Petaluma Profile: Giacomo’s Ristorante a 32-year joy for Gina and Gladys Romeo

Mother and daughter to close popular restaurant by end of year|

“Gratitude,” says Gina Romeo, asked what single word best sums up her feelings about 32 years running Giacomo’s Ristorante and Pizzaria with her mother Gladys Romeo. “I’m grateful to the community that has supported us. All of our customers are like family. And I’m grateful to my parents, who raised me in the restaurant business, and have given me such a wonderful career. I’ve been very, very fortunate. So the word would be gratitude.”

Romeo, who opened the popular restaurant in 1988, naming it after her restaurateur father Giacomo, has decided that it’s time to move on. She and Gladys will be closing the place at the end of the year, unless a buyer comes along to take over before then. On a recent Thursday morning, mother and daughter took a break to reminisce about their experiences operating Giacomo’s, a true family-owned business that has been at the center of their lives for over three decades.

After revealing that she has worked an average of 65 hours a week from the very beginning, Gina Romeo insists with a smile that she’d have it no other way.

“It doesn’t bother me, not a bit,” she says. “I’ve loved every minute I’ve spent here.”

“It’s true. She comes down here at 7:30 in the morning,” affirms Gladys. “When you love a place as much as we love this one, you just never want to leave it.”

Giacomo Romeo, explains Gladys, first learned the art of Italian cooking while helping his own mother and grandmother cook for the Royal Family in Sicily. After becoming a chef in 1946, he served in the US Navy as a deep sea diver, and eventually opened Romeo’s Restaurant, with Gladys, in San Francisco’s North Beach, and together they owned restaurants in San Mateo, Los Altos and Menlo Park. They passed that love of restaurants on to Gina.

“When we first opened, there wasn’t very much out here except us and Yardbirds and a few others,” says Gina. “This was way out in the country, the edge of town.”

“There was a yogurt shop next door to us, and next to them was a tile store,” recalls Gladys. “There was a video store here, a carpet store, and then Yardbirds. There were plenty of people who, when they needed to go to Yardbirds for something, planned their trip so they could do their shopping then come in here for lunch.”

“We have regulars who’ve been coming here since we opened,” Gina adds. “There are generations of people who came here as children, and now bring their own children. A 22-year-old stopped in to pick up some food last night. I remember when he and his parents used to come in when he was learning to walk.”

Asked why they’ve decided to close up, Gina shows genuine emotion while exlaining that running a restaurant has become harder than it used to be.

“Everybody is tired, that’s the real reason,” she says. “It’s like Gary Chu said, when he closed his own restaurant in Santa Rosa. We need more young people willing to work in restaurants, as waiters, as cooks, just starting out and learning the business from the bottom up. That’s how it’s always been, but it’s become very difficult to find young people who want to do that. They have so many other options now.”

That said, both Gladys and Gina believe that the time they’ve spent at Giacomo’s has been worth the effort, and that value is about more than just serving good Italian food in a friendly environment. It’s also been about those employees who did learn the business while working there.

“I’ve had people come back, long after they worked here as young people, and thank me for teaching them a work ethic,” says Gina. “One guy came back a few years ago, one of our wait people, a guy named Rick. He said that he never forgot what he learned here. I used to be really strict with him.”

“True,” says Gladys. “She was always the strict one. I was the friendly one. That was our balance.”

“Rick walked in and told me that because of my keeping him focused on doing his job and doing it well, he’s become the CEO of a bank,” Gina continues. “‘All because of you,’ he said. He’s just one of many people who’ve told me their lives are better for spending time here.”

Adds Gina, That just means the world to me.”

UPDATED: Please read and follow our commenting policy:
  • This is a family newspaper, please use a kind and respectful tone.
  • No profanity, hate speech or personal attacks. No off-topic remarks.
  • No disinformation about current events.
  • We will remove any comments — or commenters — that do not follow this commenting policy.