Salamone’s North expands its Rockford restaurant, doubling the dining space
By Kevin Haas
Rock River Current
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ROCKFORD — Salamone’s North, which had considered moving its Italian restaurant roughly two years ago, has instead expanded at the home where it has served customers for the past seven years.
The restaurant at 2583 N. Mulford Road debuts its new dining room today. The 1,600-square-foot addition allowed the family-owned restaurant to double its dining space and add a second kitchen, which will allow it to ramp up catering service.
“We’ve been wanting to expand for awhile, we finally got the opportunity,” said Phil Salamone, who owns the restaurant with his wife, Brieanna. “We always had to turn down a lot of big parties, and it always bothered me. … Now we can accommodate those big parties with the bigger space.”
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The family was considering moving its restaurant to the former Illinois Decorator Center space on East State Street two years ago when their landlord wasn’t renewing the existing lease.
City Council members had approved plans in fall 2022 for the Salamones to renovate that space at 2219 E. State St. for their restaurant. Before they moved forward, new ownership and a new landlord took over their existing property, allowing them to expand into a former chiropractic office for their additional dining room and kitchen.
The former Illinois Decorator Center is now set to become a Rockford Community Bank branch. The goal is to open by early October.
For the Salamones, the expansion is a tribute to the customer support they’ve had since opening on Sept. 18, 2017. On weekends, the restaurant often had long waits for tables. Now, with the dining space doubling, they can accommodate people more quickly and host parties and special events.
“We have had a huge wait on the weekends of people trying to get in,” Brieanna Salamone said. “Thankfully, the Salamone name is growing in Rockford and we continue to be busy.”
The expansion gives the restaurant a total of roughly 4,800 square feet of space.
The restaurant employs roughly 40-50 people when including part- and full-time workers. They added a handful more to accommodate the extra dining space and the plans to do more catering of weddings, graduations and other special events.
Salamone’s North is centered around multigenerational family recipes that trace back to their roots in Italy.
Its specialties are pizzas, ribs and lasagna. It also has a variety of sandwiches, soups, pastas and specialty items such as its Italian beef bowl, a blend between a calzone and Italian beef sandwich that’s filled with hot or mild giardiniera, topped with mozzarella cheese baked in a bowl of au jus.
“We stick to our roots where his family came from and all his recipes,” Brieanna Salamone said.
Fast facts | Salamone’s North
Opened: Sept. 18, 2017
Location: 2583 N. Mulford Road, Rockford
Hours: 3 p.m. to 9 p.m. Monday through Wednesday; 11 a.m. to 9 p.m. Thursday; 11 a.m to 10 p.m. Friday and Saturday; 3 p.m. to 8 p.m. Sunday
Online: salamonesnorth.com
This article is by Kevin Haas. Email him at khaas@rockrivercurrent.com or follow him on X at @KevinMHaas or Instagram @thekevinhaas and Threads @thekevinhaas
