This profile is in active compilation — some details are awaiting a cited source.

Waldo Italian café and deli known for meatball grinders, house pasta, and Italian comfort food; founded 2002 by the Scaglia family (Mario’s lineage), owned since 2015 by Leasa Caron and her son Alex Fiorella, and relocated to Waldo in 2020.

Description

Jovito’s Italian Café & Deli is an Italian café and deli at 7408 Wornall Road, in the heart of Kansas City’s Waldo neighborhood near 75th and Wornall. The menu centers on Italian comfort fare — homemade meatball grinders (its signature item), paninis, calzones, pasta, salads, and cannoli — with a heavy carryout, delivery, and catering business alongside dine-in service.

The restaurant traces its roots to Kansas City’s deep Italian-American restaurant tradition. The original Jovito’s was part of the Scaglia family’s lineage, the family behind Mario’s, the longtime Westport Italian institution that dates to 1969. The Waldo storefront occupies the former One More Cup space at 74th and Wornall.

Ownership and history

Jovito’s Italian Café opened in 2002 under the Scaglia family — Mary (Scaglia) Hart and her brother Joe Scaglia ran the original location in south Kansas City, while their brother Mario owned Mario’s in Westport.

In 2015, Leasa Caron bought Jovito’s from Mary Hart, and the business has since been run by Caron together with her son Alex Fiorella (some coverage also names Steve Waldman as part of the operation). The Fiorella family has deep Kansas City restaurant roots: Alex’s grandparents opened Smokestack BBQ in 1957. In 2020, the family relocated Jovito’s to Waldo — a neighborhood where, in Fiorella’s words, the family “grew up” and has “lived here for over 20 years.”

Note: a separate “Jovito’s Italian Cafe and Bakery” operates at 12309 State Line Rd (jovitoskc.com) tied to the Mario’s family tradition; the Waldo deli at issue here uses jovitostogo.com.

Tier classification

Tier 1. Jovito’s is owner-operated by a KC-resident family — Leasa Caron and her son Alex Fiorella, longtime Waldo residents with multi-generation Kansas City restaurant roots (Smokestack BBQ, Mario’s lineage). It is independent and non-chain, and the owners’ pride in and dedication to their KC neighborhood is explicit in their own framing of the Waldo move. This squarely matches the Tier 1 criterion per feedback_tier_flexibility.

See also

Sources

  1. Waldo KC (Waldo Area Business Association) — “Featured Business: Jovito’s Italian Cafe & Deli” — https://www.waldokc.org/featured-business-jovitos-italian-cafe-deli/ — accessed 2026-05-30
  2. CityLifestyle — “Welcome to the Neighborhood, Jovito’s!” — https://citylifestyle.com/articles/e5d4bb0b-3e2c-4856-973a-60daf098cdda — accessed 2026-05-30
  3. Martin City Telegraph — “Jovito’s Italian Cafe will move to Waldo” (2020-08-13) — https://martincitytelegraph.com/2020/08/13/jovitos-italian-cafe-will-move-to-waldo/ — accessed 2026-05-30
  4. Jovito’s official site / online ordering — https://www.jovitostogo.com/ — accessed 2026-05-30
  5. Instagram — @jovitoskc — https://www.instagram.com/jovitoskc/ — accessed 2026-05-30

Verification

Drafted 2026-05-30 from web research; 5 sources (3 independent editorial: Waldo KC, CityLifestyle, Martin City Telegraph; plus official site + Instagram). Confirmed: Waldo address, current operation, Scaglia-family origin, 2015 purchase by Leasa Caron / Alex Fiorella, 2020 Waldo relocation, signature grinders/pasta/cannoli. Unverified/flagged: exact 2002 founding year (secondary-sourced); the relationship between this Waldo deli and the State Line “Jovito’s Italian Cafe and Bakery”; no Facebook page located.

See also

  • Registry
Categories
  • Locally owned
  • Waldo