Tony’s reopens in South MS with classic Italian dishes and brick oven pizza
AI-generated summary reviewed by our newsroom.
- Tony’s Brick Oven Pizzeria reopened in downtown Gulfport with original menu.
- New owners upgraded equipment and facilities before relaunching in 2025.
- Restaurant now operates daily, offering classic Italian dishes and pizza.
A landmark restaurant with classic Italian fare is open again in downtown Gulfport after it suddenly closed in June.
“We opened yesterday,” Frank Lombardi-Benson, one of the co-owners of Tony’s Brick Oven Pizzeria, said on Wednesday.
The restaurant will be open seven days a week, including July 4, from 11 a.m. to 10 p.m.
It reopened with the same menu and dishes created by Tony Swiaris, who operated Tony’s Pizza for years before he first sold the restaurant in 2024.
Appetizers like fried mozzarella, sandwiches and subs, large salads, plates of spaghetti and pasta Alfredo are all back, along with a variety of pizzas — with the addition of Catalina dressing for those on the Coast who love the French dressing smeared on their pizza.
Frank and Timothy Lombardi-Benson already own and operate Empanola restaurants in Biloxi, D’Iberville and Ocean Springs, along with Pisano’s Pizza in Biloxi. They partnered with Daniel and Savannah Caldwell to buy Tony’s Pizzeria and the neighboring wine bar.
They invested in new equipment and upgrades throughout the restaurant before reopening.
The restaurant is at 2417 14th St., Gulfport, off U.S. 90, just east of U.S. 49 and west of the Mississippi Aquarium.
The new phone number is 228-206-3582 to order a pizza or pasta.
