King William Road regulars know where to go for good Italian food. After 10 years on the street, there’s no surer bet than Parisi’s.

“Our father is La Trattoria in the city, [and our] grandfather was Marcellina’s back, you know, the original on Hindley Street,” Simone Ellery, co-owner of Parisi’s, says.

“That’s nearly a good 50, 60 years down.”

There is a pure hospitality bloodline that runs through Parisi’s and it goes a long way to explaining how the restaurant has remained so stoic over its 10 years on King William Road.

“I think we have a nice little uniqueness about us, however I think we’re very consistent,” Simone says.

“I think that’s actually why we are quite successful, because you see the same faces, same commitment to quality and the food and everything, [so] the fact that we don’t change much, I actually think is our strength.”

Simone and her siblings, Chantal and Antoni, originally started with a restaurant at Magill 14 years ago, but it was always the plan to end up on King William Road.

“Funnily enough, my mother-in-law is on the street. She’s been here for 27 years – that’s the clothing shop just down the road, Denim Iniquity,” Simone says. “It’s kind of like our spot, so it felt comfortable.”

The draw for Simone, as well as it being local, is what many of the traders on the street refer to as the ‘village feel’.

“All of the shops look after each other, we try to support each other. We shop off each other when we need things like clothing or birthday presents,” Simone says. “We are a community.”

Though the streetscape has been changing, Simone is confident that Parisi’s decade-long persistence will see them last long into King William Road’s future, whatever it shapes up to be.

“It still has that nice feel of a beautiful little street off some beautiful suburbs. [The demographic] is gorgeous, the people are lovely, I think that continues.”