Gennaro's Ristorante Italiano

How a Canyon Lake family brought "che mangia bene, vive bene" to RR 12

Drive past the old Hildee's spot on Ranch Road 12 these days and you'll see it before you taste it — string lights over the patio, the 400-year-old oak still standing sentinel, and a parking lot that's rarely empty on a Friday night. Gennaro's Ristorante Italiano has only been open since June, but it already feels like it's been feeding this town for years, which is exactly the point.

The story. Gennaro DiMeo didn't need a third restaurant. Gennaro and Elsa DiMeo bring parts of five decades of experience in the restaurant industry, a journey that began in 1988 in Deer Park, Texas, with the opening of Antonio's Pizza & More and later expanded into Gennaro's Trattoria and Elio's Pizzeria in Canyon Lake. But his partner Dino Taccogna — who immigrated to the U.S. from the Puglia region and eventually put down roots in Chicago — kept pushing. "Ever since [DiMeo] came to visit Wimberley, he was like 'We have to open up a restaurant in Wimberley,'" Taccogna said. After nearly 40 years in Chicago's IT world, Dino retired, and before long the two families began talking about opening a Gennaro's in Wimberley.

Gennaro's Ristorante Italiano, serving classic dishes and items from south Italy, opened its doors in Wimberley on June 24. The location was previously Hildee's Dine-Inn, and before the official opening, the owners hosted practice dinners for local dignitaries and first responders to shake out the kitchen. The restaurant leaned hard on continuity rather than reinvention: after six weeks of training kitchen and wait staff, Dino noted, "We've been so lucky to find really good, qualified chefs. Our executive chef, Luis, has been with Gennaro for 28 years. Combined, our chefs have 45 years of experience." That's not a new kitchen learning a menu — it's a kitchen that's been making this food together for nearly three decades, now doing it in Wimberley.

The vibe. The room splits the difference between a neighborhood trattoria and a special-occasion dinner house — open-kitchen energy up front, a pavilion out back built around that heritage oak. Go for a weekday lunch and it's quick and low-key; go on a weekend night and you'll see why Dino talks about the Italian table the way he does: "'Che mangia bene, vive bene,' or 'he who eats well, lives well.' In the Italian community, people gather around the table where they'll eat and drink for 2, 3, or 4 hours. It's how we spend quality time with each other. So, food is very important to us. I think it's in our blood to carry on that tradition." Expect families with kids on one side of the patio and a couple sharing a bottle of wine on the other — it's built to hold both.

What to order. The menu is long but it knows what it's good at: hand-tossed pizza, a deep pasta list, and a seafood section that changes with what came in that morning.

Good to know. The kitchen runs a dedicated lunch menu (Pranzo) from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. with paninis, personal pizzas and lighter pasta plates, then shifts into the full dinner menu. Closed Mondays. A 3% fee applies to credit card transactions, and gluten-free pasta and cauliflower pizza crust are both available for a small upcharge. Online ordering for pickup runs through the restaurant's own Toast page, linked from the site.

Suggested hashtags: #LocalEats #GennarosRistoranteItaliano #Wimberley #DrippingSprings #Driftwood #HillCountry #ATXeats #WimberleyTX #HaysCounty #TexasHillCountry #EatLocal