Tony & Luigi’s has been a staple Italian restaurant in Georgetown since 2008 — serving risotto, lasagna, seafood and meat entrees.
Jamie Cohen purchased the restaurant in 2022, when he decided it was time to work for himself. Mr. Cohen had a career in the corporate side of the restaurant industry and was the COO at Kerbey Lane for a couple years. He bought Tony & Luigi’s because he was looking to buy a restaurant that served comfort food and met his sales volume parameters.
“Comfort food is like alcohol. In good times, people love it and in bad times, people love it,” Mr. Cohen said. “It's something that just makes people feel good. In times when money is a little tighter, you know, it's a different value proposition.”
Since purchasing the restaurant, Mr. Cohen has kept most of the menu items the same. However, he has added some lighter fare options including more salads,and gluten free options as well.
The most popular meals oscillate between lasagna and chicken parmesan.
He has also remodeled the restaurant to make it cozier— adding brick and more red accents. The building is now more insulated, making the dining room less noisy.
Mr. Cohen has built a great staff culture and is grateful for the familial dynamic among the staff. He also asks customers to make reservations. There is often a wait list on weekends and a full dining room for the servers to tend to.
“We can do what we can do because we have great staff,” he said. “We get our asses kicked, then we laugh about it and all is forgotten.”
Mr. Cohen keeps in contact with many former employees who worked at Tony & Luigi’s during their college years at Southwestern University. The restaurant is right across the street from campus, which makes it easy for Kappa Sigma Fraternity brothers to walk there. The frat house used to have the old Tony & Luigi’s sign on display in front of their house, as a nod to the handful of brothers who worked there. After graduating from college and getting new jobs, they still contact Mr. Cohen for business advice and come back to visit. However, Mr. Cohen has tried to steer away from hiring college kids in recent years.
“I love those dudes. They were great… But yeah, they’re college kids. There was always a frat party, or spring break,” Mr. Cohen explained. “Every single one of them we've had from Southwestern were awesome, hard working kids, and we never had problems with them. But they’ve got other priorities.”
Visit Tony And Luigi's at 1201 South Church Street. Call 512-864-2687 to make a reservation on visit the website at www.tonyandluigistx.com.