After operating for 15 years in Boston’s bustling South End, Stella now brings the Newton community together on Commonwealth Avenue with its consistently fresh and flavorful traditional Italian cuisine.

Welcoming Atmosphere

Upon arriving, customers are greeted by a small restaurant with an understated appearance. A deep purple awning stretches across the storefront’s entrance. Above it, “Stella” is written in an elegant font in the same deep purple color.

Stella offers a range of Italian staples, from sandwiches and soup to salads and meatballs. However, the pride of the restaurant and its workers is in the entrees.

“Man, I love all the dishes we invented,” said longtime Stella chef Gio Rivera. “But my best, I would say, is the chicken parm.”

Rivera currently takes on owner responsibilities around day-to-day restaurant operations, as the owner, Chef Evan Deluty, is traveling abroad. 

The inside of the restaurant is comfortable, casual, and welcoming. The bottom half of the restaurant is lined with white brick and a yellow stripe following along the top. The top half is lined with mirrors and paintings, followed by an additional yellow stripe. 

“We always try to make every customer coming through the door feel welcome,” Rivera said.

For Rivera and Chef Andres Restrepo, Stella’s welcoming environment comes not only from their attitudes but also from the reciprocated appreciation they receive from customers during hard shifts. 

“It’s so nice when you come in, and the restaurant is full,” Restrepo said. “The customers watching you walking and saying, ‘This is so delicious,’ it makes you feel good.”

Traditional-Style Menu

Rivera oversees the menu and is hoping to expand it soon to include more traditional-style options.

“Veal Milanese is my favorite, but I don’t have veal Milanese here, and I’m planning to bring it,” Rivera said. “I’m the chef, so I choose.”

According to Rivera, the chicken parmesan and branzino are two of the most popular items. Both come in medium-sized portions with spaghetti marinated in garlic sauce on the side.

For both the chicken parmesan and branzino, there isn’t too much seasoning, allowing the flavor of the meat and sauce to do most of the work. The chicken is the perfect amount of crunchy, and the branzino is the perfect amount of crispy.

South End Beginnings 

Stella hasn’t always been on Comm. Ave. First, it was a South End staple. 

Before opening in 2023, the restaurant served Boston’s South End from 2005 until its eventual shutdown in 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

“The restaurant was a big restaurant, and we were so busy,” Rivera said. “But we didn’t use any apps for delivery. For the pandemic, you needed those apps. We couldn’t pay the rent.”

Although Stella doesn’t provide food to the South End anymore, Rivera promises that they will now work just as hard to provide Newton with fresh Italian food.

“We have good quality and fresh food, that’s all we do,” Rivera said. “Personally, I try to make everything fresh, like the chicken parm.”

Rivera is hoping that Stella can soon bring the cuisine to other local or greater-area locations, a goal that they have been working towards for a while.

“We started looking for different locations so we can have more seats and hire more people,” Rivera said. “I don’t feel nervous. If we open another restaurant, we’ll be successful.”

Stella provides Newton with something like no other Italian restaurant in town—the freshest ingredients and traditional dishes that bring Newtonians an authentic taste of Italy.