Owner/chef of Paolo’s Italian Restaurant in Kent retires

Published 3:22 pm Wednesday, April 8, 2026

Dressed in a long-sleeved T-shirt with a small old station wagon and palm tree pocket design, gray shorts and Nike tennis shoes, Paul Raftis took a seat at Paolo’s Italian Restaurant to chat about his retirement after nearly 36 years as owner and chef of the popular Kent eatery on the East Hill.

Gone was the white chef’s outfit Raftis wore for so many days and nights cooking in the open kitchen his specialized dishes of Fettuccine Paolo, Steak Gorgonzola, Cioppino, Scallops Tuaca and others. He sold the restaurant March 31, but stayed around several more days to help with the transition to new ownership.

“I was hopeful,” Raftis, 61, said when asked during an April 6 interview if he imagined working as a restaurant owner/chef at the same location for so many years. “This is what I always wanted to do since I was a young guy.”

While other children in his Scenic Hill neighborhood in the early 1970s wore Batman, Spider-Man, Bugs Bunny or Mickey Mouse costumes for Halloween, Raftis had his preferred choice.

“I gravitated toward it when I was about 8 years old and started to dress up for Halloween as a chef,” Raftis recalled.

The interest made sense as he grew up in the restaurant industry. His parents, Don and Darlene Raftis, opened the Golden Steer Restaurant in Kent in 1964, which they owned for 35 years, pretty much the same amount of time as Paul Raftis owned Paolo’s. He started working at the restaurant while attending Kent-Meridian High School.

But it was his mother’s cooking at home that caught his attention.

“I was lucky to have my mom get my career started,” he said. “I saw her cooking, she was the Italian connection. She was half Italian. I gravitated to the Italian dishes she made at home.”

That led to Raftis going to chef college at South Seattle Community College for five quarters, including a trip to Italy.

“They had an optional trip that you paid for yourself, but you go with other students and a chef instructor,” Raftis said. “We went to cooking classes, wineries and learned olive oil making and making truffles.”

After finishing chef school, he started working at a Italian restaurant before he got an opportunity that set up the rest of his career. In addition to the Golden Steer, his parents owned the Bum Steer, a burger joint just across the parking lot along 104th Avenue SE near SE 240th Street.

“They were looking to sell it,” Raftis said. “I figured I might as well get my jump into this. With their help, my dream came alive.”

Raftis turned the fast-food joint into an Italian restaurant at 23810 104th Ave. SE. He named it Paolo’s. Paolo is the Italian equivalent for Paul. That was in 1990.

Right from the start, the work hours were long.

“When I was younger, there were really long days,” he said. “Some days (started) when the sun came up, especially before holidays like Mother’s Day when we did a brunch and dinner. It was a very, very busy day.”

Raftis said his employees helped make the restaurant successful in an industry where many fail. He had 23 people on staff, splitting up the lunch and dinner shifts during the week. At their final staff meeting, he honored 10 employees who had worked for him for 10 or more years, including Yrene Romero for 24 years in the kitchen.

“I’ve always had really good staff,” he said.

Raftis rewarded his staff each year by closing the restaurant for a week to take them on trips, often to Hawaii.

“The key to keeping them is keeping them happy,” he said.

Raftis said he will miss the cooking, but also the connections with regular customers.

“Their kids have been born and now they are having families of their own,” he said. “I’ll miss getting to know them, their interest in food and what’s going on in their lives.”

When Raftis opened the restaurant, he went with an open kitchen concept so he could interact with guests.

“I knew I’d be in the trenches,” he said. “It gave me time to be able to come out and chat with people or with those at the front eating counter.”

After more than three decades, however, Raftis decided it was time to sell and retire.

“The body was starting to get a little bit tired,” he said. “I was a chef/owner so I really like to be in the trenches and doing the cooking part. It was a lot of fun, but getting harder physically.”

He didn’t want to wait too long for his next chapter in life.

“I wanted to retire before I was worn out so the wife (Lisa) and I can enjoy retirement and travel and athletics, running maybe a half marathon in fall, play soccer, pickleball and tennis,” he said.

Raftis used to run marathons competitively, including the Boston Marathon four times.

He and his wife live in Kent and plan to stay here. They were married in 2017, and both have two children from previous marriages. There are no grandchildren yet. The parents of Raftis have each died. His mother died on Feb. 8 of this year at age 91. His father died in 2017 at age 85.

With so many years working as a chef, Raftis said he never really cooks at home. They often go out to eat. He said he might start cooking at home for friends and family.

But the chef’s outfit is hung up. Now he dresses for retirement.

“It’s been a good ride,” he said.

Paolo’s name to remain

Gief Rivera is taking over operations at Paolo’s, which will keep the same name, keep all the recipes and he plans to keep the staff who want to stay.

“Paul has had a really strong kitchen staff,” Rivera said during an interview at the restaurant. “They have great ideas. Paul’s recipes we get to keep and we plan to continue that legacy that he built.”

Rivera said he lives in the Maple Valley-Black Diamond area and spent a lot of time in the Kent and Maple Valley area after moving here as a young teen from Italy, where he was born. He graduated in 2016 from Tahoma High School.

“I ate here,” he said. “My family had parties here before and after the remodel.”

The remodel in 2017 included replacing carpet with hardwood floors, new tables and chairs and a brighter atmosphere.

“Very excited,” Rivera said about running the restaurant. “The cuisine that he has has been fantastic. I don’t say that lightly growing up with Italian food, to find similar to home, he gets real close to it.”

Rivera said he’s a “big wine guy” and plans to offer more wine selections. He owns a wine import and distribution company in Washington and travels a couple of times a year to Italy to find producers off the beaten path.

Raftis expects Rivera to do well.

“I feel confident he will keep it going and raise it to another level,” Raftis said.