WE WILL NEVER GO TO LONGOBARDI'S AGAIN. Milanese Restaurant in Poughkeepsie and Stefano's Restaurant in Fishkill are very good Italian restaurants. Consider them as better choices if you're up for Italian, instead of the under-new-ownership Longobardi's.
Longobardi's used to be our favorite restaurant when Claudio owned it. I've thrown six sizable parties there over the years - a wedding rehearsal, a baby shower, a retirement party, and three special birthday parties. In total, well over $12,000 for the parties, along with many thousands of dollars over the several decades of going there with just my husband, or with family and friends, about once a month. We loved the food and Claudio, and how he ran his restaurant. The new owner - not so much!
Today, Father's Day, June 21, 2026, we chose to go to Longobardi's because that is where one of our grandsons loves to order pizza. The adults, of course, planned to order from the regular menu. We were not surprised to see "THE HOLIDAY MENU" with unacceptably increased prices. That's the norm on a holiday, even Father's Day. It is what it is.
What we were very surprised at is that the new owner and manager REFUSED to let our little, sweet, very well-behaved, grandson order pizza because it was not on "The Holiday Menu."
Mind you, their attached SAME KITCHEN pizza parlor was making pizzas to go, as we sat at the dining table. Our daughter decided to go to that counter in the back of the restaurant, order the little guy his pizza and bring it back to the dining table.
Longobardi's new owner/manager REFUSED, REFUSED, HEELS DUG IN, to let our daughter bring the little guy's pizza to our family table in the dining room, on Father's Day, a family holiday, at an Italian family restaurant, with a pizza parlor. REFUSED, no matter how sweet and kind we were. They told her she either had to take the pizza to go, or the little guy had to eat his pizza in the pizza parlor with her, rather than with the rest of the family and his Pop, on Father's Day. It brought her to tears. So the manager, after she and the pizza guy brought her to tears with this irrational business decision, ruining the Father's Day dinner said, "We'll, I guess I could bring the pizza to him one piece at a time, but I'll have to sneak it in, because I already told another table with children, near your table, that they could not order pizza today."
This was too little, too late for our daughter and our grandson. Tears, and not a fond memory. The unacceptable behavior and crazy-wired decisions of the manager/owner had already caused unnecessary customer stress and hurt.
Really bad marketing and business decisions on the new owner's part. Claudio would have never forced a grandchild to not be able to eat his pizza with his Pop on Father's Day. This arrogant, thinks-he-knows-it-all new owner basically ruined Father's Day dinner for the family, in the interest of his personal greed. Note, he did the same thing to two other tables near our table, which had several lovely, sweet, well-behaved children. This is certainly not the way to do business with families, on a family holiday, in a family restaurant with a working pizza parlor connected and sharing the same kitchen.
The new owner thought he was making a shrewd money making decision to force people to order the expensive items on "The Holiday Menu," in the interest of greed. Greed never works in the long run. He shot himself in the foot. He lost six customers of many decades at our table.
We will never recommend Longobardi's again. Many of our friends who have frequented there for decades were heartbroken to hear this story, and will stop supporting that business. Several friends from different friend circles warned us not to go there based on their own and different stories with the new owner, but we decided to give the new ownership a chance, and form our own decision. Should have listened.
I'm happy for Claudio that he was able to sell his business and was able to retire; he so deserves it. As for the community - the heart in this restaurant retired with Claudio. Next up, give Milanese in Poughkeepsie or Stefano's in Fishkill a try before going to the under-new-ownership Longobardi's. read more