Legendary Bridgeport Restaurant Sold To Become Apartments: Report

BRIDGEPORT, CT — Testo's Restaurant & Catering, the iconic Bridgeport eatery founded by Democratic Town Committee Chair Mario Testa, has been sold to a developer and will become the location of a new apartment complex, reported the Connecticut Post.

The restaurant has been the unofficial headquarters for Democratic politicos for years, and according to Ralph Giacobbe, it will close at the end of the year. Giacobbe, Testa's nephew, runs the restaurant.

Testo's has been a Bridgeport fixture for nearly 50 years, the last 16 years in the city's North End at 1775 Madison Ave.

The identity of the buyer has not been disclosed, but Bridgeport-based Primrose Construction reportedly has been retained to design and build the new apartment complex.

Giacobbe told the publication that patrons who had reserved the facility for events in 2023 have been contacted about the closing, but Testo's is not going out with a whimper.

As of Monday, the restaurant was still taking reservations for New Year's Eve:

Hearst Connecticut produced an in-depth profile of Testa in 2011, which included the revelation that U.S. Congressman Jim Himes announced at Testo's that President Barack Obama was coming to Bridgeport for a visit.

The 2011 article also recounts a story involving how then-Mayor Bill Finch was headed to Washington, D.C. and it was possible that some of the restaurant's food may have ended up being enjoyed by then-vice President Joe Biden.

He was cooking rigatoni and the Hearst CT article quotes Testa as saying, "I don't know if Joe Biden's wife wants some, too." (Read the full Hearst CT 2011 profile on Testa here).

Read the Connecticut Post story.