Authentically Italian, Certifiably Lakeland
PHOTOS BY JORDAN RANDALL
ITALY MEETS NEW YORK MEET LAKELAND
New York style pizza, bruschetta, garlic knots and more have been satisfying Lakelanders for 25 years.
I‘ve made only one change in 25 years,” Gio Moriello says about the signature food that has made his family’s Palace Pizza a mainstay of downtown Lakeland. Two and half decades is remarkable longevity for any business, to say nothing of the notoriously onerous restaurant industry. The secret sauce, it seems, is Palace’s unwavering pursuit of consistent, delicious excellence. Perhaps running counter to much business advice to be nimble and quickly adjust to cultural shifts, Moriello says succinctly, “I don’t change what works.”
It was the mozzarella—the change he made 14 years ago. A new cheese vendor had contacted Palace but Gio was, understandably, reluctant to change what had been working well for more than a decade. At the urging of his father to give it a try, the vendor set up a blind taste test between Palace’s current product and the upstart competitor. The rest is Lakeland cuisine history–and the delectable cheese on Palace Pizza is now a flavor many locals can taste with their eyes closed.
This story illustrates the family foundation of the restaurant. Gio’s mother and father, having operated a restaurant overlooking the ocean in Italy, moved the family—including Gio’s brother and sister—to the US when he was 17.
“My hometown in Italy is very small, maybe 22,000 people in peak season and 15-17,000 in the winter,” he says about Monte di Procida, which is located about 15 miles west of Naples. “For work there are two choices: the shipping industry or the restaurant business. And if you move away the assumption is that you’ll work in the restaurant business in your new home.”
FROM START TO FINISH
Begin your meal with a craft beer or fine wine and don’t forget to try the homemade tiramisu before you leave.
By the late 90s, the family owned and operated a restaurant in Kissimmee when the Palace Pizza location came up for sale. The family seized the opportunity, came to Lakeland and began to make the food that so many Lakelanders have enjoyed for so long. Although his mother and father have stepped back somewhat, Gio’s siblings and brother-in-law, along with nearly 20 employees on a busy night, continue to serve the famed pies, along with a host of other authentic Italian options.
Although Gio doesn’t mention it, those who remember downtown in the late 90s will know that the Moriello family took a risk on Lakeland when the area wasn’t exactly thriving. In fact, entrepreneurs like the Moriello’s and the late Gerry McHugh, can be credited in part for building the foundation of today’s vibrant city center. At the time, however, Gio says, “There were only a handful of restaurants that depended almost totally on the lunch crowd from Publix and FedEx employees. Everything effectively shut down after 5 p.m. After a few years, other Lakelanders started to find us through events like the Christmas Parade. Word-of-mouth spread and helped us grow. When investments that brought the nighttime crowd to downtown increased, we began to serve even more customers.”
It’s those customers that the 42-year-old owner credits for helping Palace survive the COVID response when so many businesses didn’t. “We had the support of the incredible Lakeland community to see us through. Social media helped us make a quick transition to take-away service and we were able to maintain all our employees at full potential.”
Moriello doesn’t view Palace’s superb customer service as a challenge because “Italian customers are ten times harder to please!”
“I recently visited a cousin’s restaurant back home and thought, ‘I’m glad my customers aren’t as demanding!’”
But like any endeavor, other challenges are ongoing. The nature of a family-owned venture means everyone must agree with business decisions. Then, there are the long hours. “I have to be the captain to ensure consistently good food,” Moriello explains, “so that means being present all the time: weekends, holidays–any time people might go out to eat. When you live the restaurant life, it’s the opposite of regular life; you live differently than 90 percent of the people you know.”
The father of three loves having his kids at the restaurant but acknowledges he’s not pushing them into or strongly recommending the life of a restaurateur.
Of course as a restaurant owner, it helps to have great employees. Gio has nothing but praise for his team and specifically the man–Walter–who makes the circular foundation of Palace’s signature dish. “Walter is a pizza making machine–400, 500 on a busy weekend! He’s been here 15 years and there’s no one who can make them as fast as he can. He’s a big part of the restaurant and a blessing to have at Palace. He’d rather redo something than send out an inferior product. He’s an old-school guy with an old-school work ethic making pizzas the old-school way.”
If he had advice for his younger self, Gio says he’d try to anticipate how improving restaurant technology could help serve customers better. But Palace doesn’t have the space for more modern equipment and–more importantly–this successful old-school way is impossible to replicate. “Our New York-style pizza requires an oven with a special stone that keeps the temperature consistent. These stones can’t be found anymore and the new ovens aren’t consistent enough. I just had to replace an oven—and the replacement was made in the 1970s.”
After all, don’t change what works.
“Walter’s an old-school guy with an old-school work ethic making old-school pizzas.”
“I have to be the captain to ensure consistently good food.”