“It’s Just Not in Our Hearts Anymore”: Cafe Di Stasio St Kilda Is Up for Sale

Since Covid, Cafe Di Stasio in St Kilda has only been open for dinner two nights a week, leaving many Melburnians wondering when founders Rinaldo Di Stasio and Mallory Wall would fully reopen the restaurant they’ve operated since 1988. Despite announcing plans in 2023 to reinvigorate the space with an upstairs gallery, a new Neapolitan menu and increased service hours, Di Stasio and Wall have instead decided to move on from St Kilda and put the business up for sale (minus the Cafe Di Stasio name).

“People have said, ‘Why haven’t you refired up St Kilda?’ It’s just not in our hearts anymore,” says Wall. The couple, who opened Di Stasio Citta in the CBD in 2019 and Di Stasio Pizzeria in Carlton in 2021, almost sold the St Kilda restaurant in 2020 pre-Covid and again in 2021.

“The deal was nearly done twice. Covid struck and last-minute cheques were literally pulled off the table,” says Wall.

“We sort of saw the end of the St Kilda era then, five or six years ago.” Since announcing the sale, Wall says there has been interest from past employees, “which would be a really nice full-circle story.” But Di Stasio and Wall are willing to wait for the right buyer.

“There’s been a comment that it’s a fire sale, and we’re in trouble with the ATO again, which is absolute nonsense. It’s not a fire sale. And if we don’t get the right price, we’ll just keep on going the way we’ve been going and hang on to it,” she says.

Wall says the real impetus behind the sale is the launch of the couple’s two new businesses in Italy: a wine project in Piedmont and an art and food business in Naples. Di Stasio Citta and Di Stasio Pizzeria are not for sale and will continue to operate as usual.