in the Fort Worth area. After looking around the area, she soon found a piece of property on White Settlement Road in the middle of nowhere, but she had a vision that the area would grow and she was right! As the saying goes, “If you build it, they will come” and they did! For the last 25+ years, she has been feeding everyone in the Fort Worth area and beyond, surviving, just on word of mouth. Families returning several times a week as well as some very special celebrities have graced Mancuso’s Italian Ristorante.
She has since retired, spending time with her family and all her wonderful grandchildren. She passed on her amazing traditional family recipes, along with her vision, to her son, Michael. Within the few years since Michael has taken over, that vision his mother started has grown and continues to grow. What started as a family restaurant continues today with the motto of “we treat everyone who walks in the door like family, because they are our family.”
Great, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
Always the struggles, but everything is a learning experience, and we move on and become stronger, and our food better.
Mancuso’s Italian Ristorante – what should we know? What do you guys do best? What sets you apart from the competition?
We offer exceptional catering services, and not only with Italian food, but a variety of cooking.
We promote ourselves as being unique, mostly on word of mouth. We do some advertising, but most of our business comes from spreading the word of great home-made Italian food right here at Mancuso’s.
What moment in your career do you look back most fondly on?
Every day when the doors open, and seeing customers, new faces, and regulars who have been dining with us on a weekly basis for 30 years is a proud moment. Never have I worked a day in my life, because I enjoy doing what I do with a passion.
Everyone is so different and unique, and being able to interact with several personalities each day is a reward, and all of our customers are family and have been treated like so since day one.
Pricing:
- Prices range from 11.95 on half orders of pasta to plates that feed two for $30
Contact Info:
- Website: www.eatatmancusos.com
- Phone: 817-246-7041
- Email: mancusos1987@gmail.com
- Instagram: mancusos_italian
- Facebook: Mancuso’s Italian Ristorante
- Twitter: @mancusositalian
- Yelp: https://m.yelp.com/biz/mancusos
Image Credit:
Trey Chapman
Republic Creative Group
Getting in touch: VoyageDallas is built on recommendations from the community; it’s how we uncover hidden gems, so if you know someone who deserves recognition please let us know here.
