Inside the World of New York's 'Restaurant Guy' and Host to the Stars Emilio Vitolo Jr. (Exclusive)

For the past 16 years, Emilio Vitolo Jr. has run N.Y.C. restaurant Emilio's Ballato, frequented by stars including Lenny Kravitz and Taylor Swift

As the clock ticks closer to 5 p.m. each day, a line of people slowly starts to form under the cherry red awning of Emilio's Ballato on Houston Street in New York City, the site of Taylor Swift's much-talked about girls night out in the fall.

Since Emilio Vitolo Sr. took over the restaurant in 1991, it's become famous for its classic Italian fare and old-school charm, as well as being a place to see and be seen. (The walls of the restaurant are lined with pictures of its celebrity patrons including Rihanna, Barack Obama and George Clooney.)

But no matter who walks through the door, Emilio Vitolo Jr. — who has co-owned the restaurant with his dad for the past 16 years — makes one thing clear: "I treat everybody the same."

"You could be a guy cleaning up garbage or a top-notch singer, and I'll treat you the same," Emilio Jr. tells PEOPLE during a recent sit-down at Da Milio, his speakeasy around the block from Emilio's Ballato.

"If somebody acts up, I f---ing check them," he adds in his no-nonsense, New York accent.

Related: Restaurateur Emilio Vitolo Jr. Is Engaged to Sammy Piccininni: 'Love You to Infinity and Beyond' (Exclusive)

Emilio Sr. was the third person to purchase the restaurant since it first opened its doors under John Ballato in 1956. During his childhood, Emilio Jr. says he often watched his dad play host to celebrities like Lenny Kravitz and David Bowie at the haunt.

"When my father first took this place over, he didn't have any money," he says. "He was borrowing money to keep this place afloat. Lenny surprised my father with a brand new awning, and he used to come by low-key all the time. We had a lot of great guys come by, but Lenny's like the OG."

Kravitz would also bring his daughter Zoë Kravitz (with ex Lisa Bonet). "Zoë's a great human being," Emilio Jr. says. "We used to run around the restaurant back in the day. It's wild. We're still friends to this day, so it's a beautiful thing."

Related: Lenny Kravitz Says Daughter Zoë and Channing Tatum Have Found a 'Special' Love Together: 'They Do the Work' (Exclusive)

Though the restaurant has long been a favorite of celebrities, it got an extra wave of attention in October when Swift stepped out for dinner there with friends Sophie Turner, Brittany Mahomes and Blake Lively.

After the outing, "everyone was like, 'Oh sh--, you're going to have tons of people down the block,'" Emilio Jr. recalls. "I was like, 'Don't get it twisted. Before she even stepped foot through those doors, I already had my solid crew.'"

As to how a reservation gets made for one of the world's biggest superstars, Emilio Jr. — a longtime friend of Turner and her ex-husband Joe Jonas — explains: "I got a phone call through a friend saying that [Swift] was looking to come by, and I called one of my buddies and I was like, 'Do you want me to take the reservation? Yes or no?' I'm not going to name any names. But he gave me the green light, and then I let them rock out."

"My one rule was don't bring any paparazzi," the restaurateur adds. "It drives me nuts." With Swift, it was unavoidable: "When they were getting ready to leave, there were 2,000 people outside, but I didn't call them. I'm not that guy," he says.

He can speak from his own experience with the paparazzi. During his public relationship with ex Katie Holmes between 2020 and 2021, they'd often be tracked through the streets of N.Y.C.

"I tried to take the approach where I tried to get to know all of the guys who were taking the photos," he says of that time. "I'd introduce myself and say, 'Pleasure to meet you. Can you just do me a favor? Once you get the shots, [can you] disappear? Don't be following us around all the time.' That worked for a little bit, but then what ends up happening is they start fighting over who got the photos and who didn't get the photos."

"It's a different animal when you're in the public eye, you know what I'm saying?" he continued. "It did get a little annoying, but whatever. It is what it is. It comes with the territory. It's almost like a requirement. You become public domain."

That's exactly why Emilio Jr. wants the restaurant to feel like a "safe house." While his dad runs the front of the house (Emilio Sr. often can be found sitting at the first table to the right of the entrance with his crew), Emilio Jr. manages the back room of the restaurant where the celebrities can go for privacy.

