Red sauce Italian restaurant opening upscale location in Phoenix

Popular Scottsdale Italian restaurant DiMaggio's is preparing to open its second location in uptown Phoenix. For founders Brandon and Michele Gioffre, it's a homecoming. The Italian restaurant began as a weekend pop-up at the Uptown Farmer's Market in 2021. The concept became the brick-and-mortar Di

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Popular Scottsdale Italian restaurant DiMaggio's is preparing to open its second location in uptown Phoenix. For founders Brandon and Michele Gioffre, it's a homecoming.

The Italian restaurant began as a weekend pop-up at the Uptown Farmer's Market in 2021. The concept became the brick-and-mortar DiMaggio's in 2024, after the couple partnered with former baseball player-turned-entrepreneur Frank DiMaggio.

When DiMaggio was first introduced to the Gioffre's pop-up, he said it was "the best Italian food I've ever had. And that's from somebody who's lived in New York and who's lived in Italy."

DiMaggio's second location will open in the former Lou Malnati's space at Phoenix's Uptown Plaza this fall.

Frank DiMaggio is a co-owner of DiMaggio's Italian restaurant.

What to expect at Dimaggio's uptown Phoenix

Expansion was a goal ever since the day they first

opened the doors to their first DiMaggio's restaurant. But the uptown Phoenix location had been solidly in the works for about six months, DiMaggio said.

Guests can expect the same food offerings that earned DiMaggio's a following in Scottsdale, but the space itself will include "elevated lighting, elevated audio, elevated everything," DiMaggio said. "The quality of every little thing in uptown is just going to be next level from what it is in Scottsdale. I think the minute people walk in there, they'll realize that."

The uptown location will also include a private dining room and a reception area. But at its core, the heart of DiMaggio's will be easily recognizable.

"We've always prided ourselves on it being like an extension of your home, or like going to your grandma's for Sunday dinner," DiMaggio said. "That's not going to change."

What's on the menu at DiMaggio's?

Menu highlights at DiMaggio's Italian Restaurant include house made meatballs, hand pulled mozzarella, chicken parmigiana, baked rigatoni, shrimp scampi, famous house made lasagna and the special fish and veal of the day.

To drink, there are a dozen specialty cocktails and even more wines.