Pizza, pasta, cocktails and wine on the menu at The Tipsy Italian

Alessio Maisano and Carina Baillache with their children Francesco Maisano, 6, and Phoenix Baillache, 17, at The Tipsy Italian at Islington. Picture by Simone De Peak

Alessio Maisano started working full-time in his father's Italian restaurants on the Central Coast of NSW at the age of 15.

Fast forward two decades and he now has two restaurants of his own: Hungry Wolf's at Adamstown and The Tipsy Italian at Islington which opened in early August. And these days, the tables have turned: it's Dominic, Alessio's father, who is helping his son in the kitchen.