Nearly 46 years ago on Gooseberry Beach, Richard Sardella and two of his former fraternity brothers hatched a plan to open a bar in Newport. The following April, a 45-seat bistro called Barclay’s opened its doors on Memorial Boulevard in a former jazz bar space.
“I have no idea where that name came from,” said the owner of his time-honored Newport restaurant. “I guess we thought it sounded Newport-ish,” he chuckled. But as an Italian restaurant, the title didn’t fit, and by 1986, his then 50-50 partner Mike Sayles agreed to only one option: Sardella’s Italian Restaurant.
Gooseberry would prove pivotal for the Sardella’s story in more ways than one. As Sardella was a regular at the beach, so were the Fitzgerald family of the Fifth Ward. “I wound up meeting their mother, Pearl. She was there with seven kids, all running around.”
Patrick Fitzgerald remembers it well. “We’d go to Gooseberry every day. Richard was always there, and me and my brothers would get food from the stand for him and he’d tip us,” he said.
“I’d offer to buy a hot dog for someone if they went to the snack bar for me and they’d all come running!” Sardella recalls.
Within just a few years, starting as dishwashers, both Patrick and Kevin Fitzgerald became integral members of the Sardella’s family. Kevin became the youngest head chef in Rhode Island when he first took over the kitchen, while Patrick oversaw front-of-house operations. Though each struck out on his own for a period of time, both eventually returned. Today, both are shareholders, with Patrick serving as vice president and Kevin as executive chef.
Central to the restaurant’s culinary identity is Richard Sardella’s family history. He took the Fitzgeralds to meet both sides of his family to connect, learn techniques and explore the Italian culinary landscape.
“Both those trips proved to be really inspiring,” Sardella said, “a mutual learning experience for all of us.” He had never met his three aunts or “around 27 first cousins” in Italy, and the experience was seminal for everyone.
“Richard took us to Italy, but before that, he took us to Jersey City, which is just like Italy,” Patrick quipped. “His quintessential Italian aunts taught us how to really cook. I’ve never eaten so much. After that, he took us to meet the aunts on the Sardella side in Frosolone, Italy. And they really taught us how to eat.”
Fitzgerald said the Sardella aunts taught him about hospitality and making guests feel welcome. “Food is plentiful, portions are big. You never want to ask anybody to leave. In fact, I never want to turn a table at Sardella’s — it’s not in our DNA. We want people to sit there and enjoy. I tell people, ‘You could sleep over!’”
Similarly, it was the Imbriglio family that raised Richard — especially his Auntie Jo — along with pizza-making cousins in Brooklyn, who inspired Sardella’s charming sister restaurant, Imbriglio’s.
“Richard, I want to open a Neapolitan pizza place like your grandfather from Naples did,” Patrick told his initially skeptical boss. Determined, Fitzgerald headed to Williamsburg, Brooklyn, to meet Sardella’s cousin, Nino. There he learned the craft of pizza making. San Marzano tomatoes, buffalo mozzarella, Caputo flour and sea salt from Naples now serve as the foundation for Imbriglio’s pies.
Sardella cites the pandemic and tariffs as recent business challenges, but the restaurant has nonetheless continued to grow — from 45 to 400 seats over two floors, with private rooms, seasonal outdoor patio dining and a beloved 15-seat bar.
He roars with laughter as he recounts, “The first time we grossed a thousand dollars, probably in 1982, we opened up a bottle of Dom Pérignon! Today, you gross $1,000, it’s not worth being in business.”
Lest we forget a few other details about Sardella — Mr. Mayor to you: He served for 21 years as Director of Athletics at Brown University, was first elected as an at-large member of the Newport City Council in 1995, then as mayor in 2000. All this as the restaurant continued to evolve and expand. He served five years as mayor before returning full-time to his namesake, which today — along with the Clarke Cooke House — remains one of just two longstanding Newport restaurants still owned and operated by their original proprietors.
“It’s been an interesting run,” he said.
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