Lombardo's delivers family-priced Italian

Article by JOE BONWICH - St. Louis Post-Dispatch

With a history stretching more than 75 years, Lombardo's defines the St. Louis Italian-American tradition just about as well as any other local Italian restaurant.

Who among the current crowd of over-40 longtime St. Louisans didn't make the trek at least once to the original landmark Lombardo's on West Florissant Avenue at Riverview Boulevard, across from the southwest corner of Calvary Cemetery? My family would drive up from U. City for special meals, much the same way we'd drive to Pietro's down south. Later on, Lombardo's was the scene of many pre-prom meals and other date nights.

Hearing that Lombardo's had opened a place in Arnold called Terrazza Grill was a little jarring; after all, Lombardo's was north (side) Italian, and most of those restaurants eventually migrated to St. Charles County, following their patrons and their children and grandchildren. I'd expect Arnold to attract south-side successors and spinoffs. Then again, previous Lombardo's expansions had included downtown (in the Union Station Drury Inn and with Carmine's, the steak house adjacent to another Drury Inn at Fourth and Market Streets) — so the family had nurtured a regional following.

Terrazza Grill's menu hearkens back to Lombardo's roots as a family-priced neighborhood place, even to the point of having four items specifically called "old time specials." The new building — next to, of course, a Drury Inn — is heavily ornamented with stone, although the most dominant reference to its heritage is the old tinted photos scattered throughout.(read more on www.stltoday.com)