There is an ornate rose on the glass portion of the entrance door to the new dining area inside the Marketside restaurant in the Niagara Falls City Market.
The rose was designed in honor of “Grandma Rosie,” the member of the Poletti family who, back in the 1930s, had the idea to chase a dream of owning and operating a family-owned restaurant in the city.
“She worked at Kresge’s Department Store at the lunch counter and she said, ‘We can do that too,’ and that’s how it all started,” said Rosie’s grandson and Marketside owner Tony Poletti.
The rose, designed by Poletti’s wife’s aunt, Debbie DiCamillo, served as a centerpiece in a ribbon-cutting and celebration held on Friday to mark the opening of the restaurant’s expansion. A newly completed dining area next to the existing restaurant space will offer room for 60 more guests, giving the Marketside more flexibility and the ability to host large family parties and other gatherings.
The finished expansion, with the touch of the Grandma Rosie’s rose, made the celebration all the more special for Poletti’s dad, co-owner Mike Poletti.
“He not only honored me, but he honored my mother who started this whole thing,” he said.
The Marketside expansion has been a project years in the making. The space hasn’t been occupied since 1996 when Goodfellas Pizzeria closed and moved to a space on the opposite side of the city market.
Tony Poletti acquired the property in 2011. The restaurant’s owners started building out the new, 800-square-foot dining area three years later. The new dining space is part of a larger, $200,000 expansion project that includes “The Marketside Theater,” an outdoor patio and dining space that features a projection screen capable of showing sporting events, movies and more. The theater area also includes a Renaissance-themed mural, designed and painted by local artist and filmmaker Ken Cosentino. The project received grant assistance through the city’s Small Business Improvement Program.
“It really is a dream come true. It came out exactly the way I imagined it,” Tony Poletti said.
Tony Poletti followed in his dad’s footsteps in owning and operating the family restaurant, representing the fourth generation to do so. When it opened in 1939, the Marketside, Grandma Rosie cooked the food the restaurant served in a neighboring house and brought it to the dining area. Subsequent generations expanded the restaurant to include more dining space and a proper kitchen.
Tony Poletti worked at the restaurant for 22 years before taking over as owner in 2023. He was joined in cutting the ribbon on the new expansion by his father, Mike, his wife, Kiley and his four children, Tony, Patsi, Vito and Frannie and dozens of long-time customers and supporters.
“I want to thank my family, my customers and my workers for making my dreams come true,” Poletti said.