MESA, Ariz. — A Valley restaurant is getting national attention after becoming an overnight sensation online.
Amici Pizza sits tucked into a Mesa strip mall near Dobson and Guadalupe Roads.
Behind the counter, Kateri Cusumano attends to a line of customers, while Vinny Pante serves up the slices. The couple has been running the small Italian restaurant since 2018.
“I run the whole front of the house. He runs the whole back of the house," Cusumano said.
They specialize in traditional hand-tossed New York-style pizza.
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“It’s just a small little dining room. Just 13, 14 tables," Cusumano said. "People just like the small business, mom and pop feel of it.”
This local pizza joint has become anything but local.
"I took a nine-hour flight," Kemilly Pinto, a customer from Boston, said. "TikTok was going crazy about this place all the way in Boston."
Suddenly, customers are traveling from near and far just to get a taste for themselves.
All thanks to TikTok.
“We started seeing people every single day from TikTok. It would be a few tables here and there, but the last couple of weeks it had just blown up into something where there’s a line out the door when we open from open to close like Monday through Sunday," Cusumano said.
Cusumano started posting videos on the social media platform last year, and it wasn't long before she had more than 138,000 people following along.
“It does feel like overnight is when it became crazy," Cusumano said.
With more than 10 million likes on her account, Cusumano documents the day-to-day of owning a pizza place.
“I’m filling ranch cups on these TikToks and these people are loving it," Cusumano said. “I kind of just like put my phone up and record everything I’m doing and when I go home at night it’s kind of like another full-time job, I sit down, I’ll be sitting down at the kitchen table or in bed just editing all night but I knew that if I was consistent it would eventually pay off.”
It is paying off.
“The way she was describing the restaurant, and her personality, and all that stuff, and her food looked amazing, and I couldn’t wait to try it," Ashley Miner, a customer from New Hampshire, said.
Now, other people are sharing videos of their food, too.
“Advertising is everything, and like everyone was talking so good and the comments were like, 'Oh, they’re the nicest people ever,'" Pinto said.
The immediate growth has the restaurant bursting at its seams.
“We’re doing such crazy volume in such a small place with such a small staff and no matter how many people we hire, there’s only so much we can physically handle," Cusumano said. “It’s been really cool to showcase Vinny’s food and now that’s getting the recognition it deserves.”
Cusumano said they're doing their best to keep up as they continue dishing out their famous pizzas and TikToks.
“Between his food and my service and the team we create, we feel like we foster a really special environment here," Cusumano said. “I feel like everything kind of just fell into place at the perfect time.”
Cusumano and Pante said they're incredibly grateful to their original regulars who continue to support them, even if its harder to find a table.
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