Scalini’s Italian Restaurant has closed after 42 years in Smyrna.
The restaurant, located at 2390 Cobb Pkwy in Smyrna, shuttered after dinner on Aug. 7. Opened by R.L. “John” Bogino, Harold Gerlitch and Larry Fisher in 1980, Scalini’s served a variety of classic Italian dishes and was known in large part for its eggplant parmigiana, which supposedly helped induce labor in pregnant women near or after their due dates. Tracy Ray is also a partner in the restaurant.
The closure was announced on the company’s Facebook page:
After forty years of service to our community, we are sad to announce the closing of our landmark restaurant. Thank you to all our customers for your patronage.
To all the members of our Eggplant Baby Club, thank you for sharing in the most wonderful time a family experiences. You have enriched the atmosphere of our restaurant with the famous “Baby Wall” of pictures. Almost every visitor to our restaurant has enjoyed looking at all of the beautiful babies!
To all our employees past and present, Thank You! Thanks for being a part of our wonderful forty two years in Smyrna, Georgia.
The post also encouraged customers to visit Provino’s Italian Restaurant, under the same ownership.
Bogino said closing the restaurant was “a tough decision” that boiled down to lack of staffing.
“We couldn’t even take reservations because we didn’t know if we’d have enough staff to take care of people,” he said. “We’ve struggled with that for a couple of years.”
He said he hopes someone steps in to reopen the restaurant, but in the meantime, said employees of Scalini’s have all been offered positions at Provino’s, which has locations in Snellville, Rome, Kennesaw, Cumming, Canton and Buford.
“We love all the people who work with us and all of our customers,” he said.
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