Dining at Coletta’s Italian Restaurant on South Parkway is like reuniting with old friends. You’re happy to see them, and no matter how many years have passed, you quickly slide into comfortable familiarity. On a recent night at Coletta’s, folks enjoyed the famous lasagna, barbecue pizza, and other items.

But so many aspects besides the food define the restaurant: There’s the red-padded bar, and the “Blue Room” with the concrete statue of the goddess Diana. There are two paintings by Italian artist Nello Jovine — one that owner Jerry Coletta calls Gypsy Woman and the other Two Children — that hang in the main dining room. Coletta’s dad, the late Horest Coletta, bought them at a Memphis gallery.