Two Guys from Italy has been serving neighborhood Italian classics for nearly 40 years

Two brothers from Mexico walk into an Italian restaurant.

It’s not the setup to a punchline, but rather the beginning of how Two Guys From Italy became a neighborhood institution. The Italian restaurant’s name might seem like a misnomer, as owners Salome and Librado Marquez are not from Italy, but the brothers have been tied to the brand longer than many Dallas restaurants have been around.

“We saw families back in the ’90s that came with their kids, some of them even still in the baby carriage. Now you see them as teenagers or even married,” Salome says.

They first started working for Two Guys From Italy as dishwashers back in 1974 when they first moved to California from Mexico, and the chain restaurant had locations across the West Coast.

Two Guys eventually moved them to the Salt Lake City location, where Librado was the chef and Salome was one of his cooks. After working there for almost 14 years, a friend of theirs called and offered to sell the Dallas location, which opened in 1979, to the Marquezes. The brothers accepted, becoming business partners and moving to Dallas in 1988.

Around the same time, the corporation that owned the restaurant chain dissolved, and the Marquezes bought the rights, retaining the name Two Guys From Italy.

The menu is simple, with diners being able to get their choice of pasta — spaghetti, linguini, rigatoni, mostaccioli, angel hair or fettuccine — and their choice of sauce, like butter and cheese ($9.15), meat sauce ($9.65), clam sauce ($11.95) and more. Ravioli is also available along with specialties like manicotti ($9.95) or fettucini alfredo ($12.15). Other mains include seafood, chicken and veal dishes. Salome recommends the lasagna ($10.25), but his personal favorite is the pizza, which he enjoys at least twice a week.

With the restaurant now being family-owned, Salome says he was able to upgrade some of the menu items. For example, the alfredo sauce used to be made with half and half but now has 40% whipping cream and is one of the restaurant’s best sellers.

Now, all bread and dough is made in-house, along with all sauces and dressings (except the French). All of their pasta is brought in from Italy.

Some things, however, never changed. The decor still looks like it did when the restaurant opened, with fake grapes and Chianti bottles hanging from the ceiling. The walls still feature murals painted by an Italian artist the corporation flew in when the restaurant opened. When it expanded years later, a local painter added new artwork to match the originals.

The brothers ran the restaurant together until Librado retired a couple of years ago. He passed his responsibilities to his sons, but he still comes in every day.

“He can’t stay away,” his brother says.

Salome himself spent nearly 25 years on the line before moving to the front of house. He says he is considering retiring next year, as running a restaurant for decades has taken a toll.

“Family-owned places like ours, as an owner, you care about it. You’re there all the time … it’s a very hard job, mentally and physically,” Salome says. He hopes that his nephews, who have stepped in since his brother retired, will continue their legacy.

What has helped the restaurant keep going over the years, is the support from the neighborhood. Salome says that being a family-owned restaurant means they don’t have the capital for large advertisements on the radio or TV. Instead, the restaurant relies on word-of-mouth from longtime customers.

“We have a lot of clientele that have been with us for a long time. They’re the ones that have been making us strong,” he says. “You know, in times like the pandemic or times when the economy is not doing well, we still have a lot of support from the customers that have been with us forever.”

What keeps customers coming back over and over is the consistency, which Salome credits to his chefs, some of which have been with the restaurant for over 30 years. Even neighbors who have moved away make a point to return whenever they’re in the area.

“Dallas has been really, really good for us in so many ways,” he says. “My family grew up and has been working here, and the support is phenomenal.”

Two Guys From Italy, 11637 Webb Chapel Road, 972.247.6814, twoguysfromitalyrestaurant.com