If you ask any Victoria resident for a list of iconic local restaurants, Pagliacci’s will be on it.
The restaurant has been an influential fixture of the area for nearly 40 years. Long lines of people eager to get pasta (and especially the bread) are a common sight.
Soon, these long lines at the door will be conspicuously absent. At least for a little while.
The restaurant is getting ready to temporarily close its doors for kitchen renovations, as announced in a Facebook post. It will be closed on January 15th, 2018, and open again in March, 2018.
“Come and fill up on enough bread, before we close, to hold you over”
https://www.facebook.com/Pagliaccis/posts/843916469103139
Pagliacci’s is a family owned business that opened in 1979.
Since then, it has dazzled Victoria residents with unique pasta dishes, endless soup, and bread with rave reviews.
The restaurant is also well-known for the big personality of its owners.
“In Victoria, I’m “Howie Siegel,” but in Duncan, I couldn’t get picked up hitchhiking. I owe everything I have to Victoria and Pagliacci’s.” co-founder Howie Siegel told Douglas Magazine.
After a failed career in stand-up, co-founder Howie Siegel moved to Canada. With his friend Alan Diofio and brother David Siegel, he opened Pagliacci’s. Howie put in $5000 as his original share. Since then, the business has ballooned to $3 million dollars a year in 2009.
Although Howie has had other successes as a property manager and playwright, he ultimately gives thanks to Pagliacci’s as the start of it all.
“Everything I have came from that room. I met my wife there. One of our children was conceived there.”
