Italian eatery Marsalas moves into Atascocita

Marsalas Italian Grill co-owner Isaac Rodriguez greets guests at their table. Marsalas Italian Grill co-owner Isaac Rodriguez greets guests at their table. Photo: Kaila Contreras Photo: Kaila Contreras Image 1 of / 8 Caption Close Italian eatery Marsalas moves into Atascocita 1 / 8 Back to Gallery

If you’re looking for good local Italian food with a friendly and family atmosphere, Marsalas Italian Grill on 5324 Atascocita Road will not disappoint, co-owner Isaac Rodriguez said.

Co-owners Rodriguez, Teresa Guzman and Douglas Guzman recently celebrated the eatery’s grand opening on Wednesday with the rest of their staff.

The co-owners worked together at Hasta La Pasta in Humble and Atascocita for over 20 years. When the restaurant closed they decided a year after to start a brand of their own and opened their first Marsalas Italian Grill in Huffman three years ago.

When looking for a place to establish their first restaurant, a space in a plaza on FM 2100 in Huffman opened up. So the three decided to start there.

“We decided to go on our own and do our own name and change some of our own recipes,” Rodriguez said.

The restaurant is named after their best-selling dish the Marsala — a choice of breaded veil or chicken smothered in marsala wine sauce and mushrooms with angel hair pasta topped with a chunky tomato sauce.

Teresa, who is also in charge of designing the menu, said the Marsala can be described as sweet due to the wine based cream sauce.

“A lot of people like that sauce. It’s so good that they put it on top of their pasta. Marsala goes well with a lot of pastas,” she said.

People from all over the Lake Houston area have traveled to the Marsalas in Huffman. Some of those loyal customers have followed the three co-owners since they were in Hasta La Pasta.

“We’re fortunate enough that a lot of our guests in the area were willing to travel and join us there (in Huffman),” Rodriguez said. “Three years later we’ve done well enough to expand out (in Atascocita).”

Along with their two locations, Marsalas Italian Grill also has a catering service that goes all over the Houston area.

“We are the in-house caterer to The Overlook,” Teresa said.

Aside from the Marsala, other signature dishes the Italian grill has is the Magnifico.

“The Magnifico is a beef tenderloin, it’s one of the favorites, with a peppercorn sauce,” Teresa said. “One of the favorites is the jalapeno cream of the Tortellini a la Romana. Our jalapeno cream has become one of our signatures.”

Marsalas is also involved with community events with the Lake Houston Area Chamber of Commerce and the Crosby/Huffman Chamber of Commerce.

Rodriguez said they are focusing right now in getting things settled in the Atascocita location. Once that is done, there might be a chance of opening a third location.

“We believe our product, the quality of it and our daily operations, we feel that it’s very successful,” Isaac said. “We may have an opportunity to expand out to another area.”

kaila.contreras@chron.com