Italian restaurant in Myrtle Beach announces closure

MYRTLE BEACH, SC (WMBF) – An Italian restaurant in Myrtle Beach is closing its doors.

A note on Café Vincenzo’s door states that the restaurant will be closed for the rest of the holiday season and that when the new year comes around, a new establishment will take its place.

“It is with heavy hearts that we say goodbye,” the note reads. “We are deeply grateful for your support and the many memories shared within these walls. Thank you for being part of our story.”

Café Vincenzo’s held a grand reopening in September after the original owner, Vincenzo Panzarino, took the restaurant back over from Genci Cake.

Cake, a patron, took over daily operations in August 2024 in a management deal that ended in controversy.

A year later, in August 2025, the South Carolina Law Enforcement Division accused Cake of allowing staff at Café Vincenzo’s to serve alcohol to an undercover agent without a license.

The 15th Circuit Solicitor’s Office Fraudulent Check Division then charged Cake in October 2025 with two counts of fraudulent check or stop-payment.

Genci Cake(J. Reuben Long Detention Center)

Panzarino said that people called him directly to tell him how terrible Café Vincenzo’s became while Cake was running it.

In the agreement between Panzarino and Cake, Cake would manage the restaurant and make installment payments toward eventual ownership.

Panzarino claims that Cake either missed or defaulted on several payments to him.

Public records show that Cake’s charges from his two arrests are still pending.

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