La Viola first opened as a French continental restaurant. As years went by they moved away from French cuisine and closer to Italian. Since March, 1990, La Viola has been a family-style Italian restaurant.
Besides food, La Viola is also a place where people can come to enjoy music. "On the first Friday of every month we have Opera/Broadway Night Live," Lino says. "We have complete gourmet dinner with wine. The concert is $40 per person. It's a ridiculously low price, but my wife and I are opera lovers. We do it for the sake of tradition."
The opera takes place in an upstairs party room, consisting of two sets of opera arias and one set of popular Broadway show tunes.
Tim and Nina Zagat of the Zagat Dining Guide, sent La Viola a letter of congratulations stating that customers rated the restaurant as one of the best on Long Island for the "Zagat 2001 Restaurant Survey." They received a plaque from the Zagat Survey.
La Viola was also listed by the New York Times as one of the 12 best places on Long Island to get Italian food.
Recently, La Viola has been bottling their own dressings and sauces that the customers buy from them. Lino says, "We're marketing our own sauces. They are available in supermarkets and gourmet shops all over Long Island."
Lino goes on to explain, "We do a lot of catering, parties. We live to please and make people happy. I'm a consummate restaurateur."
Right now, La Viola is accepting New Year's Eve reservations. There will be an a la carte menu all night long and complimentary champagne at midnight.
Open 7 days a week for dinner; lunch served Monday through Friday.
