F.A.T.'S restaurant is back by popular demand at Todaro's in Akron

F.A.T.'S., the COVID-necessitated restaurant that ran inside Todaro's Party Center for a year from 2020 to 2021, was so well received, many people have been asking when it's coming back, owner Frank Todaro said.

The answer is May 18, when the restaurant, now named F.A.T.'S Backroom, will reopen at 1820 Akron-Peninsula Road in Akron's Merriman Valley.

Todaro originally opened F.A.T.'S in the Valley in summer 2020, early in the pandemic when the banquet business was shut down at Todaro's. The party center went into survival mode, creating the F.A.T.'s restaurant with highly socially distanced dinner tables in one of Todaro's big banquet rooms.

"I did well with it because we had so much space," Todaro said.

When the banquet business started coming back, he closed the restaurant because he didn't have the employees to run both.

"When I shut it down, I kept getting calls, 'When are you doing it? When are you gonna open' " the restaurant again, Todaro said.

New, smaller room for F.A.T.'S Backroom

Now, with the banquet business reestablished, Todaro is happy about reopening the well-received F.A.T.'S restaurant. He's moved it into his smallest banquet room, on the north side of the party center, which has a separate entrance and restrooms and seats 60.

"I have a massive kitchen, so it doesn't affect my banquets at all," reopening the restaurant, Todaro said.

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Todaro, a second-generation owner of his family business, has decorated the elegant space with upholstered seating and a player baby grand piano. He's again offering the Godfather table, which seats 12 and must be reserved.

The name F.A.T.'S Backroom includes initials for Frank's name, Frank Anthony Todaro, and is a nod to his late father Mel, who for years had lunches and dinners with friends at his desk in his back room stock room, which served as his office.

Frank continued that tradition in a new office he built for himself, where he has a wine room and a large table where he dines with friends on weekends. They encouraged him to both open a restaurant and, now, reopen it.

What's on the F.A.T.'S menu

The F.A.T.'S menu features moderately priced Italian cuisine, chop house items, specialty pastas and a large wine selection. The F.A.T.'S Facebook page has been teasing menu items since April, including linguine and meatballs, sauteed calamari with lemon and fresh herbs and a lobster seasonal seafood special.

The new menu includes favorites from the last F.A.T.'S iteration, such as the popular shrimp diavolo pasta dish, Todaro said. Other original F.A.T.'S favorites are Sicilian sausage puttanesca and grilled filet mignon with mushroom marsala sauce, which Todaro plans to add to the menu as an upgrade for filet mignon.

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Casual choices include the F.A.T.'S burger as well as the Michelangelo, an herb-breaded chicken cutlet sandwich with eggplant, roasted red peppers, mozzarella and basil. Specials will include rack of lamb and specialty pastas with fish.

Reopening weekend for F.A.T.'S will run from 5 to 10 p.m. May 18 through 20 and will continue Thursday through Saturday each week.

Opening night is already full reserved, said Todaro, who recommends guests make reservations at 330-929-7875.

Arts and restaurant writer Kerry Clawson may be reached at 330-996-3527 or kclawson@thebeaconjournal.com.

This article originally appeared on Akron Beacon Journal: F.A.T.'S Backroom restaurant to reopen at Todaro's in Merriman Valley