Trattoria Zaza

Trattoria Zaza occupies a storefront on 20th Street North in downtown Birmingham, in a building that previously housed Trattoria Centrale, a longtime casual Italian spot in the same location. Zaza picked up where that restaurant left off, keeping the downtown Italian identity while expanding the menu and renovating the space after reopening. The transition from one restaurant to the next kept a familiar address in continuous use as an Italian kitchen for well over a decade.

The restaurant runs as a locally owned, dog-friendly, family-friendly spot in the middle of downtown Birmingham, according to its listing with the Downtown Birmingham business directory. That casual, neighborhood-focused identity comes through in the menu, which spans breakfast, brunch, lunch, and dinner rather than sticking to a single narrow format. Few downtown restaurants cover that much ground across a single day, and the range has made Trattoria Zaza a reliable option regardless of the hour.

Pizza anchors the menu, sold by the slice or as whole specialty pies, alongside entrees like chicken parmesan and a rotating selection of pasta dishes. Weekend brunch, served Saturday and Sunday from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m., adds items like frittata, breakfast pasta, and biscuits and gravy to the regular lineup, giving Trattoria Zaza a broader appeal than a straightforward dinner-only Italian restaurant. The mac and cheese and other pasta dishes lean toward comfort food rather than formal fine dining, in keeping with the restaurant’s casual identity.

Starters lean toward shareable plates: eggplant caponata toast, shishito peppers, and a baked feta dish all appear on the snacks section of the menu, priced for a casual bar-and-plates style of ordering rather than a formal multi-course dinner. Rosemary bread is another fixture on the menu, served alongside the shareable starters and reflecting the same casual, unfussy approach that runs through the rest of the kitchen. A full bar and coffee program round things out, with espresso and cold brew available alongside wine, draft beer, and cocktails, plus a dedicated mimosa menu built for the weekend brunch crowd.

Trattoria Zaza keeps weekday hours from 11 a.m. to 9 p.m., with Saturday service shifting to a 4 to 9 p.m. dinner window around the brunch service, and Sunday limited to the brunch hours. That schedule makes it one of the more flexible Italian options downtown, open for a coffee and pastry in the morning as easily as a full pizza dinner at night. The single-slice pizza option in particular makes it an easy stop for a quick solo lunch downtown, without committing to a full pie.

For visitors to downtown Birmingham looking for a casual, all-day Italian spot rather than a formal sit-down dinner, Trattoria Zaza fills that role. The restaurant’s locally owned, dog-friendly identity, combined with a menu that spans breakfast through dinner, has made it a fixture on 20th Street North for regulars who stop in more than once a week.

The building’s history as an Italian restaurant address stretches back well before Trattoria Zaza took over the space, giving the location a kind of continuity even as the concept and ownership have changed. That history matters in a downtown that has seen plenty of turnover among smaller restaurants, and it gives Trattoria Zaza a built-in identity as part of an established stretch of 20th Street North rather than a brand new, unproven concept.

The restaurant’s coffee and pastry offerings in the morning, paired with a full pizza and pasta menu by evening, mean the same table can serve a completely different purpose depending on the hour. That flexibility has made Trattoria Zaza a practical option for downtown workers looking for a coffee stop, weekend visitors looking for brunch, and evening diners looking for a casual pizza dinner, all within the same restaurant.