Mangiare (eating) at Nino's

Nino's is quickly becoming our favorite restaurant, it's like a Sicilian version of "Cheers". Not only is the food excellent, but the people who work here are classic. They are part of the experience and make you feel like part of their family. They are patient with our complete mis-pronunciation of every Italian word and are happy to help with the English translations. We think that we are entertaining them as much as they are entertaining us!

Within minutes, everyone in the restaurant has a distinct personality and you feel like you have known them all of your life. Here's the cast of characters as we see them:

Nino - owner, uncle to Gian Luca and Francesco. Very serious about the food, clearly a perfectionist since everything we have had to eat is "perfecto".

Gian Luca (pronounced "John Luca") - waiter (on the right), hand is in a cast and the only story we could get was that "something happened upstairs". He claims he only knows enough English to get by in the restaurant, but he knows a lot more English than we do Italian. We knew we had a friend when we saw the Red Sox hat in the back room. He explained that he has a friend in Boston and he also has a Celtics hat. We told him he has to visit Boston, and tried to explain Boston has a "Little Italy" known as the North End. We got a curious look from him, and not sure we lost him or not, but he got the gist of it that we were pretty excited to have a little taste of Italy close to home.

Francesco - waiter (on the left), from the Milano area. He models for a high end Italian clothing store but is the most down to earth model you will ever meet. He claims to know no English, but he throws a few words out every now and then and has us on the floor laughing! He did the double cheek kisses for Becky, and then said something in Italian to our friend Danielle whom we were having dinner with. She translated "the men too", and Steve got the double cheek kisses too. It's amazing to be part of a culture that is so different than our own. The men are very comfortable showing affection with friends. It is easy to transition from the high-fives and belly bumps to the cheek kisses with such passionate people.

Sebastiano - waiter, all business until the door closes. Then you can see the personality rise to the top and know he is one of the main characters of this show.

Rocco - friend of the family, always smiling and ready to break into dance with any song.

Giovanni - from Savoca, and was actually in the movie "The Godfather". He showed us a picture of him riding a bike with a red shirt on (see below). His father was also in the movie, with a few key scenes filmed in Savoca. In the movie they are set in Corleone, but the small town character of Savoca could not be matched. Giovanni has "Italian Hollywood" in his blood, playing the role with a red scarf around his neck and white hat. He even posed in a picture with us!
Our new friend Danielle has been going to Nino's for the last 11 years that she has been traveling to and living in Taormina; she has become family there. We have met her at the restaurant for dinner a few nights and she helps translate our conversations with the group so they know we are not completely crazy (as they would say "patso"). Danielle has been our link to really getting to know the people of Nino's, not to mention a great source of information on fun things to do and see.

Every time we walk past Nino's now we get a warm "Ciao! Buon giorno! Come sta?!". It's incredible how quickly they have made us feel so welcomed into their wonderful town! Grazie Nino's!