Carrying on tradition Angelo’s II in Monongahela has a young new owner keeping the old name alive
Owner Ryan Dzimiera
Pot roast sandwich with a side of potato salad.
Salads are a favorite at Angelo’s II.
The restaurant’s exterior.
When Ryan Dzimiera was 15 years old, he took a part-time job as a dishwasher at Angelo’s II, an Italian restaurant in Monongahela. Today, he’s the owner of the popular eatery on Third Street.
After working as a dishwasher, bartender and manager, Dzimiera purchased Angelo’s II on July 4, 2011, from its longtime owners, the Bartman family.
“There’s nothing else I’d want to do,” says Dzimiera, 33, a Ringgold High School graduate. “I enjoy the environment and the people. I’m a workaholic.”
Angelo’s II offers traditional Italian dishes and a variety of other meals. Its specialties include homemade ravioli, gnocchi and pizza, and Dzimiera says its salads, including antipasto, are a top seller.
His mother, Dee Dzimiera, prepares about five gallons of homemade spaghetti sauce every morning for the restaurant.
Homemade pierogies, breads, cakes and pastries are also popular. And, Angelo’s offers made from-scratch house Italian dressing, which Dzimiera bottles and sells.
The restaurant, housed in the O’Deli building, is undergoing an extensive renovation.
Dzimiera, a do-it-yourselfer, enlisted his family to help with most of the work and doesn’t yet have a time frame for when the renovations will be completed.
The family added a new kitchen and converted the old kitchen into dining space. The bar, which now is located between the kitchen and dining room, will be moved to the corner of the building, on Third and Main streets, and the current bar will also be used for dining. Once renovations are finished, the dining room will accommodate about 100 diners, and the bar will hold about 20 patrons.
Dzimiera replaced its dated decor and furniture with contemporary wood and metal tables and chairs, black and white movie, television and music posters – ranging from “The Three Stooges” to “The Breakfast Club” – and wood flooring. The posters come from a collection of about 200 that Dzimiera, a movie, music and sports fan, plans to change out often.
Dzimiera says he wanted to create a casual atmosphere and provide good food. “I wanted to give it a hometown, Monongahela feel, somewhere where you can go and relax, get a good meal and not have to get dressed up,” he says.
The family-friendly restaurant is competitively priced. A meatball hoagie toasted on a hard roll is $4.99, a ravioli dinner, which includes a salad and roll, is $9, and a full order of gnocchi Parmesan is $8.25.
Specials have included homemade stuffed peppers and mashed potatoes, pulled pork or charbroiled burgers with potato salad and fruit cup, and eggplant Parmesan with spaghetti and salad.
Dzimiera says baked goods and pastries, including lady locks, strawberry gobs and cakes, are homemade.
Angelo’s II originally was Angelo’s, which was opened by Angelo Marraccini in 1957. Julius and Stella Bartman, along with a partner, purchased the restaurant from Marraccini’s wife in 1969.
However, the restaurant was displaced by the construction of McDonald’s restaurant on the property on which Angelo’s stood.
It reopened as Angelo’s II in its current location.
“Everybody recognizes the name Angelo’s II. It’s been around for more than 50 years, and it’s been a pretty popular Mon Valley restaurant,” Dzimiera says.
He credits the restaurant’s staff of 10 and his family members, who often pitch in, for the success of Angelo’s II. “I have an awesome staff, and my family helps. They’re down here every day helping me out. Without my staff and my family, I couldn’t run this place.”
Angelo’s II is located at 111 Third St., Monongahela. For more information, call 724-292-8375 or visit facebook.com/AngelosMonongahela.