Fork and Cork: Luigi's Features Great Italian Fare

If you ever wanted to find a fabulous local restaurant where everybody knows your name, then head on over to Luigi's Italian Restaurant & Bar to meet da famiglia!

Luigi's is famous in these parts for its rich heritage and local community involvement. You'll find famed locals wining and dining, as well as newcomers who are bound to keep coming back time and time again. 

This is the second restaurant I came upon when I landed in Fayetteville nearly 20 years ago. I heard about it through word of mouth, of course.

I loved it from the start. The warmth the staff portrays, the family atmosphere that contains an elegance and finesse, and finally, the spice of life – ambiance. 

Luigi's sets the stage for the perfect friends night out or romantic dinner date.

Guests are surrounded by the warm glow of fantastic low lighting and gorgeous wood decor. The walls are covered with pictures of family. Luigi's wants you to feel at home – a part of them. Lest you forget, you're da famiglia now! 

This is a local hot spot that caters to the military. Luigi's knows that good food, good friends and a feeling of home are things that military folks sometimes lack.  

So Luigi's fits the bill with delicious, filling portions and fantastic wines. Nick Parrous, one of the owners, has won major awards as a wine connoisseur, and he's been written up in national and local magazines. He started winning Wine Spectator's Award of Excellence in 2003, and still reigns to this day.

Parrous or any of Luigi's knowledgeable staff can steer you to a fine selection. The inside wine cellar Parrous installed several years ago can be viewed from the main dining room.

Luigi's Restaurant was established in 1982. The original Luigi's was downtown and was owned by Parrous's father, Pete. When Luigi's outgrew that location, another was built on McPhearson Church Road.

The restaurant can host a large group in its newly renovated banquet room. Decorated in warm, rich tones with an earthy fireplace at one end, and a giant flatscreen television for business functions at the other end. The banquet room can be cut in half, with a hidden wall to reduce the size, if a smaller meeting place is required.

The banquet room's double fireplace has a side door to their outdoor patio and fireplace. More seating can be found outside with a covered ceiling including another flat panel television.

While there, guests can relax in the warm glow of the lounge. It's beautiful and elegant, the perfect setting to stage a romantic meeting, with cozy booths on one wall and an entertainment lounge on another wall. The lounge features live music on weekends. While I was there, melodic jazz filled the air.

Italian is the menu of choice here at Luigi's, and you can find a superb 12-ounce, Black Angus N.Y. strip, seasoned and seared just right, and served with your choice of sides. Among of the top-requested dishes is the N.Y. strip, paired with pasta and red sauce.

The menu also includes such items as a delicate rack of lamb, bone in, mouth-watering Italian pastas, and chicken dishes such as chicken florentine. Luigi's takes thinly pounded chicken, seasoned and seared and places it over a bed of lightly sauteed fresh baby spinach greens and carmalized onions, topped off by a creamy sauce infused with melted mozzarella cheese. 

My favorite Luigi's seafood dish, shrimp scampi, isn't on the menu. But Luigi's shares the secret dish anytime it's requested for the main course.

Be still my heart, they cook it to perfection. They take high-quality tiger shrimp and combine it with freshly chopped parsley, lemon au jus and rich, creamy, smooth melted butter.

If you are ordering the scampi, be sure to start with Luigi's creamy caesar salad, made with plenty of anchovies.

Crisp romaine lettuce is tossed with homemade croutons and doused with just the right amount of freshly shredded parmesan. A meal in itself really, especially when served with their crispy outside, soft inside Italian bread. Great Italian bread is hard to find in these parts, but Luigi's has it. And you can even buy it. 

Luigi's truly has it all, and the staff makes you feel at home. And as only they can say ..."Benvenuto!! Thank you for your Patronage - The Parrous and Kotsopoulos Families."