Restaurant Spotlight: Sugo Brings Two Family Traditions to Johns Creek

For more than two decades, Sugo has occupied an unusual place in Johns Creek dining: part Italian restaurant, part Greek family table and part living record of one family’s journey through the restaurant business.

The restaurant opened at its current Medlock Bridge Road location in 2003, before Johns Creek had even become an incorporated city. While the surrounding community has changed dramatically, Sugo has remained built around the same idea—combining the Italian and Greek dishes of the Castellucci family’s past.

A Story That Began in Rhode Island

Sugo’s history reaches back to 1947, when Italian-born Arcito Castellucci married Sophia Zavanlagos, whose family came from Sparta, Greece.

The couple eventually opened Archie’s Tavern in Pawtucket, Rhode Island. Their son, Federico Castellucci II, grew up working beside his father and learning the restaurant business.

Federico initially planned to become a lawyer, according to the restaurant’s family history. Those plans changed when Archie’s Tavern was destroyed. He returned home to help rebuild the restaurant and eventually expanded the family’s presence across Rhode Island.

In 1996, Federico and his wife, Nancy, moved their family to the Atlanta area. Sugo followed in 2003 as a collaboration involving the couple and their eldest son, Federico III.

The name means “sauce” in Italian, but the restaurant never confined itself to one national tradition. Its menu draws from both sides of the family—Italian comfort food alongside Greek and broader Mediterranean flavors.

A Restaurant Passed Between Generations

The family connection extends beyond the original concept.

Nancy Castellucci continues to serve as Sugo’s general manager, overseeing daily operations. The next generation—Federico III, Stephanie and John Castellucci—has helped expand the family business into Castellucci Hospitality Group, which also operates restaurants including The Iberian Pig, Cooks & Soldiers, Double Zero and Mujo.

Sugo remains the restaurant most closely tied to the family’s own story.

“Sugo is a tribute to those who came before,” the hospitality group says in its description of the restaurant.

The kitchen also has an example of long-term continuity. Executive chef Ricardo Soto joined Sugo in 2009 and advanced through its kitchen before taking the top culinary position. A Mexico City native, Soto brought experience from both independent restaurants and national companies before settling into Sugo.

His advancement reflects something increasingly uncommon in the restaurant industry: a chef growing within one kitchen for well over a decade.

The Dish That Explains Sugo

The clearest expression of the restaurant may be its Meatball al Sugo.

Instead of presenting a conventional Italian meatball, the kitchen combines local Italian sausage with roasted tomatoes, caramelized onions, dates and pecorino beneath a tomato-basil sauce. The dates introduce a gentle sweetness that points toward the eastern Mediterranean while the sausage and tomato keep the dish grounded in Italian-American comfort food.

It is less a fusion experiment than a family recipe shaped by two culinary inheritances.

Other dishes include burrata with prosciutto and marinated tomatoes, Bolognese, eggplant Parmesan and seafood preparations such as pistachio-and-almond-crusted fish.

Sugo also maintains separate vegetarian, gluten-free, dessert and children’s menus. The cooking is designed for a full dinner rather than a quick meal, and many of the dishes are suited to sharing.

Why It Has Lasted

Johns Creek has no shortage of Italian restaurants. Sugo’s distinction is not simply that it has been open longer than most of them. It is that the restaurant has retained a recognizable identity while the local dining market has become far more competitive.

The dining room is polished enough for an anniversary or birthday, but the hospitality remains intentionally familial. Private rooms accommodate larger gatherings, and the restaurant regularly offers cooking classes and special dinners that place members of the team directly in front of guests.

That combination—special-occasion atmosphere without abandoning family-style warmth—helps explain why Sugo has remained relevant since 2003.

New restaurants often arrive with a carefully manufactured origin story. Sugo did the reverse. The story came first: an Italian-Greek family, a Rhode Island tavern, a devastating fire, a move south and children who chose to continue the business.

The Johns Creek restaurant grew from that history.

If You Go

Sugo
10305 Medlock Bridge Road, Johns Creek
770-817-8000

Dine-in service is offered from 5 to 9 p.m. Monday through Thursday and from 5 to 10 p.m. Friday and Saturday. The restaurant is closed Sunday. Takeout begins at 4 p.m.

Menus and reservations

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