Since 2006
The Italian Grille was founded in 2006 by the Armstrong family. George & Nan along with their sons Ben & Josh created The Italian Grille. Ben bought the restaurant from his parents in 2024 to continue the Armstrong legacy.
The roots of this family being in the restaurant business go back 41 years. For 17 years, George & Nan Armstrong owned Auburn Pizza King.
Ben obtained a Bachelor degree in Hospitality Management from Purdue University in 2001 & has over 28 years of Restaurant experience.
A Family Returns to Do It Again
In 2001, George and Nana decided it was time to travel a different avenue in life and sold the Pizza King. After both sons moved away and themselves spending time away from the great city of Auburn, all parts of the family have returned to do it once again.
In 2006, the five Armstrong’s decided it was time to return to Auburn and create another restaurant. With the experience from their sons to help guide them, they created The Italian Grille.
A Family Vision
The Italian Grille was a vision of a family who had a desire to provide a casual dining restaurant with a higher quality dining experience that would leave them WOWED.
The family’s goal was to develop a restaurant concept that would be between the casual dining experience and the fine dining, white tablecloth environment, develop a restaurant that focused on high quality food, outstanding service, and great value but not to rely on gimmicks or non-food marketing techniques to be successful.
Our Mission Statement
The Italian Grille is a first class, full-service and family oriented restaurant. Our goal is to consistently exceed our guest’s expectations by providing quality products with gracious hospitality and exceptional service that “WOWS” our guests. The Italian Grille maintains stability through fiscally responsible management.
We also want to create a dynamic environment in which well-developed professional have fun while accomplishing organizational and personal goals. We continually strive to be an efficient and growth-oriented organization while maintaining our ability to be flexible and adaptive to the needs and desires of our guests and professionals.