Italian restaurant Nicolinis in Surfers Paradise, closed
One of the city’s longest-running restaurants has had its interior cleared out after more than five decades of service, with locals lamenting the apparent closure of an institution.
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One of the city’s longest-running restaurants has had its interior cleared out after more than five decades of service, with locals lamenting the apparent closure of an institution
According to sources, Italian venue Nicolinis closed its doors earlier this month after a colourful 50 years since Jack Ulliana founded it in the early 1970s.
As of Thursday morning the restaurant had been gutted with tables and furnishings removed from its prominent corner site on Surfers Paradise Blvd.
No closure signage had been erected as of Thursday and the website still states the venue is open but locals on Facebook are already reeling from the apparent loss.
One user on a local community Facebook page said it was “sad to see 53 years of hard work come to an end.”
Another wrote: “What a beautiful family business. A legend to the Gold Coast. Much sadness.”
With another local referring to the venue as “legendary back in the day”.
“Remember many great long afternoons turning into nights,” they wrote.
“Jack (Ulliana) used to call you over if he saw you walking on the other side of the street to come for a drink - then about six hours later it was time to go home.”
Under Mr Ulliana in its heyday, the venue was a popular haunt among locals and a place where city movers and shakers and property players went to lunch and did deals.
The restaurant exchanged hands over the years with its most recent owner, Murray Taylor, not wanting to provide comment on the venue’s apparent closure but said it had been “messy.”
When called to ask about whether it was closed and if he wanted to comment, Mr Taylor didn’t dispute that it was shut and said: “It's been a really bad experience - there’s still a lot of rubbish to sort out.”
Local Italian couple John and Nives Ceccato, who had a food delivery business, briefly took over Nicolinis in 2017 after founder Mr Ulliana stepped aside with ill-health.
The couple sold it later that year to a Melbourne family with Toni Celona - who also ran his own security firm and was known as Toni ‘Two Guns’ - becoming the manager.
Mr Celona, who formerly had La Porchetta in Surfers Paradise, this week said as the manager during his family’s stint the venue “went quite well”.
“We ran it for a couple of years and it was quite successful. Even during the pandemic we managed to survive.”
Mr Celona said eventually his family exited Nicolinis when personal family matters meant he had to return to Melbourne.
“I went back to Melbourne due to family commitments - it was either look after the family or look after the business. What do you choose?”
Murray and Helen Taylor took over the business after Mr Celona stepped aside.
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Originally published as Italian restaurant Nicolinis in Surfers Paradise, closed
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