And no, in case you’re wondering, their meals aren’t comped.
“They always pay,’’ says owner Steve DiFillippo, 50. “We don’t have any of those issues. What they like is the privacy.’’
DiFillippo guards their privacy fiercely, even stationing a manager near celebrity tables to keep others away. Staff will be suspended or even fired if they ask for an autograph. You’ll see no famous photos on the wall here; DiFillippo considers that “tacky.’’
DiFillippo, who loves sports and music, long ago learned how to turn those loves into guests.
He has made friends in high places. It was at the request of his close friends Robert and the late Myra Kraft that he opened a Davio’s at Patriot Place in Foxborough three years ago. Members of the extended Kraft family have long dined at Davio’s, and team members also go there.
“I think virtually all players love steak and love Italian food, so it’s a natural,’’ says Jonathan Kraft, president of the New England Patriots. “They get their proteins and their carbs and the portions are big, which is something our players like.’’
As a music fan, DiFillippo has always accommodated musicians, who sometimes are the first ones in and the last ones out. “Davio’s gave us the space to let our hair down and be relaxed and loose after coming off the road,’’ says Peter Wolf, lead singer for the J. Geils Band. Wolf remembers Davio’s in the early days when it was “bumper-to-bumper with different bands, radio jocks, and media people.’’
In 1985 when he was 24 years old, DiFillippo opened the original Davio’s on Newbury Street. In 2002, he relocated to Park Square. Now there are three more Davio’s: in Foxborough, Atlanta, and Philadelphia. And he owns Avila, also in Park Square.
