There is a particular kind of restaurant that does not merely occupy a space but becomes inseparable from it, the way a patina becomes inseparable from the leather it inhabits. Cipollini Trattoria & Bar, nestled into the south side of the Americana Manhasset on Long Island’s storied “Miracle Mile,” is precisely that kind of place. Since the spring of 2005, this Manhattan-style trattoria has served as the dining heartbeat of what is arguably the most prestigious open-air shopping destination on the Eastern Seaboard — a retail corridor where Hermès, Chanel, Louis Vuitton, and Dior stand shoulder to shoulder along limestone façades designed by the legendary architect Peter Marino (Americana Manhasset, 2024). And at the center of all that curated luxury, Cipollini has managed something that most restaurants located inside shopping centers never achieve: it has become a destination in its own right. I have spent twenty-five years at The Heritage Diner in Mount Sinai understanding what makes a restaurant endure, and the answer is never just the food. It is the convergence of location, personality, discipline, and an unshakeable commitment to treating every guest as though they belong. Cipollini, under the stewardship of Gillis and George Poll, has mastered all four.
The Poll Brothers: A Family Legacy Rooted in Manhasset
To understand Cipollini is to understand the family that built it. Gillis and George Poll were raised in Manhasset, the very community their restaurants now anchor. Their roots in the New York food service industry stretch back to the 1920s, when their family operated restaurants in the city — a lineage that runs as deep and as seasoned as the cast-iron griddles I have maintained at The Heritage Diner for a quarter century (Poll Restaurants, 2024). Gillis began working as a busboy at the age of twelve at Pappas, his father’s restaurant in Sheepshead Bay, Brooklyn. That early exposure to the grit and the grace of the hospitality business planted a seed that would eventually grow into one of Long Island’s most formidable restaurant empires.
In 1980, the brothers — along with their brother Dean, who would later go on to rescue Gallagher’s Steakhouse in Manhattan and operate the famed Loeb Central Park Boathouse — opened Pappas Restaurant in Williston Park, which later became the popular Riverbay Seafood Bar & Grill (Wikipedia, 2025). By 1985, Gillis and George opened Bryant & Cooper Steakhouse in Roslyn along Route 25A, a venture that The New York Times would eventually crown the best steakhouse on Long Island (Long Island Pulse Magazine, 2012). The pattern was established early: the Poll brothers did not follow trends. They created standards. Today, Gillis and George own and operate eight restaurants spanning multiple cuisines and price points, including Bryant & Cooper, Hendrick’s Tavern, Bar Frites, Toku Modern Asian, Majors Steakhouse, The Bryant, and — at the crown jewel of the Americana — Cipollini Trattoria & Bar. In late 2024, the brothers purchased the former Jolly Fisherman building in Roslyn, signaling that their appetite for growth remains as vigorous as ever (Long Island Press, 2024). George Poll also serves on the advisory board of Boston University’s School of Hospitality Administration, a testament to the brothers’ standing not merely as restaurateurs but as educators and thought leaders in the industry (Boston University, 2024).
The Design: Peter Neimitz and the Art of Atmosphere
When the Poll brothers decided to take a gamble on opening a restaurant inside a shopping center — a move Gillis himself once described as an experiment in finding what would work for that particular space — they understood that the interior had to transcend the ordinary (Long Island Pulse Magazine, 2012). They enlisted renowned restaurant designer Peter Neimitz to create an environment that would feel as much like a downtown Manhattan brasserie as a suburban trattoria.
The result is an interior of striking sophistication: hardwood flooring anchors the room, rich dark woodwork frames the sightlines, oversized antique-framed mirrors amplify the sense of scale, and large contemporary lampshade fixtures cast a warm, golden light across the dining room (American Academy of Hospitality Sciences, 2023). A substantial white marble bar — the kind of bar that invites you to stay for one more glass of Barolo — serves as the gravitational center of the room, pulling in shoppers, deal-makers, and date-night couples alike. An open kitchen adds kinetic energy, the controlled theater of flames and plating visible from the dining room. And then there are the large glass-paneled doors that open seasonally, dissolving the boundary between Cipollini’s interior and its celebrated alfresco patio, where umbrella-shaded tables and outdoor heaters extend the dining experience into the open air along the Americana’s garden-lined walkways. In its design philosophy, Cipollini operates on the same principle I apply to every bespoke briefcase I build at Marcellino NY: the details you do not consciously notice — the weight of a buckle, the tension of a stitch, the way light hits a particular surface — are the details that define the entire experience.
The Menu: Contemporary Italian with Mediterranean Soul
Cipollini’s menu is a carefully calibrated expression of contemporary Northern Italian cooking, inflected with Mediterranean and Greek-American influences that reflect the Poll family’s own heritage. This is not a restaurant that chases molecular gastronomy or Instagram-friendly plating for its own sake. It is a restaurant that understands, as Marcus Aurelius understood, that true excellence is the art of doing common things uncommonly well.
The brick-oven pizzas are a cornerstone — the Margherita, the Sausage with Roasted Peppers and Garlic Oil, and the Fontina, Arugula, and Prosciutto are all executed with the kind of precise heat management that separates a good pie from a transcendent one. Among the pastas, the Homemade Butternut Squash Ravioli with brown butter and sage has become something of a signature, earning repeated praise from reviewers across OpenTable and Tripadvisor. The Orecchiette with sausage and broccoli rabe delivers a hearty Southern Italian punch, while the Pappardelle Veal Ragú and the Fettuccine Funghi with mushroom and truffle cream speak to more refined Northern traditions. The Black Linguine with lobster, arugula, and lobster broth is the kind of dish that announces its ambitions on the plate. Seafood preparations, including the Capellini ai Frutti di Mare and the Linguine alle Vongole, demonstrate the Mediterranean reach of the kitchen. And for those who arrive in the spirit of something simpler, the Cipollini Burger — served with French fries, tomato, and onion — is a twenty-five-dollar reminder that sometimes the most satisfying things in life are the most direct.
