Olivia’s Trattoria is bringing an authentic Italian taste to Orillia.
The new West Street North restaurant is serving pastas, appetizers, entrées, sandwiches, desserts and a few North American food options like burgers.
“We have a lot of good recipes that have been brought from just outside of Naples (southern Italy),” said restaurant owner Federico Polsinelli. “My grandparents started this business 72 years ago, but this is our first location as Olivia’s.”
The Polsinelli family owns restaurants in Vaughan, Guelph and Toronto. Olivia’s Trattoria is their first restaurant north of the Toronto area.
Polsinelli, 44, hopes to bring a different flair and taste to the Orillia community.
“I have a friend that lives up here and she was always saying that we should open up in Orillia.”
Six months later, Polsinelli decided to set up shop in the Sunshine City. While the restaurant is starting out with a small menu, he says it packs a punch of flavour. Everything served is made fresh in-house.
“We’ve had a lot of good reviews,” Polsinelli said. “We have a lot of repeat customers, and we find that a lot of the same people are calling over and over.”
Polsinelli says the restaurant was running out of food each day during its first week in business. However, it still may take time for the Olivia’s Trattoria to become a household name.
“We are still gauging what works and what doesn’t,” he said, “but I think everywhere needs a good Italian restaurant.”
For now, Olivia’s Trattoria is just a take-out restaurant with no dine-in options. Polsinelli hopes his business is a hit in Orillia and that it will grow into something even better.
“We have had a lot of requests from customers who would like to see us open a fine-dining restaurant in downtown Orillia,” he said. “We are in no rush; we’ve been in the restaurant business for generations, and we like to take our time.”
Polsinelli, who lived near Naples for years, hopes everybody in the Orillia area will try his new restaurant.
“I think that we have a very good product and our prices are very reasonable,” he said. “We hope that once you’ve tried it, you will call us back the next day to place your order.”
He thanks the community for its support during the restaurant’s first month in business.
“Orillia has been great to us,” he said. “Thank you for our continued support, and we look forward to taking everybody’s feedback.”
Olivia's Trattoria is located in the plaza at 247 West St. N.
