Iconic Italian restaurant The Old Canteen to close Sunday, will reopen as a hot dog joint

The president of the Federal Hill Commerce Association in Providence said he was led to believe the new owners would not make a drastic change. “It’s heartbreaking,” he said.

A Federal Hill institution, the Old Canteen has operated for over 60 years.Matthew Healey for The Boston Globe

PROVIDENCE — After two years on the market, The Old Canteen Italian Restaurant on Federal Hill will close on Sunday.

The Heritage Restaurant Group of Newport is working to acquire the property this month, and will shutter the long-held Italian restaurant to reopen as Wally’s Wieners and Copper Club. The transaction is expected to close sometime at the end of the month.

Wally’s, a hot dog joint, will be on the first floor of The Old Canteen building, and the Copper Club, a speakeasy, will be on the second floor, in a set-up similar to an existing concept on Thames Street in Newport, Heritage executives said in a statement sent to the Globe. Both will be run by Brad Head, who founded Wally’s, which was named after Head’s dog.

The Old Canteen has been in business for nearly seven decades. Current owner Sal Marzilli told the Globe in 2022 that he was ready to retire. His father, Joe Marzilli, opened the restaurant in 1956.

“My father worked until the day he couldn’t stand anymore. For the rest of his life, he was in a chair or in a bed. He never got to enjoy all the hard work he put in during this lifetime,” Marzilli told the Globe in 2022. “I know what he’d say about selling this place because he already told me before he died. He said, ‘When you think it’s time, then get out.’”

Sal Marzilli, owner of Joe Marzilli's Old Canteen Italian Restaurant poses for a photo in his Atwells Avenue establishment in Providence in June 2022. Matthew Healey for The Boston Globe

The move from Italian fare to hot dogs took some industry insiders by surprise.

Rick Simone, the president of the Federal Hill Commerce Association, said his phone has been “blowing up” with negative feedback, from business owners to diners.

Simone said he believed when Heritage would purchase the Old Canteen, they would “leave everything the same.”

“This is just heartbreaking,” said Simone.

Head said in a statement that they chose not to continue the original concept of The Old Canteen without Marzilli, but “we are dedicated to preserving the legacy of the space.”

Heritage spokesman Michael Anderson said in a statement that the company is planning a renovation of the building the Old Canteen is currently located in. After the renovation is completed, Wally’s Weiners and the Copper Club are expected to open sometime in March 2025.

The acquisition will be the Heritage Restaurant Group’s first outside of beyond Aquidneck Island. Owned by wealthy entrepreneur and investor Nicholas S. Schorsch. The group acquired Caleb & Broad, Flo’s Clam Shack, The Reef, The Red Parrot, The Brick Alley Pub, and many more in 2024 alone. In late December, the group also announced it would acquire the historic Vanderbilt hotel, a Georgian Revival mansion.

The group also operates Newport Craft Brewing, La Forge Casino Restaurant, La Costa Lobster Rolls and Tacos, Cluck Truck, Cluck House, A Mano Pizza & Gelato, Wiener Wagon, and Wally’s Wieners. It also owns Newport Lobster Company, one of the largest seafood wholesalers in the area, and runs concessions at Easton’s Beach.

Many of the restaurants Schorsch has acquired were family-run operations where the owners were nearing retirement age, like the Old Canteen.

This story has been updated with comments from Heritage Restaurant Group.