Nevada has lost three locally rooted restaurants in recent weeks, including a Carson City institution that served Italian food for more than three decades. The closings continue a wave of restaurant shutdowns affecting communities across the country.
The latest losses stretch from longstanding sit-down restaurants to a handmade ice cream shop that built a loyal following in just six years.
Garibaldi’s Italian Kitchen in Carson City
Garibaldi’s Italian Kitchen closed on June 27, 2026, after serving Carson City since 1993.
Owner Mark Claypool, 65, decided to retire after more than three decades in the restaurant business. Claypool, a San Diego native who got his start at Cafe Fiore in South Lake Tahoe, purchased Garibaldi’s from Ed and Connie Easley in the mid-1990s, about a year after they had opened it. During his time with the restaurant, Garibaldi’s changed locations — eventually settling at 307 N. Carson Street, just north of the Capitol — expanded from seating 25 to 40, and became a familiar destination for Italian dinners and family celebrations. When the Legislature was in session, diners might even spot state lawmakers enjoying the restaurant’s well-known garlic bread.
“It’s just time,” Claypool, who lives in Dayton, told the Nevada Appeal, adding that he might do some traveling in his RV. “Carson’s been very good to me.”
The closing announcement described Garibaldi’s as a neighborhood home where customers celebrated milestones and shared countless meals over the years. Reservations quickly filled for the restaurant’s final days as longtime customers sought one last opportunity to order their favorite dishes and say goodbye.
There was some hope that the restaurant might be preserved. Server Slade Siciliano, a 10-year employee, had been working to secure funding to buy the business, though he had not succeeded as of the final weeks. Claypool indicated that the turn-key business, brand and fully equipped establishment remained available for acquisition by a serious operator or investor. Still, Garibaldi’s ended regular operations under Claypool’s ownership on June 27.
For Carson City diners, the closure represents the loss of a restaurant that survived changing dining habits, economic downturns and increasing competition for 33 years.
Bella Italia in Reno
Bella Italia closed suddenly in Reno during June 2026.
The circumstances surrounding the closure remain unclear. Eviction notices appeared on the doors of the restaurant at 8155 S. Virginia Street, reportedly addressed to original owner and chef Giuseppe Zappala, even though he had sold the business in early 2025.
Bella Italia was the culmination of a remarkable culinary journey. Zappala and his wife, Assunta, came from the Lake Como region of Italy, and Giuseppe originally traveled the world demonstrating pasta machines. One of those trips brought him to Reno’s Eldorado in 1984 to sell a machine to the La Strada Italian restaurant — and he was soon hired there as a chef. It was at the Eldorado that Zappala created the mushroom ravioli recipe that became one of the area’s most famous dishes and is still served at La Strada today. After nearly 30 years in Reno restaurants, he opened his own place, Bella Italia, building a devoted neighborhood following for made-from-scratch pasta, ravioli, homemade gelato and tiramisu. When he sold the business in early 2025 — recipes included — he handed it to a chef formerly connected to another local Italian restaurant.
Restaurants like Bella Italia often develop loyal followings because customers become familiar not only with the menu but also with the owners, servers and atmosphere. Regulars had long considered it “our Italian restaurant.”
The lack of a lengthy farewell made Bella Italia’s disappearance particularly surprising. Instead of receiving weeks to return for one final meal, regular customers were confronted with a closed restaurant and uncertainty about what had happened. Whether another owner eventually revives the concept remains to be seen.
Black Rock Dessert in Reno
Black Rock Dessert served its final scoop on June 5, 2026, after six years at 100 California Avenue in Reno.
The locally owned shop, an extension of Icecycle Creamery run by owner Marlon Salazar, specialized in handmade ice cream and developed a following around creative flavors, generous portions and its signature “Freak Shakes.” It opened in 2020, an exceptionally difficult year for a new food business, but managed to survive the pandemic and remain open long enough to celebrate its sixth anniversary.
Salazar announced the storefront’s closure through social media while hinting that another version of the business could eventually emerge — and that pivot has already materialized. After closing the shop, Salazar kept making ice cream, and the flavors and creations once available at Black Rock can now be found through Algo Dulcito Desserts, a new dessert-and-coffee truck that has been parking outside local businesses and events around Reno.
That continuation offers some comfort, but it does not change the loss of the familiar California Avenue shop where customers stopped for cones, cups and frozen treats.
Three very different Nevada losses
Garibaldi’s, Bella Italia and Black Rock Dessert occupied different corners of Nevada’s restaurant industry.
Garibaldi’s brought 33 years of history to Carson City. Bella Italia gave Reno an independent Italian option rooted in one chef’s extraordinary journey from pasta-machine salesman to beloved restaurateur. Black Rock showed that even a relatively young dessert shop could become part of a neighborhood’s identity.
Possible new owners, new concepts or future business pivots could keep portions of their stories alive — and in Black Rock’s case, already have. However, the restaurants customers knew have closed, leaving three more empty spaces in Nevada’s local dining landscape.
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