The Business: Ralphâs Italian Restaurant, located in South Philadelphia, is the oldest continuously operating Italian restaurant in the United States. The previous holder of the title, Fior DâItalia in San Francisco, closed in 2012 and reopened in December of that year under its fourth owners. It closed again temporarily during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Jimmy Rubino Jr., a fourth-generation co-owner of Ralphâs, notes that even before Fior DâItaliaâs 2012 closing, âwe had the distinction of being the oldest same-family Italian restaurant in the country. We were already used to being that and having that feeling.â