There was no ribbon to cut at the grand opening of Mangia featuring DeLallo on April 10. Instead, organizers handed over a pair of oversized scissors and a length of fresh Italian pasta. The crowd of hundreds gathered at the front entrance of Live! Casino Pittsburgh in Hempfield Township laughed, cheered, and then lined up for hoagies. That choice of ceremony said everything about who DeLallo is and why this opening matters to the Pittsburgh region.
Founded in Jeannette in 1950 by George DeLallo, the company has spent three-quarters of a century building one of the most recognizable Italian food brands in western Pennsylvania. What began as a small Italian foods import business grew into a nationally distributed product line spanning dried pasta, olive oils, marinated vegetables, specialty sauces, and antipasto ingredients sold in grocery stores across the country. Today, the family-owned operation is run by the fourth generation of DeLallos, with Fran DeLallo among the family members helping to lead it into new chapters.
Mangia, which means "eat" in Italian, is far more than a food-court counter. The space at Live! Casino's main entrance functions simultaneously as a full-service eatery and a retail market. Guests can order freshly made hoagies, pizza, pasta, and salads alongside desserts, gelato from a rotating monthly cart, and a full drinks menu that includes craft cocktails, wines, Illy coffee, espresso drinks, and Italian cream sodas. Those who want to stock their own pantries can browse DeLallo products directly, picking up dried pastas, olive oils, marinated spreads, specialty meats, cheeses, and gift baskets before heading home.
The restaurant is accessible to all guests, not only casino patrons, and will stay open until 11 p.m. Sunday through Thursday and until 2 a.m. on weekends. A secondary Mangia Express window on the gaming floor offers grab-and-go items for players who do not want to leave the action. Catering services for private and special events round out the offerings, giving the brand a foothold in Westmoreland County's events market as well as its dining scene.
The opening celebration drew state and local officials and was attended by actor Steve Schirripa, best known for his role as Bobby Baccalieri on HBO's The Sopranos. Schirripa, himself of Italian-American heritage, offered an endorsement that carried the warmth of the occasion. "I think this is a great place and I think this is going to do really well," he said. "It is a really good addition to the casino because you got great food." For a brand that has spent decades earning its reputation on the strength of its product rather than celebrity endorsements, the moment felt like a natural fit rather than a promotional stunt.
What This Means for the Region
The Mangia opening is a reminder that Pittsburgh's food economy is not limited to the city's trendier inner-ring neighborhoods. Westmoreland County, long associated with the communities that built DeLallo's original customer base, is seeing new investment in dining and hospitality anchored by names with deep regional credibility. Live! Casino Pittsburgh, which opened in 2022 and has steadily expanded its food and entertainment footprint, benefits from a partner whose brand loyalty in the region is nearly unrivaled. And DeLallo, in turn, gains a high-traffic flagship that puts its products in front of an entirely new audience every day.
For the Pittsburgh region as a whole, the story of Mangia is one of generational continuity colliding productively with modern opportunity. A family that put western Pennsylvania on the map for Italian food now has a dining room that reflects 76 years of earned trust. The pasta cutting was not a gimmick. It was a statement of identity, and a very Pittsburgh one at that.