The highly anticipated Joe’s Italian Restaurant & Bar has opened at Mercantile West in Ladera Ranch. The restaurant is operated by Restaurateur, a popular Orange County restaurateur for over 35 years, who is known for founding Peppino’s Italian Restaurants, and his fiancé Denise Terranova-Silva.
Featuring a 4,500 square foot oval dining room and a spacious patio for al fresco dining, Joe’s has a warm and inviting design with a long, earth-toned granite bar where guests can dine. The restaurant also has brick accents, a large pizza oven, a dramatic black and white mural of the New York City skyline at night, and seven big-screen TVs to watch various games.
Joe’s Italian Restaurant & Bar offers a wide array of Italian favorites and signature items, including appetizers of Calamari, Bruschetta, and New Zealand or Black East Coast mussels sauteed in red or white wine garlic sauce; a variety of salads and soup; pizza and calzone; pasta and casseroles, including Meat and Vegetarian Lasagna, Cannelloni, and Eggplant Parmigiana; as well as specialty dishes such as Chicken or Veal Marsala (sauteed with mushrooms and onions in a marsala wine sauce), Cioppino (fresh clams, mussels, halibut, jumbo shrimp, and crab served in a fresh garlic and red wine sauce, seasoned and served with a side of spaghetti with marinara sauce), and Ribeye Florentine (12oz. rib-eye steak grilled, seasoned and topped with grilled onions, mushrooms, and melted bleu cheese crumbles, served with creamed spinach on top of rigatoni.)
In addition to a full bar menu, Joe’s has an extensive wine list with more 40 varietals from California and Italy.
“We’re thrilled to be open in Ladera Ranch and bring to the community the friendly hospitality and traditional Italian dishes that we have developed over the years,” said Joe Moscatiello. “We’re looking forward to seeing many familiar faces and generations of families who we have served over the years at other restaurants.”
The restaurant is open for Happy Hour in the bar only from 2pm to 6pm daily. Dinner will be available from Sunday through Thursday from 4 to 9pm, and Friday and Saturday from 4 to 10pm. The restaurant will add live music on the patio soon.
Joe’s Italian Restaurant & Bar is in Mercantile West at 25672 Crown Valley Parkway, off Antonio, in Ladera Ranch. For more information or to place to-go orders, call (949) 218-8860 or visit www.joesitalian.com.
Mercantile West is managed by Westar Associates, which has managed and leased all four retail centers in Ladera Ranch since the community was developed 20 years ago. Based in Costa Mesa, Westar is engaged in the acquisition, development, leasing, and management of real estate including neighborhood, community, and freeway shopping centers, apartments, self-storage, and hotels. Westar has developed and acquired 78 properties totaling more than 8.3 million square feet, valued at more than $2.6 billion.
For more information on Mercantile West, please visit www.ShopDineLaderaRanch.com.
