History of Cannella’s Italian Restaurant

Reviewed by Becky

This month I had the pleasure of writing an article for In Magazine about a Salt Lake City Italian restaurant, Cannella’s. If you have a chance to pick up the magazine please do, but today I’m going to tell you a little more of the inside scoop of the Italian family behind this Salt Lake City dining staple.

There’s just something about family owned Italian restaurants that trumps every other Italian restaurant in my book. While Josh and I traveled Europe we were constantly on a search for family run establishments, or Trattorias, as they like to call them. Cannella’s is exactly that, a family run Italian restaurant in the heart of Salt Lake City. The restaurant opened its doors by the current owner’s father and grandfather in 1978. After a lease ran out on the grandfather’s local bar, he had to close its doors, saying he would never lease a space again, so this time they bought a building and Cannella’s was born.

The father-son partnership continued and eventually, Joe’s son also got involved. He moved back from LA to help start a lounge area in the restaurant and in the meantime helped with some re-decorating of the restaurant including placing photos up of his dad and mom around the restaurant. Within weeks, his dad unexpectedly passed away and the photos on the wall became an even more significant part of Cannella’s rich history. Now, he says the photos are one of the most important parts of the restaurant, as they let his family heritage live on inside the walls. After his father’s passing, he decided to make a home in Salt Lake and carry on his father and grandfather’s legacy by continuing to make Cannella’s one of the best Italian restaurants in town.

To this day you can sample some of the family inspired recipes including their Italian Salad which is topped with Italian Sausage. Some other highlights from our meal was the Tuscan Chicken with Asparagus, the Meatball, and their Cioppino stew (served as a special on Fridays). Here are more photos of the delicious foods we enjoyed while dining at Cannella’s.