Melillo’s on East Market Street may have closed at the end of 2008, but Bill Silvio Melillo was determined to bring his family’s Italian cooking back to the city. Seven years later in 2015, he opened Silvio’s on Fairfax Avenue in St. Matthews, promising Louisvillians delicious authentic Italian-American cuisine.

My first interaction with anyone from the restaurant went very well. I called about getting a table for three and had the most in-depth, thorough reservation conversation I’ve ever had. The hostess, upon learning I had never been there before, explained that the only table available for three at the time I inquired about was at a high-top, in an area that is known to be in the direct line of cold drafts when the front door opens.