Longboat to lose ‘joyful’ couple with Amore closure in May

Liana and Tito Vitorino don’t technically own Amore — but it’s tough to tell.

They arrive at the restaurant at 3:30 p.m. each day and don’t wrap up until around midnight. Tito Vitorino, 51, blows leaves from around the Longboat Key restaurant. On Mondays, most restaurateurs’ sacred day off, Liana Vitorino, 49, takes phone calls from regular patrons.

One day after Thanksgiving, Longboat resident Allen Goldfarb was shocked to see Tito Vitorino on a 10-foot-tall ladder hanging holiday lights on one of the 28 trees on the two-acre property.

“He’s meticulous,” Goldfarb said. “He wants to make sure everything is right himself.”

The restaurant’s true owner, Howard Rooks, will sell the site and building to the town for
$2.2 million next month, and the restaurant will close at the end of May. Although the Vitorinos and Rooks aim to continue the Amore tradition at a new space on St. Armands Circle or in downtown Sarasota, the trio and regulars lament the loss of a Longboat hangout — and a part of Colony Beach & Tennis Resort history.

“They just know the business and they care for people and that comes out in contact they have with our guests,” Rooks said.

Colony standout waiter, wait-staff captain and, ultimately, dining manager Tito Vitorino bounced between Bella Roma on Siesta Key and Mexican restaurant Cinco De Mayo in Sarasota after the Longboat resort closed seven years ago. Andrea Bozzolo, the original chef at Amore, first sought Vitorino for advice, then hired him as general manager when the restaurant opened in 2014.

Liana Vitorino, Tito’s first girlfriend and third wife, serves as the smiling hostess at the restaurant, whose building was designed to look like the Oak Room at the Plaza hotel in New York City. With older customers who may not have family on the Key — or in the state, for that matter — she aims to be their daughter-by-proxy.

She estimates her Longboat Key family stands at about 200 people right now, and three-fourths of all customers are greeted at the door with a hug. When the couple doesn’t hear from a regular for a few weeks, Vitorino will call to check in.

“I don’t look at them as customers, I look at them as friends and family,” she said. “I might spend five or 10 minutes on the phone with them.”

Regular Lou Fusilli recalls a visit three months ago when Tito Vitorino walked over to his table — as he always does — and noticed he was drinking a merlot with his meal. Fusilli can’t recall what he was eating, but Vitorino returned with a free bottle of an Italian chianti, because he thought it would pair better with the dish.

“We’ve never had that kind of catering before,” said Fusilli, who originally came to Amore to watch lounge pianist Eddie Tobin as part of the restaurant’s nightly live music. “And it was just a delight (to be) introduced to a new wine by a connoisseur — he’s such a joyful man.”

Vitorino said he does that often.

“I don’t waste my time with words,” he said. “Actions speak more than any word could ever say.”

His No. 1 rule for staff: Never assume a customer is happy.

“It’s a very difficult business, and it’s impossible to please everybody, but you have to try,” Vitorino said.

The town is using the property for the coming Longboat Key Center for the Arts, Culture and Education. 

The Vitorinos hope the town can find a way to keep the structure.

“Please, don’t tear it down,” Liana Vitorino said. “Invent something — host dance classes.”

Goldfarb said he’s sad to see Amore go, but confident of the couple’s success in a new location if they keep up the warm, friendly and family-like service.

“These things may sound corny,” he said. “But they are important when you’re dealing with the public.”