When the COVID 19 pandemic was in full swing, many restaurants had to adapt to survive and many pivoted towards increased takeout service. Hilton Head’s Pomodori Italian Eatery was no different.

Now, armed with the experience of ramping up takeout, the restaurants owner, Amanda Cifaldi, expanded to a sister location in Bluffton: Pomodori Too! Italian Takeout.

“I think when COVID happened, there became an awareness around the fact that some cuisines really do lend themselves very well to be taken and eaten later,” Cifaldi said. “This is a cuisine that gets better the next day. You know, it’s not a steak or a piece of fish that’s going to die on your drive home. It’s something that actually deepens in flavor and becomes better as if it sits for a day.”

The only thing that’s different from the original is the emphasis on takeout. But just because the focus is on takeout, guest are welcome to dine in an intimate outdoor seating area.

“This place will fills up every night and people will come out and eat and it’s lovely,” Cifaldi said.

The new takeout spot sits under a live 600-year-old oak at 1253 May River Road in Old Town Bluffton. For those familiar with the local food scene, the Italian restaurant replaces the Underground Burrito and is the only location Cifaldi ever envisioned for the sister location.

Pomodori Too! is open from 4:00 p.m. to 8:00 p.m. Monday through Saturday. They are closed on Sundays.

Cifaldi said the dinner window was decided so that people could come by and grab dinner on the way home from work, school or practice. The 8:00 close time was because many people don’t order takeout past that time, she said.

The goal is to get customers their food quickly. Generally orders take around 15 minutes, Cifaldi said.

“And we thought that our food lends itself very well to young families who you know want a good nutritious fresh meal but don’t always have the time between soccer practices and band practices”

In the seven weeks they’ve been opened, Cifaldi says they’ve done gangbuster business.

“it just spread like wildfire and literally from day one. I mean it has been everything and more and more than we could have ever expected.”