What’s Good Here? Stephano’s Restaurant in Lexington

The question isn’t what’s changed in the 39 years since Stephen and Karen Lollis opened Stephano’s Restaurant on Columbia Avenue in Lexington. It’s what hasn’t.

“When we opened, this was a two-lane road out front, and we were surrounded by farmland and some houses,” Steve Lollis said. “Bi-Lo was across the street, and there was a gas station next door – but that was about it.”

The one constant in those nearly four decades is the small Italian-themed restaurant that has seemed to stand the test of time – even when it looked like it might not.

“In 1990 we had a fire, and it took us about six months to rebuild and open back up,” Lollis said.

The most popular entrees at Stephano’s are the house lasagna, the spaghetti and the eggplant and chicken Parmesans, Lollis said.

Lollis uses his housemade spaghetti sauce for the lasagna. The sauce includes ground beef, spices and tomato products that are slow-cooked for hours in two 24-quart pots, he said. Then, the sauce is layered with lasagna noodles and mozzarella, Parmesan and ricotta cheeses.

Though it may seem odd for an Italian-themed restaurant, two of the most popular lunch requests are for Stephano’s chicken salad and pimento cheese.

“We got involved in catering a few years back, and that’s when we started making chicken salad and pimento cheese from my wife’s recipes,” Lollis said. “After that, everyone kept telling us we should sell those in the restaurant. So we did, and it was instantly a top menu item.”

In fact, Lollis estimates the restaurant makes and sells anywhere from 90 pounds to 150 pounds of chicken salad each week.

“My philosophy has been, if I don’t like it, I’m not going to serve it,” Lollis said. “I have always used the best-quality products I could find and served them at reasonable prices.”

How did Stephano’s get its start?

A Greenville native, Lollis initially partnered with Karen’s uncle and opened the restaurant as a pizza house known as Piccolo’s. After three years, Lollis bought full ownership and changed the name to Stephano’s, based on the recommendation of his Hungarian-born wine salesman at the time.

“I expressed to him that I was interested in changing the name, but I told him I didn’t want to call it ‘Steve’s Place’ or anything like that,” Lollis said. “So he suggested I go with the European version of my name Stephen, and I liked it. ‘Stephano’s’ just worked.”

Lollis moved to Columbia as a youth and graduated from the old Columbia High School. He met Karen, a Columbia native, and after the two married, Lollis took classes at the University of South Carolina. Soon, the couple decided they wanted to go into business together.

“We had always wanted to work together because we felt like we made a good team,” Lollis said. “I said all my life that if the Lord has me digging ditches and I know it’s the Lord, I don’t have a problem with that. My desire all along was to be able to provide for my family, and this restaurant has allowed me to do that.”

What else?

In addition to the specialty spreads, Stephano’s salads are popular with patrons, Lollis said. The chicken almond salad – with greens, fried chicken tenders, almonds, tomatoes and honey mustard dressing – and the Greek salad – a Lollis family favorite – top the list.

Stephano’s take-home dinners include a family-sized pan of lasagna for eight ($55), a quart of spaghetti sauce ($14) and half-pint, pint and quart sizes of chicken salad and pimento cheese (from $5.50 to $19).

What does the place look like?

Stephano’s is somewhat like a modern Italian cafe with a warm, rustic color palette and a small, carpeted dining space. String lights fill numerous large, translucent colored vases along the window sills and partitions.

For those getting food to go – and a lot of folks do – a walk-up window is just inside the foyer outside the dining room door.

Who eats here?

“We have some very loyal customers who have been coming here for years,” Lollis said.

That support showed through some tough times, in particular the 1990 fire.

“The customers were pulling for us all the way,” Lollis said. “They really supported us once we opened back up. A lot of older people in Lexington wanted the local businesses to succeed.”

The restaurant sees its fair share of families and local professionals as well, Lollis said. Folks who don’t eat there are those looking for flat-screen televisions and a lot of noise and activity.

“We want people to be able to enjoy a meal and enjoy being able to talk to each other and hear each other,” said Lollis, who remodeled the restaurant’s interior a couple of years ago to include high-backed privacy booths along the walls.