Viron Rondo, owner of Viron Rondo Osteria in Cheshire.
Winter Caplanson/ CT Food & Farm
A digital rendering of the expanded “secret garden” at the Viron Rondo Osteria restaurant in Cheshire.
Courtesy of Viron Rondo Osteria / Town of Cheshire
A digital rendering of the expanded “secret garden” at the Viron Rondo Osteria restaurant in Cheshire.
Courtesy of Viron Rondo Osteria / Town of Cheshire
A digital rendering of the expanded “secret garden” at the Viron Rondo Osteria restaurant in Cheshire.
Courtesy of Viron Rondo Osteria / Town of Cheshire
A digital rendering of the expanded “secret garden” at the Viron Rondo Osteria restaurant in Cheshire.
Courtesy of Viron Rondo Osteria / Town of Cheshire
A digital rendering of the expanded “secret garden” at the Viron Rondo Osteria restaurant in Cheshire.
Courtesy of Viron Rondo Osteria / Town of Cheshire
CHESHIRE — The owner of the popular Viron Rondo Osteria restaurant has obtained town approval for a long-planned 20,000-square-foot expansion and hopes to begin this winter, as soon as he can get the state Department of Transportation to sign off on it, he said Monday.
The Planning and Zoning Commission unanimously approved the application in late October after owner Viron Rondo’s team satisfied the concerns of the town engineer and Water Pollution Control Authority, according to minutes of the meeting.
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The entire site consists of approximately 5.28 acres at 1704-1755 Highland Ave., Route 10.
Town Planner Hiram Peck confirmed Monday that the plan is good to go from the town’s standpoint but still requires DOT approval. “Any time that any work is done on a state highway, they need” DOT approval, he said.
“There is one more approval pending, but beside that we did get the approval from the town. We’re very thankful for that,” Rondo said. “The town of Cheshire has been very supportive … and the community, as well.”
The project, which Rondo called “the first phase of the expansion,” will add about 20,000 square feet, including about 17,000 square feet of outdoor gardens, with the gardens to be designed by master gardener George Anthony Jones, who also designed Plantsville Pines Gardens in Southington.
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The work will be done at the existing 1.63-acre restaurant property at 1721 Highland Ave. and an adjacent 1.68 acres Rondo bought last year at 1755 Highland Ave., according to the application.
“We are looking to start construction no later than January, and we hope, with God’s blessing, that we will be ready at the tail end of the summer or early fall,” Rondo said. “This phase will be all about outdoors. Will add another outdoor bar … a lot of landscaping and work to shield it from the noise of the road.”
“The whole concept for the outdoor dining at my place is ‘the secret garden,'” Rondo said. “When you walk in, you don’t see the whole thing.”
It will be similar to the gardens that are there now but “it’s going to be on a much more bigger scale,” with a lot of carefully-selected native trees, Rondo said.
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“We think it will be something really beautiful, fabulous, and it’s going to draw more people to Cheshire,” he said.
The expansion will include about 70 additional parking spaces, as well as about 3,000 square feet of additional kitchen space, Rondo said. “We’ve also added employee parking across the street over the past year,” he said.
“This is an owner-operating restaurant and I am putting my heart and my love and my passion into it,” Rondo said. “Whatever we do, we do with a lot of love and attention to detail … . We are ready to move it forward and do the next step.”
The second phase, which Rondo and those working with him still are in the midst of planning, will include an additional building attached to the existing one on the back, with room for a much larger kitchen, he said.
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“The plans are about ready. We’re going to start working on that after the first phase phase is done,” he said.
The approved expansion, done through a special permit modification, will give Viron Rondo Osteria a total of 262 parking spaces, with seven sized to satisfy Americans With Disabilities Act requirements.
Rondo’s VF Offices LLC purchased the 48,000-square-foot office building two doors down from the restaurant at 1781 Highland Ave. in late February of 2025, then subsequently bought the 1755 Highland Ave. property between them. Rondo discussed his plans to expand at that time.
He has said he plans to continue leasing the office building at 1781 Highland to various companies and his goal is to improve the property.
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Deputy Town Manager Andrew Martelli has said Rondo’s purchases of nearby properties signify “Viron’s continued investment in the town.”
There are few dining success stories in Cheshire as dramatic as Viron Rondo Osteria, which has grown from a small restaurant that opened in 2014 to a twice-expanded — soon to be three-times-expanded — regional destination that draws diners from across Connecticut and beyond.
Viron Rondo Osteria serves a variety of Italian fare with Greek and other Mediterranean influences. Among its specialities are brick oven pizza cooked in special ovens made in Italy, organic salmon and fresh, local, seasonal vegetables, much of it organic.
The restaurant expanded indoors and out in the years prior to the pandemic and greatly expanded its outdoor dining to stay open — including by using plastic igloos — during the pandemic.
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Rondo was born in Albania and raised in Greece, where he worked in the restaurant industry for 10 years. He has said he learned how to run a high-volume, high-quality restaurant during 10 years working in restaurants in New York City before moving to Cheshire. The restaurant currently seats 318 people indoors and another 360 outdoors.
Viron Rondo Osteria employs 170 people.
Dining and Cooking