After years of planning, the Cvitanovich family has quietly opened the doors to Drago’s Seafood in Baton Rouge, on Constitution Avenue.
Owner Tommy Cvitanovich tells Daily Report the restaurant has served between 200 to 300 people daily for lunch and dinner since last week. While the lunch and dinner services the past week have been open to mostly invited guests, Cvitanovich says the restaurant has been seating limited walk-ins when space allows.
“The staff has been doing well,” Cvitanovich says. “We’ve hit a few bumps, though nothing catastrophic.”
The restaurant will officially open to the public Monday. Initially, the restaurant is still going to “control the door,” Cvitanovich says, to ensure quality control of the experience.
“I just don’t want to get beat up in the dining room,” Cvitanovich says. “I want to make sure the experience is what I expect for my customers to have. It’s important to me and my family that we get this right.”
The restaurant, which has been in the works since 2015, was previously aiming for an early November opening. Cvitanovich cites construction delays from the summer and scheduling conflicts with contractors as the reason for the delay. Ultimately, he says he’d rather the build out was done to his satisfaction than pressure crews to speed up the work.
He estimates that between himself, his family and the restaurant company, some $7 million was invested in the restaurant.
This is the fifth location for Drago’s, known for its charbroiled oysters. The Cvitanovich family also owns locations in Lafayette, Metairie, New Orleans and Jackson, Mississippi.
