John P Cicchetti, Jr was born and raised in Dalton, a small town in western Massachusetts. He went to school at Johnson & Wales in Providence, Rhode Island. After graduating, he worked with a Fort Myers, Florida, hotel company.
After a short time, he left the hotel company and started working at a restaurant called The Shallows in Fort Myers, where he met Dave Webley and Tony Pace, developing a strong bond that lasted for years and continues to these days.
“I remember at one point working as a prep cook during the day, a server at night, and sometimes working as a cocktail waiter after the restaurant closed, and the nightclub opened. Being able to experience all these different lines of work and participating in various aspects of the restaurant business was truly exciting!
I realized that I absolutely loved the contact with people! Working with cooks, helping each other, and achieving the goal of a great service period each day at lunch and dinner was very rewarding.
While serving guests as a server and being able to recommend what the restaurant had to offer while understanding all of the hard work the back of the house had to perform to make each meal a success, the mystery of wine “infected” me, and I was determined not to make it a mystery anymore. Studying wine and how it complimented the restaurant experience became my new passion.
Being married to my wife, an Italian national, has compounded my curiosity for food and wine and the aspects of Italian hospitality. Over the years, I have worked in Miami, Boston, and Orlando, and we decided to call “The City Beautiful” our home. For the past 10 years, I have worked for Kres Chophouse and once again for Dave Webley. I love the size and the vibe of this restaurant. I am very proud of the team we have built and our success in the downtown area. The hard work we all put in seems to be so well worth it when you can tie together great food, including a vegan menu, wine, and handcrafted drinks, with unobtrusive, friendly service. This team will keep working to change what doesn’t work, and fine-tune what does”.
Open Hours
Mon - Fri: 11:30am - 11:30pm
Saturday: 5:00pm – 11:30pm
Sunday: 5:00pm - 10:30pm
Address
17 W Church St,
Orlando, FL 32801
(407) 447-7950