Cedar Villa Italian Restaurant

My posts last week about Cicco's Tavern and Cicco's Spaghetti Sauce reminded me that I had a jar of Cedar Villa Italian Restaurant's trademark sauce in my pantry.

I picked up my jar of Cedar Villa Pasta Sauce earlier this year at the Vermilion Farm Market.

I had recognized the Cedar Villa name and cartoon mascot on the label from various billboards out by Sandusky through the years. I'd never been to the restaurant (which was located on Route 6 across from the entrance to Cedar Point) and assumed it was still in business; I was disappointed to find out it was closed.

Here's a vintage postcard of the restaurant, courtesy of CardCow.com.

The back of the card reads:

CEDAR VILLA
Italian Restaurant
1918 Cleveland Rd.
off Cedar Point Causeway
Sandusky, Ohio 44870

The Best in Italian and American Food, Closed Monday.
Tues, thru Sat. – 11 A.M. to 4 A. M.
Sun. 11 A.M. to Midnight
Your Hosts – The Spadaro Bros.

Here's another vintage postcard. It appears to be older than the one above.

An article in the January 2008 Toledo Blade, written at the time of the passing of Maria Barone, who with her husband George owned and operated Cedar Villa and two other Italian restaurants, provides a history of the restaurant. According to the article, the Cedar Villa restaurant was opened by the Barones in the early 60s. (Their previous restaurant, George and Maria's Drive-in and Restaurant, was located at 1717 Cleveland Rd. and also specialized in Italian foods, including homemade ravioli.)

The Spadaro Brothers ran the restaurant until it closed in 2005.

Here is the link to the 2012 obituary of Concetta Spadaro (sister of Maria Barone), who worked with her sons at the Cedar Villa Restaurant from 1973 until 2005.

A Google Maps view (below) of the property shows that the Cedar Villa building is gone.

And here's an aerial view showing where it was located relative to the entrance to the Cedar Point Causeway (which is seen at the top right of the photo).

Although the restaurant is gone, their signature pasta sauce lives on. Here is the link to the official website.