"I originally curated the back room of the restaurant as family and friends only," he says. "What I would do is I would host them personally, so I would wait on the tables, I'd sit down with them, we'd have drinks and then maybe a cigar late night. The second they step through that door, they know the way I move. They know they're not going to have to deal with the bulls---."

Related: Inside the Celeb-Loved Italian Restaurant Where Taylor Swift and Blake Lively Had a Girls Night

He opened his speakeasy Da Milio to serve as an extension of that atmosphere.

"It's not open to the public, per se," he says. "It's just for people that don't want to be bothered and come by and shoot the s---. There's no flash photography. About 99.9 percent of the people that come in here, I know. This is what hospitality is missing nowadays. There's not that personal touch."

Both a straight shooter and natural charmer, Emilio Jr. is the ideal host. But he never imagined the restaurant life for himself.

While growing up with his two brothers on nearby Spring Street, he dreamed of being an actor, despite his parents' skepticism. "They were like, 'It's never going to happen, so figure out what you want to do. This is the real world," he says.

After dropping out of school, his parents kicked him out, so he took a job working in construction in Long Island, New York to pay the bills. (His construction experience, he says, came in handy while remodeling Da Milio himself.)

Everything changed in 2008, when his father called him saying he had to speak with him about "something important."

"I thought he was sick, because he's a big guy," he says. "I was like, 'What's the matter?' He's like, 'Just come by.' I get there, and he's like, 'How much do you have saved up? I'm giving you an option to buy into the restaurant.'"

Related: Taylor Swift Steps Out for Dinner with Blake Lively, Sophie Turner and Brittany Mahomes in N.Y.C.

Emilio Jr. says after three months of thinking, he told his dad: "I'm in."

"[He] was like, 'You're going to start downstairs in the basement,'" he recalls. "He started me out washing dishes. I was like, 'What the f---, bro?' He goes, 'Oh, you think you're too good to wash dishes?' I said, 'Honestly, yes.' And he goes, 'Well, if you think you're too good to wash dishes, then you don't belong here. Get the f--- out of here.' So I thought about it and I was just like, all right, whatever. I'll just play his little game because the way he proposed it to me was like, 'You're going to buy into the business. When I'm not around anymore this is a hundred percent yours.'"

After washing dishes, Emilio Jr. moved on to prep work, making pasta and pastries before ultimately becoming head chef. A moment he'll never forget is having to fire one of the cooks for drinking on the job.

"I go to my father, and I'm like, 'This guy is drunk. This is why the dishes are coming out wrong,'" he says. "So he goes, 'So what are you going to do about it? Fire [him]' I never fired anybody at that point. I'm like, 'Hey, you're f---ing drunk. Get out of here. You're done.' I fired him and I'm like, 'What are we going to do now?' And my father goes, 'Get your f---ing chef coat on. Get in the f---ing kitchen.'"

"I stepped in, and I was like, this is what it's all about," he continues. "He sat me down afterwards and we had a conversation about the whole entire thing. He was like, 'Now you know why I put you through everything I put you through, because now you never have to worry about anybody acting up in your business. You have to be capable of doing every single thing in the restaurant to have a successful business. That made me look at him differently. It was a big lesson learned."

Acting is still Emilio Jr.'s passion — he has various TV and film credits, including his latest role in the 2021 movie The Birthday Cake — but he recognizes "the thing I know how to do the best is the restaurant business."

"At the end of the day, the restaurant is our livelihood," he says. "I have to take it seriously because that's my bread and butter. If I was just a construction guy, you think any of these [people] would f--- with me? No, they f--- with me because I'm the restaurant guy, and it's hard to get into the restaurant. They want to have that exclusivity and be like, 'I know Emilio. I could get us a table.' I'm not stupid. I get it. I understand what the game is. But at least I understand. My main thing is staying consistent with everybody."

Related: Chef Emilio Vitolo and Sammy Piccininni Welcome Baby Girl, Daughter Angelina Marie: 'So in Love with You'

As he looks to the future, Emilio Jr. is focused on growing his businesses, as well as his life at home with his fiancée Sammy Piccininni (he proposed to her at Da Milio on New Year's Eve) and their 8-month-old daughter Angelina Marie.

"I'm finally at this point in my life where the hard work has paid off," he says. "So now I'm just trying to think about the next notch in the belt."

Does that mean a wedding? "Let's enjoy the engagement a little bit," he responds with a laugh. "I just want to make sure that [Sammy] and the baby are super comfortable and happy."

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