Restaurateur to open Michael Alberini’s

Staff REPORT

BOARDMAN — Local restaurant veteran Michael Alberini has announced the opening of a new Italian-American restaurant at a familiar location.

The new Michael Alberini’s is to open in late August at 1140 Boardman-Poland Road, the site of the former Scacchetti’s Italian Steakhouse, which closed last weekend.

Owners of Scacchetti’s couldn’t be reached.

Alberini recently bought the 15,000-square-foot facility.

“I’m excited to be rooted back in the Valley,” Alberini said. “The people of this community were my incentive to call this area home as opposed to locating elsewhere.”

Alberini brings 25 years of restaurant experience to the new venture. For 10 years, he was the manager of the Springfield Grille. Before that, he worked with his family at Alberini’s Restaurant in Niles.

The new restaurant will feature a menu of dishes from Alberini’s ancestral homeland as well as favorites that appeal to American tastes. The restaurant will seat 160 customers with banquet rooms able to accommodate parties of up to 100 people.

The new restaurant also will offer patrons a retail shop near its entrance with a variety of wines from around the world and packaged in-house delicacies.

The facility will undergo renovation and reopen for business in six to eight weeks. Efforts are being made between Alberini and the previous owners to accommodate other dining venues’ parties with previously booked reservations at Scacchetti’s.

The hours of operation for the new restaurant will initially be 4 to 10 p.m. Sunday through Thursday and 4 to 11 p.m. Friday and Saturday, plus later bar hours nightly.