Gino's Pizza Owner 'Ecstatic' To Return To Farmingdale: ''I Never Wanted To Leave'

FARMINGDALE, NY — Gino's pizzeria is set to make its long-awaited return to Farmingdale, albeit in a different way. The longtime village staple, forced to shutter after 38 years, will come back to Farmingdale as a ghost kitchen, said owner John Filagrossi.

People won't be able to go to a physical storefront for a slice of Gino's pizza. Instead, they will call the shop's original number — 516-694-7250 — where they can order as many pies as they would like. The pizza will then be delivered; there will be no pick-up option. The delivery radius and pricing are yet to be determined.

“I’m ecstatic that I’m able to come back and do this," Filagrossi, 50, told Patch. "Hopefully, it works out well."

He is hoping to start his operations in four to six weeks.

Gino's was family-owned and operated at its 333 Main Street storefront since 1981. The pizzeria closed in 2019 after Filagrossi said the shop was forced out. He since moved his Gino's to West Babylon.

“Honestly, I never wanted to leave [Farmingdale]," he said. "But I had no choice to because unfortunately, we were getting kicked out by Staller that was supposed to put an apartment complex."

Staller Associates eventually withdrew its plans for Farmingdale, and Filagrossi lost his storefront.

Dalers Pizza is set to move into the space that was once Gino's.

Filagrossi wished Dalers Pizza owner Ben LoManto good luck, adding that the two are friends.

"I’m not trying to do anything in any wrong way," Filagrossi said. "This is an opportunity for me to come back in a smaller scale, and I’m going to take it.”

Filagrossi said he basically grew up in that storefront.

"I spent 38 years there in those same four walls. I always wanted to go back and never wanted to leave to begin with."

The pizzaiola "absolutely" believes that his new Gino's venture in Farmingdale will get support from his old regulars, who have loyally been going to his West Babylon store.

From his Farmingdale ghost kitchen, a location that Filagrossi would not disclose, he will be baking five different pizza pies: regular, Sicilian, grandma's, Margherita, and Buffalo chicken.

"This could be the beginning of a new thing: I’ll run ghost kitchens, I think," Filagrossi said. "We’ll see. One step at a time. Hopefully, people will be excited to get Gino’s back."