Watters Creek Village in Allen has recently undergone major upgrades to the restaurant space. Vaqueros Bar-B-Q led the way, followed by Shiva’s Bar and Grill, alongside staples like Village Burger Bar and The Blue Fish sushi. The latest addition is Tutto Gustoso Ristorante Italiano, owned and operated by well-known restaurateur Leo Gravina, who has made his mark on the Allen dining scene with the very successful Numero 28. This creation takes the diner up a notch, toward a more modern, creative Italian experience.
Gravina has had a wide-ranging career in the operations space, starting in London with Italian fine dining group Bice, followed by a celebrity-filled stint in bartending and managing in Miami, eventually ending up in Dallas with time spent at the Gaylord Texan and as an operations manager with the Lombardi Group in Legacy West. Finally, the call of owning his own restaurant was too strong, so he set out on his own. The point: this is no mom-and-pop shop.
One thing Gravina made clear to us is that he is not the chef. He helped create the menu with head chef Enrico Glaudo, and then let the chef get creative from there. Being from Italy, he mentioned it was important for him to find a chef from the homeland as well. Imagine that, an Italian restaurant run by Italians. Not as easy to find as one might think…