Sometimes you want to go where everybody knows your name. That’s the feeling in Villa Milano, a decades-old Italian restaurant in Manhasset owned by the Bekteshi family that serves family recipes and focuses on customer service. Co-owner Don Bekteshi said running a restaurant with three generations of a family isn’t a piece of cake, but his family has made it work since opening in 1985 with his brothers Eli and John. Before that, the family owned seven restaurants in Italy, and the brothers worked in family-owned restaurants across Long Island before opening Villa Milano.
“You’re going to have bickering in the family, you’re going to have a little tension, but at the end of the night, this is part of business,” Bekteshi said. “You’re going to have a lot of stress and a lot of pressure, but at the end of the day, you give each other big hugs. We’re a family.” Bekteshi attended the Culinary Institute of America and had some experience before opening the restaurant. The recipes are from the family matriarch, known affectionately around the restaurant as Mama.
