Juliet Italian Kitchen is serving up comfort cuisine with options for everyone. The company has helped shape the Austin dining scene for over a decade, expanding its reach from Barton Springs Road to The Arboretum in Northwest Austin.
The background
Husband-and-wife duo Donna and Dan Wilkins are long-time entrepreneurs. The couple are both engineers and previously owned separate tech-based businesses. When the time came for a new business venture, Dan Wilkins discovered a vacant building on Barton Springs Road that would later become the first Juliet Italian Kitchen, launching in July 2015.
Though the couple didn’t have hospitality experience, they were excited to translate their engineering mindsets to a new business model—looking at efficiency and scalability through Italian food.
“We love to be a restaurant guest and have a great experience, and we want to be able to bring that to as many people as possible,” Donna Wilkins said.
Donna and Dan Wilkins expanded the brand in 2020 to open another restaurant at The Arboretum, bringing familiar favorites closer to customers.
On the menu
The menu starts with a list of antipasti, including meatballs, caprese bruschetta and black truffle arancini. Juliet Italian Kitchen also has a selection of soups and salads, including a classic Caesar or caprese. Alongside starters are a range of hand-tossed pizzas, house-made pastas and entrees.
Fan favorites include the chicken parmigiana with breaded chicken breast, mozzarella, parmesan, basil, marinara and spaghetti. Other best-sellers are the lasagna and chicken piccata, which is prepared with chicken scallopine in a white wine caper sauce over sauteed spinach.
When compiling the menu, the owners wanted to make sure there was something for everyone, including options for children and people with dietary restrictions. In addition to variety in flavor, the menu also features a range of prices, Donna Wilkins said. Juliet Italian Kitchen also serves brunch on the weekends and a daily happy hour from 3-6 p.m.
Why it matters
For the ownership team, their favorite part about the restaurant is getting to be part of so many celebrations and joyful experiences alongside their customers.
“We've got several groups of people—one group I can think of, they come in every month to the Arboretum. Some of them live in Cedar Park or north, some of them live in Central Austin. They say it's the perfect meeting place.”
What’s in a name
Donna Wilkins has spent over a decade answering the question, “who’s Juliet?” The name Juliet isn’t native to the restaurant’s ownership; it comes from the previous tenant at the Barton Springs location. Before Dan and Donna Wilkins took over the space, it was occupied by a restaurant called Romeo’s Italian Grill and Bar. The pair jokingly called their new venture “Juliet’s,” as an homage to Romeo’s—a name that stuck.
Before you go
Last fall, the brand converted its Georgetown location into Juliet Social, a private event space and Italian cafe. After the recent change, Donna Wilkins said she doesn’t anticipate any additional expansions over the next year.
“There's a number of things operationally [and] internally that we're working on,” Donna Wilkins said. “With the focus on hospitality, we're working with our teams to make sure that we're giving our guests the best experience.”
