Sun sets on long career at family-owned Greensburg restaurant

The sun set in late May on the long restaurant careers of Robert and Anna Jo Noviello, owners of a popular Greensburg restaurant that had been in the family for three generations.

The Noviellos sold the Sunset Cafe at South Urania Avenue and Laird Street to Ronald and Angela Mellinger of Greensburg for $600,000.

Robert “Bob” Noviello said they wanted to sell so they could retire, which they have since done by moving to Port St. Lucie, Fla.

“We worked it for many years. (Anna Jo) was the backbone of the business. We had a great run,” Noviello said.

Noviello said he and his wife owned the restaurant since 1986, when he purchased it from his brother, Gerry Noviello.

“We dearly miss our customers and employees,” Anna Jo Noviello said. There were cooks, bartenders and servers who had worked at the restaurant for more than 20 years, she said.

She was proud the employees remained with the restaurant, despite the pandemic-related shutdown and the restrictions that limited them to offering takeout meals.

“This past year was the most trying year in the business,” Anna Jo Noviello said.

They added outdoor seating in 2020 in an area that had been used for parking.

“That saved us last year. We had zero bar business” during the tighter restrictions, Anna Jo Noviello said. Like other restaurants, indoor seating was limited because of social distancing and limits on gatherings.

It was during the pandemic last year that Mellinger said he heard the Noviellos were interested in selling the Sunset Cafe. They were frequent customers and knew the business had a good customer base.

Mellinger, who is operations manager for the Municipal Authority of Westmoreland County, relies on his wife’s business expertise. She formerly worked as the controller at Nemacolin, the luxury resort in Farmington, Fayette County, according to her LinkedIn profile.

“She loves the hospitality industry,” Mellinger said.

She put together the business plan for the financing, and, after pandemic-related delays, they were approved, Mellinger said. State approval for various licenses also was delayed.

He said it has been a seamless transition, as the servers and kitchen staff have remained on the staff.

Mellinger said he is not a gambler, and purchasing the Sunset Cafe “is as close to a sure thing as I can get.”

Family business

The restaurant the Mellingers purchased has been in the Noviello family since Robert Noviello’s grandmother, Elvira Pantalone, started it in 1933, in the depths of the Great Depression. She opened a grocery store on the first floor of her home, while her husband, Peter, operated a shoe repair and sales shop in the basement area. The family of seven children lived above the grocery store-deli.

Elvira Pantalone decided she would sell spaghetti as well and give her pasta to friends and customers for free for a week to spread the word about her cooking. When Prohibition was lifted in December 1933 with the repeal of the 18th amendment banning the sale of alcohol, they applied for a liquor license and were one of the first full-service restaurants in Greensburg to be able to serve spirits, Anna Jo Noviello said.

During the Great Depression, teams from the Negro League would play baseball games at nearby Offutt Field, and Elvira Pantalone would supply the players with sandwiches, Noviello said.

When they remodeled the bar several years ago, Anna Jo Noviello said they found old menus and items from when it was a grocery store.

“It was like opening a time capsule,” Noviello said.

Anna Jo Noviello joked that the best decision she ever made was walking into the Sunset Cafe 36 years ago to apply for a job as a server.

She met Bob and completed an application. He said he’d contact her when he was ready to fill the position, Anna Jo Noviello recalled.

After she left, Anna Jo said Bob told all his friends at the bar that, “I’m gonna marry that girl, and you’re all going to dance at my wedding.”

He proposed to her a month later.

“We were married within six months, and all those guys at the bar did dance at our wedding,” Anna Jo said.

The Noviellos will celebrate their 35th anniversary in Florida on Aug. 4, having left the pressures of operating a business back in Greensburg.