Mangia opens at Pittsburgh casino, showcasing DeLallo family recipes

Putting DeLallo recipes inside Live Casino Pittsburgh gave the property something the old sports-bar era never had: a restaurant with a Western Pennsylvania identity baked into the menu. Mangia opened at the Hempfield Township casino on April 9, replacing Guy Fieri’s American Kitchen & Bar and turning a high-traffic dining slot into a showcase for one of the region’s most familiar Italian names.

The concept is built around DeLallo’s 76-year family business, which started as an Italian market in Jeannette in 1950 and still operates along Route 30 at 6390 Route 30. Instead of using the name as decoration, Mangia leans on the company’s recipes and products, with guests greeted by counters of pizza, pasta salad and tiramisu made from DeLallo ingredients. Live’s dining page says the restaurant also offers dine-in and takeout service, craft cocktails, wines and Italian sodas, along with an express window on the gaming floor, a Primo coffee and espresso bar and a vintage gelato cart.

Fran DeLallo was on hand as the casino prepared to open the restaurant, and he said Live had done a “beautiful job” with the buildout. The pitch, he said, came from supplying food, sharing recipes and translating a long-running grocery heritage into a more visible dining concept. That matters at a property that already draws about 1.2 million visitors a year and employs about 550 workers at Westmoreland Mall, where the casino occupies the former Bon-Ton space.

Sean Sullivan, the casino’s general manager, said Live wanted to “stay local” and support community relationships, and called the partnership “instant credibility” for the food-and-beverage program. That local-first approach is what separates Mangia from a generic casino Italian restaurant. The kitchen is not trying to imitate New York red-sauce nostalgia or a chef-branded chain template; it is selling a brand that many Pittsburgh-area customers already know from store shelves, catering trays and family dinners.

The opening drew a playful noodle-cutting ceremony instead of a ribbon-cutting, with actor Steve Schirripa making a guest appearance. It was a theatrical touch, but the real point was simpler: Mangia gave DeLallo a new stage and gave Live Casino Pittsburgh a restaurant that feels tied to the county outside its doors, not just to the slot floor inside.