Disney’s Flamingo Crossings lands a Valenti Italian eatery
Disney’s Flamingo Crossings Town Center in Winter Garden is getting an Italian restaurant from a restaurateur already familiar to fans of Walt Disney World.
Nick Valenti plans to open Simply Capri in early May. Valenti is the former longtime CEO of Patina Restaurant Group and Restaurant Associates, where he collaborated on a dozen restaurants at Walt Disney World and Disneyland.
Delaware North, which acquired Patina in 2014, lists Epcot’s Via Napoli Ristorante e
Pizzeria and Tutto Italia Ristorante as some of its restaurants. Valenti said he left the company about two years ago.
Valenti is still a partner in Vivoli il Gelato at Disney Springs.
Simply Capri’s menu will include Neapolitan pizza as well as fish and pasta, Valenti said.
“We want to sort of provide our guests with a brief visit to the Amalfi Coast,” Valenti said. “That’s the objective, both in terms of the style of the restaurant [and] the style and quality of the food. It’s meant to be relaxed. It’s not rushed.”
The restaurant will be about 3,500 square feet, with about another 1,000 to 1,200 square feet for outdoor seating, Valenti said. An outdoor bar is planned, and the business will employ about 50 to 60 people.
Valenti is also planning to open another restaurant across the street in Flamingo Crossings. He said he’s going to call it Flatlands Bar and Grill, and it could open by the end of the year.
He sees his restaurants at Flamingo Crossings continuing a great partnership with Disney.
“It’s a Disney development so therefore it has Disney quality,” Valenti said.