Welcome to Villa Meola!

We are Michael, Callen, Bella, and Emilia Meola. We are from New York, Texas, and now Gilbert, AZ. Let us tell you why Villa Meola Coffee exists…

We love our girls (obviously), we love each other, we love being in the same space as our girls, but also love to have a conversation with each other. If we’re being honest, that’s usually only possible if the girls go into the other room and we put terrible Disney music on so they can be distracted for a few minutes.

I kinda feel like we aren’t the only ones who have to do this…?

We’ve essentially given up trying to eat out at a real restaurant because my goodness… what else is less fun than trying to force your toddler to sit in a chair, not talk too loud and yell, while you attempt to quickly eat mediocre food that’s going cold faster than you catch your toddler’s fork, then tomato, and then pouch before it hits the person sitting behind you in the head? All the while, not wanting to shove a screen in front of their face just so we can taste even one bite of our food!

So, before we started Villa Meola Coffee, you’d find us at The Park at OHSO in Gilbert just about every Friday, or sometimes Tuesday, or Wednesday, or Monday…. just so we could spend time in a fun place without being more stressed out than when we arrived. But, as great as OHSO is, it’s probably not the best habit to end up at a brewery once a week.. or twice… or… anyway. As great of a job they do of making kids feel welcome, at the end of the day you just know it’s not actually a place for children.

For the first 3.5 years of parenthood, we went on this way… trying to go places that seemed like they might have a little open space for the girls to run around, HOPEFULLY meet some other friends to entertain them while hopefully having a little something nice for us to enjoy (outside of the cherished break from answering nonstop questions) .

Then… New Year’s 2025 came…. Taking a step back, before we got married, we started the most fun tradition ever (according to Callen) of taking at least one day to look ahead and make a few goals. It was on this annual planning day that we decided it was time to get our sh** together. We needed to figure out what we were going to do for the second half of our careers. Michael was unhappy in his remote tech position. But, we needed to decide if we were going to accept him taking another role where he’d work out of the dungeon (Michael’s unaffectionate name for his basement office) for the next 20 years just because it felt safer. Or, if we could work up the courage to take the freaking massive plunge into starting a business in our community and sustain our family.

Even though it was completely “irresponsible”, we couldn’t get the thought out of our heads. Even though it was completely ridiculous and too expensive, we knew if we were going to do it, we had to be in downtown Gilbert. Even though there were about 3 buildings in all of downtown Gilbert that fit the criteria, we knew it had to be a big enough space for families to bring their kids and strollers and be able to hang out, and it definitely needed a patio. So, Callen started listening to podcasts about manifestation (haha) and Michael worked through his complete aversion to ever working in a restaurant again. Finally, Michael took Bella and Emmi on a Daddy-Daughter date to Liberty Market then at the girls request (strongly encouraged by dad), went across the street to the most deliciously authentic Italian gelato on a patio that should be jam packed 24/7.

Even as I write this, sitting on the patio of Gelato Cimmino in the middle of September 2025, I’m getting tears in my eyes. It’s almost too impossible to imagine.

It just so happened that Mario Cimmino was moving back to Italy and could use an extra set of hands with the shop. He had always intended to sell more than just Gelato out of the downtown space (he had literally built it out for another business!), and his coffee machine was not working.

I still don’t know if I believe in manifestation, but Mario and Gelato Cimmino were an undeniable answer to believing (against all wisdom) that the exact thing we could barely let ourselves imagine might somehow be possible.

We are so incredibly grateful to be partnering with Gelato Cimmino to bring a family-focused coffee shop to join both Gelato Cimmino locations (Downtown Gilbert and Old Town Scottsdale). We have been gifted with a chance to live out our dream and are so thankful to share it with you.

Before starting this business, we always called our home Villa Meola. After endless hours of trying to think of a different name to go with.. we just couldn’t escape the same name for our coffee shop, because it keeps us focused on our “why” - to invite you into a space the same way we invite our friends into our own home. Where you can bring your whole family and truly be comfortable, relax and have FUN!

Thank you for joining us on our journey as we navigate running this business that is surely going to be fun, while raising two girls, keeping our marriage enjoyable, and expressing our version of community.

PS - Our drinks are pretty good 😉