SPRINGFIELD –  With Cal Mare closed, South End residents and Springfield officials gathered on Feb. 26 to get a preview of Costa, the restaurant that replaced Cal Mare and officially opened its doors on Feb. 29 at MGM Springfield.

The change in restaurants, according to MGM’s vice president of hospitality Anthony Caratozzolo, came from guest feedback. “We realized we had a void, people were looking for that chicken parm, that meatball spaghetti, tomato sauce, red sauce type of restaurant,” he told Reminder Publishing.

“This is just the customers we have here now, currently, we’re just trying to service them and make them feel like they have a place to go. We want them to stay on property,” he explained further.

He said despite having a “great partnership” with Michael Mina, the founder of Cal Mare, MGM “didn’t want to veer off from his concept and dummy down his concept.”

Caratozzolo said Springfield’s Costa is a “spin off from Osteria Costa,” which has locations in MGM’s National Harbor and Mirage casinos. “Osteria Costa is more multi-coast and it was actually what this restaurant was going to be pre-opening,” he explained. “But doing that we knew we couldn’t just take Osteria Costa and spin it, we needed to have something that resonates with the Italian community, so we chose just Costa.”

The restaurant’s slogan “pizza, pasta, wine,” Caratozzolo said, makes “it feel approachable, fun [and] vibrant.” He said, “You can come after work, you can have a glass of wine, share a pizza. Or if it’s your anniversary and you want to come celebrate on a Saturday night, we can deliver that service also.”

Costa will offer guests “very recognizable dishes” such as chicken parmigiana, lasagna, pizza and more. Caratozzolo said the dishes will be “very fairly priced at a price point between $18 and $28.”

He added that the menu of Costa was kept “not small or limited,” but “manageable” as they plan a daily “large special list where we’re bringing local ingredients.” Some examples given by him included “striped bass out of Cape Cod” and “asparagus grown in Hadley.”

Springfield Mayor Domenic Sarno attended the preview and said the menu “goes back to the food we ate growing up,” which he referred to as “peasant food,” and commented on how it has become gourmet food over time. He added that he believed the “food and price points will do very well” and commended MGM for being “very good about making adjustments.”

Guests at the preview were able to sample a variety of menu items including lasagna, chicken parmigiana, caprese crostini, grilled branzino, cannoli and housemade limoncello. Sounds of enjoyment filled the room as guests enjoyed their food and complemented the chefs on their samplings.

And despite Red Rose, a popular Springfield restaurant known for their Italian food being right next door, Caratozzolo said it “isn’t a competition, this isn’t trying to steal their business.”

“Red Rose is Red Rose, they do a fantastic job. Their clientele of just following them for years, generations really, I know I will never get to that level, it will take me many years,” he said.

Ultimately, he said the addition of Costa is about making the South End successful in more ways than one. “We’re in the South End, if we’re not successful, the South End is not successful, and vice versa. If they’re not successful, I’m not successful,” Caratozzolo explained. “It’s an evolution, the goal is to make Springfield, this whole South End be developed, be vibrant, have a walkable district and we’re just the catalyst and it’s the people here tonight that are really going to drive that.”

MGM is located at 1 MGM Way in Springfield. Costa will be open for dinner Sunday, Monday and Thursday from 5 p.m. to 10 p.m., and from 5 p.m. to 11 p.m. on Friday and Saturday. The restaurant will also offer a pizza counter starting at 12 p.m. each day they’re open until they close and brunch on Sunday from 10 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. A full menu and the option to book a table are available online at https://mgmspringfield.mgmresorts.com/en/restaurants/costa.html.