Owner of Osteria 166 Talks Success and Restaruant Ownership

Nick Pitillo is holding court.

Sitting at a table that was once part of a Springville bowling alley, Pitillo is surveying the midday, lunch traffic at his Osteria 166 restaurant in downtown Buffalo.

As customers come and go, Pitillo greets each of them with a smile and a heartfelt thank you.

To know Pitillo is to know that is his style.

And, Ptililo’s gregarious outgrowing nature is what he readily admits is part of this secret sauce of success.

“I treat everyone, whether they are employees or customers, like they are family because to me, they are,” Pitillo said.

Both of Pitillo’s two restaurants - Osteria 166 and Villago in Ellicottville - are welcoming places.

True, the food - much of which comes from the Pitillo family cookbook - is outstanding but to Pitillo it is the entire package of the experience —the food, the service, the ambiance - that matter.

It is a formula that has worked.

Osteria 166 - located at 166 Franklin St. and just across from the Buffalo Convention Center - just marked its 11th anniversary. Villago will celebrate its 9th year later in the fall.

There’s also Occasions by Osteria, the catering arm of both restaurants.

All told, Pitillo employs nearly 60 people - many of whom have been with him for years.
“You have to understand, especially in this business, everyone has to have a role and you’ve got to respect that role,” Pitillo said.

Pitillo, 57, has been in the restaurant business since he was 13 and washing dishes at Madigan’s in Ellicottville. A graduate of the Rochester Institute of Technology’s Hotel and Resort Management program, Pitillo estimates he has helped nearly 30 restaurants open in his career including various eateries at the Seneca Niagara Resort & Casino and the Seneca Allegany Resort & Casino and the former Sonoma Grille in Amherst.
But, at the urging of his family and friends, Pitillo decided to open his restaurant.
In fact, he spent more than one year scouting sites when Carl and Bill Paladino called Pitillo about taking over the former Frankie’s Mohawk that’s nestled between the convention center and the Statler.

The site and location intrigued Pitillo.

“It was the location,” he said. “The convention center and Statler are right there. And, we are near Shea’s and the (KeyBank Center) arena, plus all the offices and the Hyatt,” Pitillo said.

Thus, in June 2013 Osteria 166 was born and Pitillo has never looked back.
Osteria is a family affair.

It is not uncommon to see Pitillo’s mother, Joan (Nani to most people), there or his wife, Kendra.

“Nani isn’t afraid to offer her advice,” Pitillo said.

But, in the end, all comes down to the people, Pitillo said.

“People make Osteria what it is and I’m proud of that,” Pitillo said.