A beloved Italian joint and pizzeria is the best in the Triangle, readers said
The restaurant on the hill overlooking Interstate 85 in Durham is a gem hidden in plain sight.
You know it even if you haven’t been in, marked by a friendly red tomato atop a 100-foot sign. But its regulars have known it for decades — and now the secret might be out.
Pomodoro’s Italian Kitchen has been named the Triangle’s favorite Italian spot by readers of The News & Observer, edging runner-up Anthony’s La Piazza by about 300 votes out of nearly 15,000 cast in the final round. (Pomodoro’s and Anthony’s owners are part of an extended family.)
Pomodoro Italian Kitchen menu
Known for traditional pastas, New York style pizza and rectangular Grandma pies, the owners of Pomodoro’s sees the recognition as proof that the old school restaurant still has a lot of love to give.
“I think it’s refreshing, it makes us feel like, ‘Hey, we’re still here,’” co-owner Carlo Finazzo said. “The customers, the community, the people are loyal and they like my Italian food. It makes me proud.”
Carlo and Josephine Finazzo opened Pomodoro’s in 2007, transforming an old highway Shoney’s into a classic Italian restaurant and pizzeria.
Finazzo was born in Pennsylvania but his family moved back to Sicily when he was 2 years old. He returned to the United States as a teenager, finding work in an RTP Sal’s Pizza owned by his cousin. There he met Josephine, a Brooklyn-born server whose parents had moved from Italy to New York and then to North Carolina.
They raised their family in restaurants and fed countless others, starting with Sal’s Pizza in the 1990s and then Pomodoro’s.
“My dream was to have an Italian restaurant,” Carlo Finazzo said. “She ran the front, I ran the back and we were a proper team. My parents helped, my brother my sister. My sister could not even speak English — she was waiting tables and she was so afraid about it. I said, ‘Why are you afraid? The menu is in Italian. Lasagna is the same in both languages.’ And now she owns her own place in Wake Forest: Il Bacio.”
‘Durham has become very foodie’
At Pomodoro’s, the Finazzos said they’ve seen the tastes in Durham evolve over the last couple of decades, embracing traditional Italian pastas beyond spaghetti and meatballs.
“Back then, people knew manicotti and lasagna, but they did not know spaghetti carbonara,” said Josephine Finazzo. “We would eat octopus all the time, but back in 1998, if we put octopus on the menu people would have lost it. Now I feel like Durham has become very foodie, so people are more open to the authentic dishes. They’re willing to try it.”
As if on cue, Carlo prepares an order of frutti di mare, a red sauce pasta with shrimp, clams, mussels and calamari, given an edge with a pinch of red pepper flakes. The shells of the seafood clack in the pan as Carlo swishes it, flames flaring up briefly, the edges of tomato and garlic sauce bubbling furiously.
Pomodoro’s pizza counter
On the other end of the kitchen is the pizza oven, where Pomodoro serves orders by the slice, whole pies and a popular rectangular Grandma Pie, which is given a final flourish of grated garlic and olive oil before cooking.
“We have regulars still coming from the Sal’s days,” Josephine said. “Because we have been a staple here for so long, when we see certain customers coming, we know exactly what they want and go ahead and get their order ready.”
From plates of pasta to flavorful bites of pizza, there are intimate details on every inch of the menu. Even the mozzarella sticks are made with house-grated and breaded cheese. In Pomodoro’s, the Finazzos said, they’re sharing recipes they love with a community that’s embraced them for years.
“I think Italian is just comfort food,” Josephine said. “For me, pasta is life.”
This story was originally published May 4, 2026 at 8:00 AM.
