A lifelong restaurateur brings his family’s beloved Bensonhurst institution toRed Bank, where generations of recipes, hospitality, and community continue to thrive.

BY ERIK SCHONING • PHOTOS BY ALEX BARRETO

For Giulio Mannino, the restaurant business is more than a career – it’s a legacy. The owner of Il Colosseo Ristorante in Red Bank, Mannino founded the restaurant in 2021 to pay tribute to his upbringing in Bensonhurst, his father’s restaurant, and the Sicilian-American culture that raised him. Each day, Il Colosseo Ristorante brings the Old World to New Jersey, one brick-oven pizza at a time.

The story goes back to 1991, when Mannino’s father, Lorenzo Mannino, opened the original Il Colosseo in the bustling Italian-American Brooklyn neighborhood of Bensonhurst. At the time, Giulio was only seven years old.

“He wanted to create a place where families came together,” Giulio Mannino said. “He wanted to offer things we didn’t have at the time: a brick oven, wood-fired pizza, and authentic dishes recreated from our history.”

Il Colosseo Ristorante was an instant hit and soon became a cultural cornerstone of the neighborhood. Mannino grew up immersed in the action, hanging out in the back with the pizza guys, bussing tables, helping the bartenders make espresso and serve desserts, and playing billiards at the cafe next door after closing time. Over the years, he learned the ins and outs of restaurant operations, but he never lost sight of what made his father’s place so special: the atmosphere and the community.

In 2021, in the midst of the pandemic, Mannino noticed an uptick in people moving from Brooklyn to New Jersey. In a time of unprecedented change, Mannino knew that his neighbors wanted comfort and familiarity; they craved the warmth of old Bensonhurst. Mannino took over a restaurant space previously run by his father, and the next chapter of Il Colosseo was born.

Together with head chef Oscar Palaguachi, Mannino has created a menu rooted in family tradition while reflecting his commitment to quality. From house-made sourdough and handcrafted fresh pasta to fresh seafood and longtime guest favorites, every dish is prepared with carefully selected, high-quality ingredients, including organic ingredients where available. The grilled octopus, for example, is a longtime cornerstone of the Il Colosseo menu and a non-negotiable start to every meal at the restaurant: fresh octopus, lightly coated in Sicilian extra virgin olive oil before being grilled and seasoned with salt and pepper. (No trade secrets here: that’s really the whole recipe.)

“People always say, ‘Wow, what do you do to it? It’s the best octopus I’ve ever had!’” Mannino said. “It’s only four ingredients. The simple way is always the best way. That’s southern Italian cooking: fresh and clean.”

Also unmissable are the holy trinity of Italian-American comfort food: chicken francese, veal marsala, and chicken parmigiana. (For a long time, Mannino’s father didn’t serve chicken parm, as he considered the dish a home-table staple rather than a restaurant entrée. Thankfully for all of our taste buds, he eventually relented.) Round these out with any of Il Colosseo’s homemade pastas, including the Bolognese and the storied linguine alla Frank Sinatra, a Bensonhurst classic of clams, mussels, shrimp, and black olives served in a silky tomato sauce, and you can practically hear the opening notes of “My Way” playing in your ear.

Il Colosseo is dripping in old-school charm, but that doesn’t mean Mannino is content to rest on his laurels. He and Chef Palaguachi are always dreaming up new specials, often centered on fish, rendered in exciting seasonal preparations. During the pandemic and before the launch of the Red Bank restaurant, Mannino took advantage of an unprecedented amount of free time on his hands to experiment with a new pizza dough recipe, a sourdough that would avoid commercial yeast, additives, and bromated flour. It was a task he didn’t take lightly; his father’s restaurant was one of the first wood-fired pizzerias in Brooklyn, and Il Colosseo had cemented its reputation on authentic, top-notch pies.

“I’m always trying to eat healthier myself, and I always loved the idea of a sourdough,” Mannino said. “I decided to experiment with it. I started growing the culture in my house: a little flour, a little water, changing it every few days. Now we’ve kept that culture alive for five years.”

Il Colosseo’s sourdough pizzas are finished with Alta Cucina tomato sauce and fresh mozzarella from Lioni in Brooklyn, and it’s all too common to see two or three gracing a crowded table during dinner service.

Five years in, Il Colosseo has become a fixture of the neighborhood, just as it was in Bensonhurst for so many years. From the moment you walk in, you can feel the heritage, the balance between the rustic (the antique farm tools on the wall, the copper pots, the exposed brickwork, the rough-finished cement) and the elegant: the white tablecloths, the granite floors, and the warm, genuine hospitality. This careful confluence has always driven the Il Colosseo ethos: a place that feels cozy and comfortable, yet also special. It’s the recipe that keeps people returning to Il Colosseo time and again.

“People don’t just come here for the food,” Mannino said. “They come back year after year because they feel like they are part of our family, and that is what is so special to me. This neighborhood feels a lot like Brooklyn did years ago. We meet people all the time who tell us, ‘We used to come to the Bensonhurst location,’ or, ‘I had my first date there.’ Hearing those stories means everything because we get to be part of those memories again while writing the next chapter of Il Colosseo.”

For Mannino, Il Colosseo Ristorante is a chance to recreate the neighborhood feeling that he treasured in childhood. That’s ultimately the secret ingredient: every dish at the restaurant tastes a little like home.

Il Colosseo Ristorante — 500 NJ-35, Red Bank • 732.383.5373 • ilcolosseoristorante.com