Joeseppi’s in Tacoma says thank you with half-off the whole menu in June

As a gesture to the community, Joeseppi’s Italian Ristorante will serve its entire menu in the dining room at half-off for the month of June.

Ideally this promotion would coincide with a hopeful June 1 reopening of restaurant dining rooms, but Pierce County appears unlikely to enter Phase 2 of the state’s recovery plan by then.

No matter, said owner Joe Stortini: “People are really stepping forward, and we just want to say thank you.”

Since opening in November 2005, Joeseppi’s has hosted hundreds of fundraisers for community groups, schools, sports teams and churches — 50 to 75 every year, according to Stortini, most raising $3,000 to $5,000.

That giving spirit inspired the decision to reward Tacoma’s essential workers, and, he said, the community at large for stepping up, whether that’s by staying home and healthy or working on the front lines to provide health care, food, shelter or child care.

“I’m hoping that we can say thank you,” he told The News Tribune in a phone call, referencing one of his mantras. “Ten percent of life is what happens; 90 percent is how you react to it. We want to say thank you.”

Stortini, a former county executive and Tacoma Public Schools teacher, has been in the restaurant business for more than a quarter century. He opened his family namesake restaurant Mama Stortini’s in the late ‘80s, which he sold to a Puyallup couple who eventually sold to its current owners. He will turn 88 this year and has seen his fair share of ups and downs.

“I always joke about being here 24 hours a day but I’m not,” he said, though three generations of Stortinis work in the restaurant. “I’m here every day for a part of the day.”

During the pandemic closures, Joeseppi’s has continued to offer takeout and delivery, including family meals that serve six people for $60 to $80.

The half-off deal means that, when dining at the restaurant, appetizers will range from $4.50 for a caprese salad to $5.50 for a plate of calamari. At lunch, entrees like chicken picatta will be $7 and five-layer lasagna $6.50; and pastas, such as the primavera, will be $6. For dinner, the rib-eye, served with the restaurant’s classic spaghetti with sauce, will go for $11.50, while specialty pastas — chicken cacciatore, seafood fettuccine, spicy prawn linguine — will hit around $10.

Stortini has accepted that restaurant traffic likely won’t reach any semblance of pre-pandemic levels in 2020.

“It’s gonna be slow the rest of the year, there’s no doubt in my mind,” he said. “We’ll have to adjust to that.”

Guests also will be adjusting to the new reality of masked servers and distanced tables, but Stortini looks forward to welcoming them back into the restaurant — or simply handing them their takeout.

“We’ll continue curbside as long as we possibly can. It’s been steady. It’s paid for our rent and labor that we have here. We just hope — we want to see all the regulars come in who haven’t come in for a long time, and just say thank you for being heroes in our community.”

That 50 percent off should entice.

Takeout orders will receive a 10 percent discount in June.

Joeseppi’s Italian Ristorante

▪ 2207 N. Pearl St., Tacoma, 253-761-5555, joeseppisitalian.com

▪ Hours: dinner Monday to Friday, 4-7 p.m.; lunch Tuesday to Friday, 11:30 a.m. to 2 p.m.; both Saturday 11:30 a.m. to 7 p.m.; closed Sunday

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This story was originally published May 29, 2020 at 5:00 AM.