By Whit Wallace

Pizza and pasta are staples of Italian cuisine, and Angela’s Ristorante specializes in both. Their small, family-run restaurant is located at 425 North Ridge Road in Henrico and has been supplying the Richmond community with quality Italian food since 1984. According to their website, their “recipes have been passed down through generations all the way from the Old Country in Sicily.” It is easily accessible in the Tuckahoe Shopping Center, between the 7/11 and Pleasants Hardware. 

Chef Michel Palazotto bought the restaurant in 1984 just a month before his daughter was born and named it after his mother, Angela. He and his wife, Denise, have been running Angela’s smoothly ever since. During the pandemic, they lost about 90% of their business in the first month, but customers slowly trickled back over the duration of 2020. Chef Michel said he “was very thankful for the customers” during this time. “Some people bought dinner from us two or three times in a week to try and keep us afloat … We have some of the best customers,” he added proudly. Chef Michel is equally as proud of his food, saying “I have no least favorite dishes here. I cook every meal as if I was going to feed it to my family.” Many of his recipes have been passed down through generations, and the rest he created himself. 

Every day, Chef Michel begins his meal prep at 11:00 a.m. and finishes around 3:00 p.m. Later that evening, he comes into the kitchen around 5:00 p.m. and stays for the rest of the night. Any food that was prepped but not eaten is handed off to the staff. In the kitchen, he was assisted by his son Michel V. Palazotto until Michel V. opened Little Angela’s in Glen Allen. Michel V. started cooking at his father’s restaurant when he was 14 years old and is now the head chef at Little Angela’s. 

On Friday, September 11, my family and I got our usual takeout order of pizza. Their classic oven-baked pizzas can include a variety of toppings, but Italian sausage and cheese with a side of penne and marinara sauce is our go-to order. Their large pizzas are an expansive 18 inches in diameter. Angela’s gets nearly all their ingredients from local farms. The sausage is thinly sliced and perfectly cooked, the crust is never burnt, and the dough is always delicious. Personally, I find that heating the takeout pizza in my oven at 275 degrees gives it the perfect finish, especially because it can cool down a bit during the drive home. 

The veal scallopini, a classic Sicilian dish. Photo credit: Whit Wallace. 

Less than a week later, I yet again had the opportunity to sample Angela’s food, and this time I ordered one of their house specialties, the veal scaloppini marsala. According to their menu, the Veal Scaloppini consists of “Thinly sliced veal, floured and sautéed in olive oil, garlic, Marsala wine with a choice of mushrooms, green peppers, and onions.” I had never ordered this meal before, and I was amazed by the pure flavor of the meal as a whole. The veal was properly cut and well-cooked to a perfect medium. Medium rare veal tends to be dangerously pink, and well-done veal is often lacking in flavor, and Chef Michel threaded the needle and produced a perfectly cooked cut for my meal. The marsala wine sauce and the mushrooms added an amazing array of flavors, and this is one of my favorite meals I have eaten at Angela’s. In the past, I have also enjoyed their shrimp scampi and their spaghetti with Italian sausage. Jack Bradley (‘23) is also a frequent customer, and he says his go-to meals are “their pizza or their spaghetti.” “It’s so good” he added. 

Angela’s offers a wide array of fine Italian food and an enjoyable experience. According to Tripadvisor, it is by far one of the best Italian places in Richmond and surrounding areas due to its excellent food and great location, as well as its family-friendly atmosphere.