Brian and Ally Springer welcome you to Julio’s Wood Fired Pizza & Grill.

Our restaurant is a warm and welcoming neighborhood fixture offering a mix of from-scratch wood-fired pizza, Italian classics and creative contemporary dishes. Please read on to learn about who we are and how we aim to serve the Southbury community.

Our Food

The food at Julio’s Wood Fired Pizza & Grill is inspired by the best of Italy. We make our pastas in our on-premise kitchen. We create our pizza dough in-house, then top it with our signature herb-laced tomato sauce and fresh ingredients like sautéed-to-order spinach and fresh mushrooms – plus, of course, forever favorites including sausage and pepperoni. That’s before baking it in a brick oven fired entirely by hardwood. We simmer a fresh batch of marina sauce daily. We bread our chicken and veal for entrees immediately before we cook them to order, then serve them piping hot to our guests. Our chefs like to get creative, so each evening they concoct daily specials from whatever’s freshest on the market. That could be pan-seared scallops with ricotta ravioli, baby spinach and grape tomatoes in a lemon cream sauce. It might be pork chop Milanese with caramelized onion-mashed potatoes and a balsamic reduction. You’ll find surprising and delightful new flavors every time you visit.

Our Atmosphere

Julio’s Wood Fired Pizza & Grill has been a warm and welcoming family-run restaurant since it opened in 1997, and it remains that way today. The ambiance is relaxed with woods, brick and muted lighting. Our tables are made of wood repurposed from a local barn. A hand-painted mural adds subtle color, and two stately columns pay tribute to the bank that originally inhabited the space. Perhaps best of all, Julio’s Wood Fired Pizza is friendly. Ally and Chef Brian are frequently around greeting guests. Neighbors catch up with one another around the dining room, and regular guests seek out their favorite servers and bartenders. In fact, several of our staff members have been part of the Julio’s team since the very beginning.

Our History

A couple named Julio and Maria Duque opened this traditional-contemporary restaurant in 1997, and lovingly fostered its community feel, as well as its ambitious menu, for 21 years. A young woman named Ally was their first hostess. Less than two years later, a graduate of Johnson & Wales culinary school named Brian came on board as head chef. The rest is history, as they say. Brian and Ally met at Julio’s. They fell in love, married and started a family together. In 2018, they bought Julio’s from their friends and mentors. Brian remains in the kitchen, staying true to the restaurant’s culinary mission. After staying home to raise their three sons, Ally has returned to Julio’s, where she can be found buzzing around the dining room. Even the Springers’ sons are part of the Julio’s family. The boys help out at the take-out window, stacking wood for the pizza oven or running pasta through the shape-making machine now and then. The children attend Southbury schools, and the family is involved in community events and fundraisers.

Please Join Us

Here at Julio’s, we want you to try our food, sip our wines and seasonal cocktails, and, most of all, enjoy our hospitality. As Ally says, “We want people to feel welcome. Anyone can come in, and we’ll be happy to have them here. Our restaurant is lively and approachable.” And the food? Give it a try, and we’re sure you’ll be back.