IndependentNEPA | Cafe Toscana | Wilkes-Barre, PA | Restaurant

Cafe Toscana | Wilkes-Barre, PA | Restaurant

Marcello Ameti

Cafe Toscana	Phone: 570-208-1252 cafetoscanarestaurant.com
1 Public Square Wilkes-Barre, PA 18701

Profiles In Business Excellence: Cafe Toscana

Jonathan O'Connell

    Just a few years ago, 1 Public Square was a place for ordering hamburgers and fries. Its dining room was decorated with plastic furniture, and a staff with starchy, maroon-colored shirt sleeves made this corner establishment a cookie-cutter restaurant, cut from the same mold as tens of thousands of others across the country. We were all familiar with those renowned golden arches, but a recent transformation of the location has people forgetting that the McChain ever existed.
    If you haven't been to the Square in Downtown Wilkes-Barre for a while, there's something you'll enjoy checking out.
    Marcello Ameti opened Cafe Toscana in that very spot, with the help of his family, a little more than a year ago. Hailing from their hometown of Flemington, New Jersey, Marcello and his relatives who are also staff bring a new flavor to the blossoming downtown area.
    "It was an opportunity, and we like it here." he said, as he motioned to one of his nephews who was waiting on two customers at the bar, and to another who was cheerily carrying a stack of menus in preparation for the approaching lunch hour.
    Marcello, who has been in the restaurant business for more than 15 years, was positive when asked about the growing downtown area.
    "I've noticed a change around the Square from last year; it's better," he said.
    Cafe Toscana serves an ethnically exclusive menu, but also caters to the blended and in creasing diversity of the Wyoming Valley, all at a surprisingly reasonable price.
    Food offerings include appetizers such as Cozze Posilipo, a snack made from Prince Edward Island mussels poached in a light marinara, and entrees like Vitello Fiorentina, a kind of veal prepared with spinach and fontina cheese.
    Apart from its exquisite menu, Cafe Toscana offers a pleasant atmosphere in a spacious dining room, as well as a full bar serving a complete list of imported beers and specialty drinks the kind of dining experience incomparable to the paper-wrapped cheeseburger and super-sized fries.