Walking into Stromboli’s, customers might see to the right their own signature penned on the wall, or to the left a record that used to play throughout the living room as a kid. This atmosphere is what owner Tim Turman, said is the aim for Stromboli’s. He said he wants Stromboli’s to feel like a home away from home.
“I’ve always viewed it for students as a home away from home, and for locals, a gathering place,” Turman said.
He said the community supports Stromboli’s and, over time, he forms relationships with the customers.
“Serving is one of our goals – not only food, but people,” he said.
Stromboli’s originally started as pick-up and delivery only, run by a young couple in college.
After graduation, Turman said the couple put Stromboli’s on the market, where a friend of Turman’s acquired it and sold it to Turman.
Turman, along with his wife Janet, both Mississippi State University graduates, opened Stromboli’s under their management Nov. 1, 2001.
Turman said he always wanted to be in the restaurant business, and Stromboli’s is a true “mom and pop” establishment, with wife helping run the show and their daughter helping waitress.
In the beginning, Turman kept Stromboli’s as pick-up and delivery only.
However, in Oct. 2003, he said he saw the public demand for dining in and started collecting chairs and tables from around town.
Around the same time, Stromboli’s became the sit-in eatery residents enjoy today. However, Turman added he still does catering around town and for various MSU functions.
As business took off, so did the demand for additional seating. Now on a bright autumn day, customers can now enjoy the patio seating added in 2004, behind the main restaurant.
While Stromboli’s may be known for the food, the restaurant itself has an ambiance all its own.
The memorabilia hung along the walls can have students and residents alike reminiscing on days gone by.
Turman said the wall decorations started with just a few album covers and memorabilia he had from the 1970s.
He said he feels students can relate to that era, bringing back memories from childhood and helps Stromboli’s feel like a home away from home.
Scattered among the wall decorations in every nook and cranny are names sharpied, crayoned and penciled.
Sorority stickers and letters, names of best friends and inside jokes can be found amongst the landscape of the walls.
Turman said the writing started with him setting out crayons, for the children who came there to eat, to color with.
One thing led to another and as Turman puts it, so began “the writings on the walls.”
He said he can look around the restaurant and see different names, different times, former employees and even a few engagements amongst the signatures.
However, the thing that has Stromboli’s customers coming back again and again is the food.
Turman said Stromboli’s signature dough comes from a family recipe.
But, the crowd-favorite, cookie dough bites, was a joint collaboration between his family and the employees at the time.
He said two or three recipes were tried before finally settling on the current one.
“If you’re going to be in the restaurant business, you’ve got to have good food,” he said.
Stromboli’s was awarded “Best Italian” and “Best Pizza” in the August 2012 edition of Mississippi Magazine.
Turman said he feels lucky to run a restaurant that is so loved.
 ”For a ‘hole in the wall’ in a small town, we’ve been blessed,” he said. “We have a great clientele; that’s an honor within itself.”

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