Cipollini also operates Cipollini Pronto, a European-style café located just around the corner inside the Americana, offering espresso, cappuccino, paninis, and prepared salads for shoppers who need sustenance without the commitment of a full sit-down meal (Americana Manhasset, 2024). It is a smart complement — the quick-service sibling to the full-service flagship, much the way a craftsman might offer both a full bespoke commission and a ready-to-wear accessory line.
Awards, Recognition, and the Culture of Excellence
Shortly after its 2005 opening, Cipollini received the Five Star Diamond Award from the American Academy of Hospitality Sciences, an honor extended to only a select few restaurants on Long Island — including the Poll brothers’ own Bryant & Cooper (American Academy of Hospitality Sciences, 2023). The award evaluates establishments on the basis of exceptional service, superb facilities, ambiance, gastronomy, cleanliness, and above all, hospitality.
On OpenTable, Cipollini carries a 4.8-star rating from over 1,645 diners, with consistent praise for the quality of the food, the professionalism of the staff, and the vibrant energy of the room (OpenTable, 2026). Yelp lists over 500 reviews and 758 photos, reflecting the kind of sustained engagement that only comes from a restaurant that delivers night after night, year after year. Tripadvisor reviewers frequently describe Cipollini as a place of first-class service, elegant terrace dining, and outstanding Italian cuisine, with the Butternut Squash Ravioli and the Beef Carpaccio earning particular devotion.
Gillis Poll has articulated the family’s operating philosophy with characteristic clarity: the customer recognizes quality — in the food, the design, and the staff — and they will return when that quality is delivered with the highest standards (Poll Restaurants, 2024). It is a philosophy that resonates deeply with my own experience. At The Heritage Diner, we have survived twenty-five years because we understand that consistency is not the enemy of creativity; it is its foundation. At Marcellino NY, the same principle applies to every stitch I set into English bridle leather. And at Cipollini, Gillis and George Poll prove it every time they serve over three thousand meals on a single Saturday night across their restaurant group.
Community, Charity, and the North Shore Connection
The Poll brothers’ commitment to the communities they serve extends far beyond the dining room. Over the years, Gillis and George have been honored by numerous foundations and charitable organizations, including St. Francis Hospital, the Mental Health Association of Nassau County, the Sass Foundation for Medical Research, the North Shore Child & Family Guidance Center, the Children’s Medical Fund, and the JCC Sid Jacobson Center. They have supported over fifty charitable organizations in the Long Island community (Poll Restaurants, 2024).
Cipollini’s home at the Americana Manhasset also connects it to the shopping center’s annual Champions for Charity event, a holiday shopping initiative in which twenty-five percent of purchases are donated to local nonprofits supporting causes ranging from breast cancer research to Alzheimer’s care to educational excellence in Manhasset’s public schools (Americana Manhasset, 2024). This is the kind of institutional generosity that weaves a restaurant into the fabric of its community — not as a transactional presence, but as a genuine stakeholder. As my wife Paola and I prepare to launch Maison Pawli, our boutique real estate venture on the North Shore in 2026, it is precisely this kind of community-rooted business philosophy that we study and admire. The best businesses, like the best buildings and the best leather goods, are built to endure. And endurance requires roots.
Visiting Cipollini: Everything You Need to Know
Cipollini Trattoria & Bar is located at 2110C Northern Boulevard in the Americana Manhasset, Manhasset, NY 11030. The restaurant is open Sunday through Wednesday from 12:00 PM to 10:00 PM, and Thursday through Saturday from 12:00 PM to 11:00 PM.
Phone: (516) 627-7172
Website: cipollinirestaurant.com
Reservations: Available via OpenTable
Part of: Poll Restaurants — the restaurant group behind Bryant & Cooper, Hendrick’s Tavern, Toku Modern Asian, Bar Frites, Majors Steakhouse, and The Bryant.
Features: Full bar, brick-oven pizza, outdoor patio dining (seasonal), private events, takeout, wheelchair accessible.
Payment: AMEX, Visa, Mastercard, Diners Club.
Parking: Complimentary parking at the Americana Manhasset.
Whether you arrive after an afternoon browsing Hermès and Cartier or you make the drive specifically for the Butternut Squash Ravioli and a glass of something from their Italian wine list, Cipollini rewards the visit. It is a restaurant that understands what so many forget: that dining well is not merely about consumption. It is about the cultivation of a moment — the way the light falls across a marble bar, the way a perfectly charred crust yields to a soft interior, the way a family of Manhasset-raised restaurateurs turned a gamble inside a shopping center into one of the most beloved Italian restaurants on Long Island. Two decades in, Cipollini is no longer proving itself. It is simply, and beautifully, being itself.
Peter from The Heritage Diner is a twenty-five-year restaurateur, the founder of Marcellino NY bespoke leather goods, and holds graduate degrees in Philosophy from Long Island University and The New School University in New York City. He and his wife Paola are launching Maison Pawli, a boutique real estate venture on the North Shore, in 2026.
