It was 1986 when we saw a piece of land with a sign on Seal Beach Boulevard that read “Restaurant Site Available. Build to Suit”. We were actively looking for a place to open a restaurant at that time but first there were some problems to work out. To start, we knew a lot about running restaurants but very little about building them. Secondly, was the fact that this project was going to take a lot of money, which was something neither one of us had. And lastly, we believed that no one in their right mind would sign off on such a huge project with a couple of rookie restaurant owners. None the less, we quickly put together a one-page business plan and with confidence reserved for the young, we presented our idea for Spaghettini to one of the largest landowners in the area. To our complete surprise, and probable divine intervention, the Bixby Ranch Company agreed to build us an 11,000 square foot restaurant from the ground up. We were able to carry out our vision with a wonderful group of investors, and opened for business on Monday night, June 27, 1988.
When Spaghettini first opened, live music was not even a thought in our minds. We were busy from the day we opened and had plenty to keep us occupied. However, we had a large, beautiful bar that was only being used as a waiting area for dinner. So we bought a piano and hired a pianist, who later added his friend the saxophone player, who then added a drummer…and the music piece of Spaghettini was born.