Vito's to Open in Mid-May

A family-owned restaurant based in Arizona is making its California debut in San Juan Capistrano.

Vito's Pizza and Italian Ristorante is scheduled to open May 15 below in the Franciscan Plaza.

Known in Mesa, AZ, for its thin-crust pizza, Vito's was founded in 1986 by an Italian couple from Ripacandida. Now Vito and Joanne Carrieri are ready to retire but are expanding their business with help from their son Anthony, who will head the expansion into San Juan.

"The opportunity, with all the businesses around the area, the , the , the —there were a lot of factors that made sense for us," said Anthony. "We didn't find anything we were happy with [in San Diego], so we started looking up the coast, and when we got here, we realized this is where we wanted to be."

The menu is still being worked out but should resemble what's offered in Mesa—mostly pastas and other saucy meat and fish dishes. There are also daily deals at the Arizona location, like half-priced wine with the purchase of two entrées, and happy-hour deals every afternoon.

Describing Vito's as a "family-friendly restaurant that is run by a family," Carrieri said customers who ate at the Mesa location when it first opened are still returning more than two decades later.

"People will leave, and they'll thank my parents on their way out. It's really nice to see that after all this time," he said.