Nino’s Italian Restaurant received a glow-up on Cheshire Bridge Road this winter, including a new entrance that leads to a brand new cocktail bar next door once home to a hair salon.
Having opened in February, Dopo Lavoro pays tribute to owner Antonio Noviello’s hometown of Sapri along the Amalfi Coast of Italy. Regulars wandering into Nino’s for the first time since the bar’s quiet debut might not recognize the restaurant. The only clues indicating they’re in the right place are the Nino’s sign above the entrance, family photos on the walls, and being greeted by Alessandra Noviello Hayes and her husband, Micah.
Nino’s has been a fixture on Cheshire Bridge since 1968. It’s not only one of Atlanta’s oldest restaurants, it’s one of the city’s most beloved red sauce joints.
In 2019, legendary Atlanta food critic Christiane Lauterbach sung the Italian restaurant’s praises in Bon Apétit. Lauterbach called Nino’s “timeless.” But change was already afoot when she spoke with the Noviellos for the story. The elder Noviello had passed the baton to his daughter and her husband, who promised the ethos behind Nino’s and its food wouldn’t change, just be “fine-tuned.”
Noviello Hayes, who grew up at Nino’s, eventually working there as a teenager and becoming its manager, said she wanted to find a way to finally bring her dad’s expansion plans to fruition.
A long-planned expansion
When Noviello took over ownership of Nino’s in 1982, he simply wanted to carry on the restaurant’s legacy in Atlanta. That included bringing aspects of the Amalfi Coast native’s personal history and Italian heritage to Nino’s.
Over 40 years later, Dopo Lavoro opened in the adjacent space beside the original restaurant. But the road getting here took the family years to navigate.
Attempts to claim the space were thwarted time and again by bad lease terms, bad timing, or deals falling through at the last minute. So when the owner of the salon told Noviello Hayes last year that he wasn’t re-signing the lease, she quickly jockeyed for position to secure the space her dad had long coveted for Nino’s expansion.
“The actual concept for Dopo Lavoro was conceived by me and my sister. We were in Italy last summer visiting my dad’s hometown when we knew we had gotten the space,” Noviello Hayes said. “Sapri is about two hours south of Positano and the most beautiful little fisherman village.”
She recalled sitting on the beach in Sapri with her husband and sister, Gabriela, who owns interior design firm Silo Studio, brainstorming about what to do with the space. Her father had regaled stories of working at the bar his father owned called Dopo Lavoro. Micah Hayes presented the sisters with the idea to transform the former salon into the Italian bar on Cheshire Bridge.
“We had two options with all of those windows in front,” said Noviello Hayes. “We would either spend a lot of money to make it dark like our original dining room with its 1968 wood paneling or make it a fresh space and bring a piece of dad’s hometown to Atlanta.”
What’s old is new again
Part of the built-out for Dopo Lavoro involved moving the original entrance from the other side of Nino’s near the patio to the front of the new bar. The plan also brought the grandfathered design up to code, making it more ADA compliant. The ramp into the dining room is wide enough for people to maneuver in a wheelchair. They upgraded the restrooms for better accessibility and to accommodate people with mobility issues.
Noviello Hayes said the newly configured entrance allows people to arrive to a lighter space before stepping back in time as they walk down the ramp into the dimly lit main dining room at Nino’s.
Restaurants up and down the Amalfi Coast often feature patios bathed in light and coastal colors like whites, blues, and yellows. Inside, dining rooms at these seaside restaurants tend to be much darker and cozier. That’s the vibe Noviello Hayes and her family wanted to inspire at Nino’s and Dopo Lavoro.
A bright and airy space filled with light greets people as they walk into Dopo Lavoro. It features as much charm as Nino’s main dining room that continues to draw couples seeking intimate meals in quiet corners and families gathering for Friday night pasta feasts.
Photographs lining the walls tell the family’s story. There’s a large photograph showing the extended family in Italy enjoying the beach when Noviello Hayes and her sister were kids.
“We just made it feel as much like the Amalfi Coast as possible. My dad is really proud of where he’s from and when he took on ownership, he did revamp the menu, but he never got to really tell his own story at Nino’s,” said Noviello Hayes. “When you walk into Dopo Lavoro, you’re seeing my family’s story, starting in Italy.”
A fine-tuned Nino’s
Dopo Lavoro offers 16 bar seats and table seating for up to 18 people. The eight-seat bar in Nino’s dining room is reserved for wine tastings and acts as a private events area for the restaurant.
As in the main dining room, crooners like Sinatra, arias sung by opera stars like Pavarotti, and classic tunes by a variety of Italian singers fill the air at Dopo Lavoro. Nino’s serves its dinner menu here, too, including favorites like the Rigatoni Enzo lamb ragu, calamarata salsiccia e rapini, zuppa de peche, and veal scallopini.
The Amalfi Coast finds its way onto the cocktail menu at Dopo Lavoro via limoncello and lemon zest, featured heavily amongst the drink ingredients. Look for cocktails such as a limoncello spritz, a classic Negroni, and an espresso martini, which can come served frozen.
Rounds of the restaurant’s popular martinis now arrive on a cocktail tree. While the idea was to make it easier to carry up to eight martinis at a time, the presentation of a tree of cocktails became a fun photo-op. During Christmas, the martini tree might include twinkle lights and ornaments.
Noviello Hayes and her family added another new addition to Nino’s this spring: lunch. The scaled-down Nino’s menu offers Italian-style sandwiches and some of the restaurant’s greatest hits served in the main dining room and at Dopo Lavoro Monday through Thursday.
Noviello Hayes said she sees Dopo Lavoro, the new cocktail menu, and tweaks like adding lunch to the lineup as Nino’s reintroduction to Atlanta. It all brings fresh perspective to the five-decade-old restaurant.
The response to Dopo Lavoro has been mostly positive, even with longtime regulars who were skeptical about the changes at the restaurant. But the biggest win for Noviello Hayes and her family has been introducing new people to the treasured Atlanta Italian restaurant and watching them embrace the old with the new at Nino’s.
“My dad took pride in being here every day and making everything consistent and authentic for his customers. He wanted people to feel like family here,” Noviello Hayes said. “We’re carrying on that tradition with Dopo Lavoro. But we aren’t touching what isn’t broken at Nino’s. That’s why Nino’s has stood the test of time. I think we have another long stretch ahead of us and that’s exciting.”
1931 Cheshire Bridge Road, Atlanta. Open Monday – Thursday, 11:30 a.m. to 2 p.m. and 5 p.m. to 10 p.m.; Friday and Saturday, 5 p.m. to 11 p.m.; Sunday, 5 p.m. to 10 p.m. Reservations highly encouraged. Bar open for walk-ins.