Natili owner reflects on years serving Butler
The restaurant business is not for everyone.
Owning and managing an establishment can be a stressful and time-consuming venture with a variety of challenges.
Vince Tavolario may be more aware of that than anyone in Butler.
Tavolario and his wife, Jean, have been the majority owners of Natili Restaurant & Lounge at the corner of West Wayne and South Main streets for 46 years.
Tavolario knows firsthand the kind of dedication it takes to provide a quality service in the restaurant industry for so many years.
“It's a special kind of business,” he said. “There are problems every day.”
Regardless of the challenges, the Italian restaurant has been a cornerstone of Butler's downtown district. It will mark its 75th anniversary this August.
John Natili, the father of Jean Tavolario, founded the business in 1939.
At the time, the seating area consisted of just the downstairs dining room off the Wayne Street entrance.
Natili bought the building in the 1950s and expanded the restaurant to include where the bar is now.
Tavolario, who went to music school, said he got into the business after marrying his wife after graduating.
“Her father got sick around that time,” he said. “She began running it out of college. I guess I was elected.”
One of the first memories Tavolario had of the restaurant was the three Murano glass chandeliers hanging above the bar.
“I was there when they were putting them in,” he said. “That was in 1966.”
Behind the Venetian glass that covers the wall is a painted mural depicting Venice.
Tavolario said it was painted the same year the chandeliers were installed.
He said his sister-in-law's husband, who was an artist from Venice, painted the mural.
“They're probably worth more than the building,” Tavolario joked about the set. “People come from out of town and tell me the treasure I have here.”
Tavolario and his wife created their own branch of the restaurant, Natili North on North Main Street, in 1973.
“The building became available, and we wanted something that was our own,” he said.
Tavolario said the North restaurant offers a simpler menu than the parent restaurant.
“We try to keep it a little more local,” he said. “It's a simpler menu, with orders like stuffed pork chops.”
The original Natili location offers traditional Italian recipes carried down through the family's heritage.“Everything is homemade,” Tavolario said.While the restaurant offers a variety of dishes, Tavolario said he prefers the basics.“I'm a basic guy,” he said. “I like to keep it simple.”Tavolario's plate of choice is the chicken with tomato-basil sauce.Or the restaurant's classic spaghetti.“We have great spaghetti,” he said, adding it is perhaps their most popular dish.The couple opened a third shop, Natili North Pizza Shoppe, a few years ago. That shop is next to Natili North.In the restaurant's 75th year, Tavolario reflected on the lifetime he has spent at the restaurants and all the memories associated with them.“There are so many stories,” he said. “It's more than just a business. It's a way of life.”It can be a difficult way of life.Tavolario said declining crowds, increased regulations, and competition of national chain restaurants are a lot for small, local restaurants to overcome.“It's very difficult,” he said. “Restaurants are very expensive to keep open.”Tavolario said he and his wife never forced their two children into the business because of the constant battles.“It's never something we wanted for them,” he said. “We wanted them to live their own lives.”But while the business is inherently stressful, Tavolario said it also brings its share of joys.Tavolario said the relationship with patrons is the best part of the job.“The mission in the restaurant business is to make people happy,” he said. “That makes you happy. It makes you feel like you contributed to the community.”Tavolario said perhaps his favorite memories of the restaurant involve the holidays, particularly the times he plays the piano.“Every year we have a Christmas singalong,” he said. “The place is always packed. That day lends an atmosphere you can't duplicate.”Tavolario said the St. Patrick Day celebrations at the restaurant also have been a big hit.“I've had people tell me those were the best times they ever had,” he said.Throughout the years numerous celebrities made their way into the bar, including singer Wayne Newton, ex-Steelers Lynn Swann, Mario Lemieux of the Pittsburgh Penguins, and Boston Celtics Hall of Famer Bill Russell.“I remember he wanted to eat up where the bar is, but he couldn't fit,” Tavolario said of Russell. “He was 7-foot tall.”Tavolario said Michelle Pawk, the Tony Award winning Broadway singer from Butler County, was once a regular singer at the restaurant.“She used to sing here during the summers when she was in college,” he said. “She got her start here.”Butler native Daniel D'Aniello also worked at the restaurant before launching his successful business career.“He was a bartender here when he was in his 20s,” Tavolario said.D'Aniello, a cousin of Jean Tavolario, would go on to cofound the Carlyle Group, an investment firm in Washington, D.C.Forbes lists D'Aniello's net worth at $2.9 billion.D'Aniello made a significant contribution to the Butler Public Library in 2003. As a token of its appreciation, the library named its main lobby and fiction wing in honor of his mother.While not all of his workers have gone on to be billionaires, Tavolario said the restaurant also served as a starting point for a couple doctors, including his nephew, Anthony Smaldino, who practices in Butler Township.“I started out as a busboy when I was 13 years old,” Smaldino said. “I grew up in Youngstown but we would always come over on the weekends.”Smaldino said he continued to work as a bartender there during college and parts of medical school.“We had a lot of good times there,” he said. “I actually met my wife, Karen, there when I was bartending.”Smaldino remembers the restaurant being a hub for city businessmen in the 1970s and 1980s.“It was a different time back then,” he said. “There was no Cranberry. There were no chain restaurants like there are today.”Smaldino said he still has patients that reminisce about times at the establishment.“It was really a place where everyone knew each other's names,” he said.Tavolario also said the patrons got to know the staff well.Particularly those who spent a lifetime working at the restaurant.“Phil Codispot just recently retired after 50 years,” Tavolario said, speaking of a former bartender from Harrisville. “He was a staple here for a long time.”Tavolario said the close interaction of his everyday patrons is what makes the job worthwhile.The relationship with the community is why Tavolario said the restaurant has become more than just a job with him.“My father-in-law used to tell me businesses become like part of the family,” he said. “That's how I feel. This building is more than just bricks and mortar.”But Tavolario said it might be time to move beyond the business he has invested his life into.Tavolario said he is considering selling the original Natili restaurant.“It doesn't feel good thinking about that,” he said. “It's been 46 years of my life.”Tavolario said he is listening to offers.If he decides to go through with it, Tavolario said he would keep Natili North and the pizza shop open.While he would like to see the original building stay a restaurant, he would take the Natili name with him.Thinking about signing away the place he has owned for nearly half a century isn't easy.“It'll be very difficult, but I'll adjust,” he said. “Things change. You can't deny that.”Tavolario said one of the main reasons is he would like to have more personal time.“I don't see my grandkids enough,” he said.He also said he hopes to relax a little more.“I've always loved the business,” he said. “I still love it. But it does wear you out.”If and when he decides to ultimately move beyond the business, Tavolario said he'll always appreciate the opportunity to serve the Butler community for so many years.“I really have to thank the Butler community for supporting us for 75 years,” he said.
