The Restaurant

History

What began as a small family business has now grown to include three very successful restaurants in the Fairfield county area. The Marchetti - Tarantino family, who hail from Gravina in Puglia in southern Italy , started with their first restaurant, Maria's Trattoria in Norwalk , in 1983. The dynasty continued with the much acclaimed Columbus Park Trattoria in Stamford in 1985, and Osteria Applausi in Old Greenwich and Tarantino Restaurant in Westport in 1994.

From the very beginning the ingredients were simple and fresh and that has remained the secret to their enormous success. At every Marchetti-Tarantino family restaurant you will find homemade-handmade pastas, the choicest cuts of meat and the freshest market fish. In addition all of our customers are lovingly treated as a true part of the family. Your dining experience will be enhanced by our professional wait staff and gifted chefs. With every visit you will be transported to enjoy the gastronomical delights of the family's hometown and to the other beautiful regions of Italy . Please come and join and celebrate fine food and wine and the celebration of the culinary delights of life.

The Restaurant

The picture windows of Tarantino Restaurant and Bar afford a view of the Westport train station, and watching all the activity inspires daydreams of travel past and future. But despite the hustle and bustle at the depot, diners will most likely keep their attention on the goings-on inside this cozy, family-run Italian restaurant nestled in a row of shops and eateries.

Tarantino’s is owned by Michael Tarantino, his sister Maria, her husband Tony Marchetti and their son Michael. Tarantino and his sister also own a string of successful Italian restaurants in the country: Columbus Park in Stamford, and Osteria Applausi in Old Greenwich. The siblings hail from Bari, which is located on the Adriatic coast in Apulia, and at the Tarantino they offer an authentic taste of the Mediterranean peninsula from the top of the boot to the tip of the toes. The faded apricot and ochre walls of Tarantino’s glow like the interior of an old Roman palazzo. Warm and friendly service makes even first-time guest feel like a part of la famiglia.

Dining Experience

When in this Rome do as the Romans do and treat yourself to the many beguiling courses of a traditional Italian dinner, even if that means lighter appetites need to split an antipasto and pasta course. Tender sweet eggplant and wonderfully grilled shrimp seemed strange bedfellows at first, but turned out to be delicious soul mates.

The meat on the braised veal shank of the classic osso buco Milanese was so tender it practically fell off the bone at the hint of an approaching fork. The rigatoni-shaped bone in the center held an irresistible mouthful of sultry marrow. The bouillabaisse, a dish native to the Italian Riviera port town of Livorno, came chock-full of crustaceans, mollusks and chunks of fish.
Eating at Tarantino’s transports you to a world far away – but still wonderfully close to home.

Tarantino's 30 Railroad Place Westport , CT 06880

Telephone: 203-454-3188