Popular restaurant Villa Palma at the Village closing its doors as of June 2
It was December when Melinda Mazzella found out she would need to close her family-run restaurant Villa Palma at the Village.
The landlords for the Cocoa Village establishment informed Mazzella they needed the space for their own expanding business. Mazzella asked if the closing could be delayed. She didn’t want her beloved staff to be without jobs during the holidays.
“(The landlords) are lovely people, have been since the day we met,” Mazzella told FLORIDA TODAY. “They put off plans for their business to help my employees. We had a wonderful friendship and working relationship with them, but business is business. My husband and I are business owners. We understand. We made an arrangement with them, and they were very gracious so my staff could go through the season and make money.”
Villa Palma at the Village will close June 2, possibly sooner if staff leaves to take other positions, which Mazzella understands.
Mazzella shared news of Villa Palma's closing this week
Mazzella had to sit on the news since finding out in December.
Monday she had a staff meeting to inform the roughly 20 employees at the restaurant, which opened five years ago this month.
“They were lovely, gracious,” Mazzella said. “It was very emotional.”
The family owns a sister restaurant in Indialantic, Villa Palma Ristorante. She plans to bring some of the staff to that restaurant, which has been a Brevard staple since 1987, but Mazzella said it’s unfortunately too small to accommodate the entire staff.
What's next for Villa Palma?
A liquor license was recently obtained for the Indialantic location, which means Hiiji Harvin, the award-winning bar manager from the Cocoa Village restaurant, along with his staff will be transferring to Indialantic.
The Indialantic restaurant also will be undergoing a renovation “ASAP.” Mazzella said she hopes the restaurant will only need to be closed one or two days for the process.
Menus at the two restaurants differ slightly so Mazzella said they will be reviewing the offerings to see if changes or additions need to be made at the Indialantic location.
The authentic Italian restaurant is truly a family-run business. Mazzella’s daughter is a manager while her husband, Peppe, a trained Italian cook, and her son prepare the food.
Most of the menu consists of northern Italian dishes, but there are some southern-inspired recipes from Peppe’s mom and her uncle, a cook back in Italy. All of the offerings are cooked to order based on what diners want and what fresh ingredients are available.
Any gift certificates to Villa Palma at the Village will be honored at Villa Palma Ristorante.
Lastly, Mazzella wanted to stress that this is not negative news.
“I have gratitude and love for my staff and the same for my clientele,” Mazzella said. “We’ve been blessed. I would have liked to stay there, but there’s no negativity.”
Spitzer can be reached at MSpitzer@Floridatoday.com.
This article originally appeared on Florida Today: Italian restaurant Villa Palma closing in June. Here's what's next
