3 new Italian restaurants in Dayton area to try this summer

🍝 Est! Est!! Est!!!

Location: 45 W. Fourth St. in Dayton

Details: Est! Est!! Est!!! officially opened its doors in the Dayton Arcade’s Commercial and Fourth Street buildings on July 26. The restaurant opened with a limited menu and reservations only.

Owner Joseph Correll said its limited menu of nine items focuses on quality over quantity.

“Everybody’s excited to get it open, but we’ve been eight months in the making so we want to make sure everyone gets that perfect experience,” Correll said.

In the weeks to come, Est! Est!! Est!!! will roll out additional items as well as Brunch on Sundays with classic Italian breakfast dishes and mimosa flights and Tapas Hour between lunch and dinner.

The restaurant is led by Chef Simone Conosciani of Rome, Italy. He said customers can expect “all the good stuff from the Italian cuisine” including fresh pasta, deep fried calzones and pizza.

Est! Est!! Est!!! is an extension of Mayfair Hospitality’s flagship restaurant in downtown Winston-Salem, North Carolina that has been in operation since early 2022.

🍝 Troni Brothers Italian Restaurant

Location: 417 W. Second St. in Xenia

Details: Troni Brothers Italian Restaurant opened its doors in the former space of Xenia China Inn in July.

Customers can expect “truly authentic Italian food” featuring homemade meatballs and lasagna as well as homemade marinara, pizza sauce and dough, said co-owner Dave Keen. Everything is made fresh daily.

Troni Brothers Italian Restaurant is Keen’s second restaurant. He also owns Troni Brothers Pizza in Kettering. The Kettering location serves 80 percent pizza and 20 percent pasta whereas the Xenia location has served 90 percent pasta and 10 percent pizza since opening.

The menu features salads, soups, wings, appetizers, baked pasta and more. They also have a lunch menu available from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. Wednesday through Friday with subs. The dinner menu is available all day.

Troni Brothers Pizza in Kettering is closed until Aug. 17 for its annual summer break.

🍝Veli’s Pasta & Pizza

Location: 18 E. Franklin St. in Bellbrook

Details: Ardita Demnika and her father, Agron, opened Veli’s Pasta & Pizza in the former space of Verona’s Pizza in late March.

The restaurant continues to serve pizza, calzones, stromblis and baked dishes that were popular at Verona’s Pizza with the addition of other entrees. The recipes are the same for the most part, but the Demnikas have added their own personal touch.

In 1999, Demnika and her family came to America from Kosovo. When she was 12, she began working in the restaurant industry with her father at the former Palermo’s Restaurant in Kettering. In recent years, they worked together at Troni’s Italian Restaurant in Kettering.

“It’s something I know how to do and it’s something my dad really wants,” Demnika previously said. “He has wanted a restaurant for a very long time.”

Veli’s Pasta & Pizza offers carryout and delivery. The restaurant is on a summer break until Aug. 18.