Gemelli Italian restaurant is serving up community and recovery in Biltmore Village. As the historic Asheville business sector rebuilds from damage caused by Tropical Storm Helene, Gemelli has brought new life to one of its oldest buildings.
ASHEVILLE, N.C. (828newsNOW) — Gemelli Italian restaurant is serving up community and recovery in Biltmore Village. As the historic Asheville business sector rebuilds from damage caused by Tropical Storm Helene, Gemelli has brought new life to one of its oldest buildings.
Gemelli, owned and operated by Chef Anthony Cerrato, celebrated its grand opening last weekend, April 17-19, at 28 Hendersonville Rd. The restaurant is open for dinner from 4-9 p.m., Thursday to Tuesday. Reservations are encouraged and takeout and delivery services are available.
Gemelli was previously located at 70 Westgate Parkway in the Westgate Shopping Center. When the Westgate lease was up, Cerrato decided to move the restaurant to its new home.
“We really wanted to give this a feel of old, historic Biltmore and give that back to this building,” Cerrato said. “This building has been through so much.”
Not only does the Biltmore building have history, but Cerrato has history with the building. Gemelli occupies the bottom floor of Biltmore Crossing, constructed in 1923 and listed on the National Register of Historic Places. From 1936 to 2000, the site served as the home of Biltmore Hardware, a business Cerrato said he frequented as a child with his father, a contractor.
(Courtesy: Andy Lukacs-Ormond) The Affogato and Gemelli storefronts.
Gemelli decorated with balloons for their grand opening.
For Cerrato, moving his restaurant to the building was an opportunity to serve a community he grew up in.
“What area was most affected? This area was most affected, so we were looking at doing something here. It could be a lot easier and a lot cheaper somewhere else, but to get here and to help this community build back is why we wanted to be here,” Cerrato said.
The restaurant is a family business. Cerrato’s son, Gabe Cerrato, is executive chef of Gemelli, and the eatery is named for Cerrato’s twin daughters. Gemelli, a twisty pasta, means “twins” in Italian.
Snapshots of the Gemelli Spring 2026 dinner menu.
The restaurant employs around 24 people and currently seats 115 diners, although Cerrato said there is potential to expand capacity later on. In the meantime, the chef is focused on serving as many people as he can. Cerrato wants to give back to Biltmore Village through making Gemelli menu prices as affordable as possible.
“I always try to do that because I think it’s important. You don’t want to be, like, a special occasion place. I want to make people feel like they can come here whenever they want,” Cerrato said. “I mean, we, our staff, wants to work every day, so we want people coming in here every day and having fun. It’s more common nowadays that the family meal is spent, usually, at a restaurant. So, a lot of households, if we can become their dining table and help them save their money, that’s what we do.”
Find the full Gemelli menu here.
Speaking of fun, Gemelli features a few ecletic flourishes that stand out from the average Italian eatery. Cerrato said the restaurant plans to host “spaghetti Western” nights on Sundays and currently plays music from genre classics like “The Good, the Bad and the Ugly” and “A Fistful of Dollars” in the bathrooms. Artwork in the restaurant ranges from marble busts to stylish black-and-white portraits to “Dean Martin smoking a cigarette.”
Fun light fixtures are just one of the eclectic decorations at Gemelli.
“It’s kind of funny how all these things tie together, but it’s just trying to give the place its own life,” Cerrato said. “I feel like the business should be its own heartbeat. It’s its own living entity.”
Gemelli is not the only new restaurant Cerrato has brought to life. In the weeks to come, Affogato, a gelato and espresso café, will open at Gemelli with its own street entrance. Its offerings, which will include counter-service lunch, baked goods, pastries, espresso drinks and gelato, will all be made in-house. Once open, Affogato will run from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m., Thursday to Tuesday.
For more about Gemelli and Affogato, visit www.gemelli.restaurant.
Dining and Cooking