For more than 30 years, Calabria-born Mario Longo has been bringing classic, homestyle Italian food to the Raleigh area
by Rachel Simon | photography by Forrest Mason

If you’ve eaten Italian food in the Triangle sometime over the last four decades, there’s a decent chance you have Mario Longo to credit. The Italy-born owner of Raleigh’s beloved Vic’s Ristorante & Pizzeria franchise has opened no fewer than 20 heritage-inspired restaurants since he moved to North Carolina in the late 1970s — and that was all before taking over the Moore Square eatery. And as anyone who’s ever enjoyed the penne alla vodka or fried calamari at Vic’s can attest, the now-77-year-old Longo definitely saved the best for last. 

Since its 1993 launch, the family-run restaurant has become one of Raleigh’s go-to Italian dining options. As its footprint has grown — Vic’s now also has locations on Lake Boone Trail, Glenwood Avenue and in Triangle Town Center, plus locations in development in North Raleigh and Wendell Falls — its reputation for “authenticity” has remained steady, says Longo. “There are a lot of places that open up with Italian names, but they aren’t from Italy,” claims the restaurateur. “If you try my food and then try the other food, you see the difference.”

Born in Calabria, Longo first came to America as a teenager, armed with zero English but an entrepreneurial spirit he immediately put to use. After stints washing dishes and doing similar odd jobs in U.S. cities, including Brooklyn, he moved to Cary in 1979. Here, he started a family with his wife Lucia and launched a pizzeria at what was then the Cary Village Mall. In the early 1990s, after a series of short-lived restaurant attempts, Longo and a business partner learned that the owner of a casual pizza joint in City Market, the titular Vic, was looking to sell. Despite the risk of setting up shop in what was then an unpopular location, the duo opted to “take a big chance,” Longo recalls. “I saw potential.”

A few months later, he bought out his business partner to become Vic’s sole owner, keeping the restaurant’s name but changing nearly everything else. Longo transformed the to-go spot into a sit-down eatery with a long list of homemade entrees and high-quality wines imported from Italy. He had the walls covered in murals depicting scenes from his home country and filled the shelves with collected decor. 

Longo’s Calabrian origins also heavily influenced the restaurant’s menu. Dishes like the calamari fra diavolo incorporated the Southern Italian city’s famous love of spice, while vegetable-heavy options like the portobello alla baggio made use of Calabria’s staple ingredients. Longo hired a chef hailing from Naples to educate the staff on Italian pasta-making techniques while relying on his own experience operating New York pizzerias to create all his pies’ sauces and doughs from scratch.

To date, the owner says, every one of Vic’s dishes is made “fresh and à la carte” for customers, created “right on the spot.” As the restaurant gained attention, Longo put his three children to work, and all stayed on board: Michael, now 43, runs the Glenwood location and will oversee Wendell Falls after its expected January 2027 opening; Mario Jr., now 45, is the owner of the Lake Boone outpost; and Mia, now 39, runs City Market alongside her father. Their matriarch Lucia, now 69 and an avid baker, heads up desserts like Vic’s legendary tiramisu and limoncello cake. 

“I was fortunate enough to have learned from the best,” says Michael of working alongside his father. “My dad definitely showed me the ropes.”

Over the years, all of the Longos’ continued involvement has given the restaurants a family-friendly atmosphere as inviting as their aromas. On a given night, you can find high schoolers grabbing slices before a big dance, tourists enjoying heaping portions of linguine and regulars who have eaten at Vic’s for decades, its pizza and pasta adorning their whole lives. “We’ve seen kids in strollers come through here, and now they have families of their own,” says Michael.

For some loyal patrons, the menu at Vic’s is only part of why they keep coming back. “Vic’s helps the community,” says Claire Bigham, a 28-year-old Raleigh social worker. The restaurant sponsors the Raleigh chapter of the LGBTQ+ athletic league Stonewall Sports, Bigham explains, and she and her teammates find herself at the restaurant for post-game meals “almost every week.”

That loyalty goes both ways. During the COVID-19 pandemic, which caused small businesses all over the Triangle to permanently shutter their doors, it was Vic’s devoted fanbase that kept it from meeting the same fate. “The community here helped us out,” says Michael, remembering how customers bought Vic’s pizza ingredients to make at home and downtown building managers ordered pies for their tenants. Adds Mario: “They helped us a little bit here, a little bit there. We made it.”

Within a few years, the owner says, he’ll likely step back and pass his duties fully onto his children, who plan to continue growing the Vic’s name across the Triangle. “I want to keep it alive, keep it going,” says Michael. He, in turn, hopes to show his own 8-year-old daughter the legacy of his family business.

For now, though, Mario can still be found working behind the City Market counter or sitting out on its patio every day, proudly watching the restaurant’s steady stream of customers new and old. 

“Every year, we add something, we take something, but we keep it going,” Longo says. “33 years, and I’m still here.”  

This article originally appeared in the June 2026 issue of WALTER magazine.