Mazzio’s Italian Eatery is one of the very few Italian-based restaurants in Tahlequah. Mazzio's Corporation is a privately-owned Tulsa-based holding company. It first did not start off as Mazzio’s Italian Eatery.

Ken Selby, founder of Mazzio’s, opened his first restaurant, Pizza Parlor, in 1961 on 11th Street near Harvard in Tulsa.  He opened his second restaurant a few years later and changed the name to Ken's Pizza. In 1970, Selby changed the name again, this time to Mazzio’s, and broadened the menu items. By 1975, more than 100 locations were across Oklahoma and even the surrounding states.