photograph by michael donahue
Notable features of all three Villa Castrioti locations are the handpainted murals in the dining room. The Cordova location, shown here, features Sophia Loren and members of the original owner's family.
In 1996, Joe Clarke, then a student at Christian Brothers High School, took his freshman homecoming date to Villa Castrioti. “Since I lived in Cordova, I wanted to take her to the fanciest restaurant,” he says. “It had just opened about five years earlier.”
Now an owner, along with Aron Pullen, Clarke remembers which table they occupied that night (table number two). He doesn’t remember what they ate, but whatever it was, he could still order it today. “We still run that original menu,” he says. Over the years they’ve added to the menu, “but ever so slightly, such as pork items with prosciutto and Italian sausage.”
photograph by michael donahue
Joe Clarke
The décor hasn’t changed, either. “It’s like you just walked into your grandmother’s house and you’re about to eat dinner,” he says.
The dining room, in rich hues of green, gold, and burgundy, features ornate chandeliers and several plaster busts, including a gold bust of Apollo. A statue of the goddess Hebe stands beside a small silver table in the foyer. “You can’t find some of these vintage decorative items anymore unless it’s at an estate sale,” Clarke says.
The business began in 1980 when Adam and Julie Papraniku opened “Castrioti by the Slice” in Hickory Ridge Mall. They closed that and opened Villa Castrioti in its current location in 1989. “They’re from Albania,” says Clarke, “so it does have Albanian flair blended with the Italian food. Our marsala is a more traditional wine sauce.” And the pizza “is not so Neapolitan style. It’s more like a thin-crust, hand-tossed pizza.”
Pullen, who has worked at Villa Castrioti for 27 years, began as a server and then became a bartender. He and Brian Leith bought the restaurant when the Papranikus decided to sell it in 2019. The new owners expanded the restaurant to include two more spaces next to the original one.
They have since opened two other Villa Castriotti locations, in Lakeland and Nashville.
A distinguishing feature of Villa Castrioti is the colorful, hand-painted mural behind the bars at all three locations. For subject matter, they try to feature a well-known Italian, such as a musician or actor. The Cordova mural includes Sophia Loren and members of the Papraniku family. The one at Lakeland features two movie stars: Marlon Brando as Don Corleone in The Godfather and Monica Bellucci, an Italian actress. In Nashville, the mural is centered around the diner scene with Al Pacino and Robert De Niro in Heat.
As for the food at Villa Castrioti, Clarke says, “The menu is the same at all locations.” Executive chef Matt Brown oversees the kitchens at each restaurant.
photograph by michael donahue
Aron Pullen
Their signature items are cannelloni castrioti (the meat is rolled up in a crepe instead of a manicotti noodle) and beef castrioti risotto, described by Clarke as “prime beef tenderloin over a mushroom risotto with some marsala wine sauce.”
Since 1989, they’ve added only three new permanent menu items: sorrentino, ziti Sicilian, and saltimbocca. Sorrentino includes chicken or veal cooked in a white wine scampi sauce with prosciutto and then mozzarella cheese melted over the top. Ziti Sicilian is made of rigatoni noodles with ricotta, marinara sauce, onions, peppers, and Italian sausage.
They also offer off-the-menu item specials every week and feature a “secret menu,” Clarke says. “It’s just food we’ve done in the past,” including a 16-ounce ribeye, Faroe Island salmon, fried green tomatoes, calamari, and a 14-ounce bone-in veal chop.
He and Pullen also encourage their staff to create new dishes. A recent special was the biscotti pudding created by server Tim Pullen, Aron’s brother. The culinary creation needs to be something they can implement in 30 minutes, Clarke says. “My challenge is making it. Let’s see what it looks like, tastes like.” The restaurant staff then pitches in, telling the originator whether it needs “more of this or that.” And after they nail it down, Clarke and Pullen say, ‘Sure, let’s execute it.’”
“Papa Loves Mambo” and “Dancing Cheek to Cheek” are among recordings customers listen to while they dine. But live music is also a big part of Villa Castrioti. “We’ve always had live music in different parts of the bar area, and we offer it here five nights a week.”
What makes Villa Castrioti unique is “just the history of it,” Pullen says. “What it’s about. A person with a dream from Albania coming to America and opening a restaurant.”
It also is his own American dream, Pullen says: opening a restaurant with no experience except what he learned beginning as a server.
Villa Castrioti stands out because it covers all bases. A steakhouse offers steaks. Most Italian restaurants specialize in classic Italian dishes like veal Marsala or chicken piccata. Here, your date can get a prime filet with Maine lobster tails while you enjoy a New York-style pizza. “It’s not just your everyday Italian pizzeria or fine-dining restaurant,” says Pullen. “It’s everything in one, and everything is delicious. We use the best quality ingredients in every item.”
They’re not stopping with just three Villa Castrioti locations, Clarke says. The three-year goal is to open another location in the greater Nashville area, he says, and the ten-year goal is to have seven restaurants in Tennessee, Arkansas, and Missouri.
But he doesn’t want to “dilute the brand name” by moving too fast. He wants to “keep the culture, the consistency, and the quality level of food” that people already love at Villa Castrioti.
Villa Castrioti has two locations in this area: 714 North Germantown Parkway #15 and 9861 Lake District Drive, North #101, in Lakeland.
