It's owned and run by sisters Mandy and Kerry Pinning, former customers who liked the place so much they bought it and kept the previous owner, Antonio Zsirai, on as chef.

Kerry's first date with Italian boyfriend Armando Manfredi had been there and a little later sister Mandy met his brother Roberto at the same place.

As the sisters had both given up work to look after their mum they can spend the evenings, on separate nights, on front of house duties at the restaurant.

"Luckily we get on very well, touch wood," says Kerry, on duty our night.

Then they had the problem of coming up with a new name, until they hit upon The Italian Place. Mind you, that does give them a bit of bother when they mention the name to suppliers or BT.

"I say it's The Italian Place and they say 'Yes, but what is it called?'" says Kerry, wryly.

They've done up the place with lots of white, banishing the Artex and getting rid of the gingham tablecloths. The effect is modern and a bit minimalist.

There are two rooms, seating 42 downstairs and 30 upstairs, linked by a spiral staircase. Everybody who doesn't know goes to the wrong end. It spirals the opposite way to what you expect.

One thing Italian restaurants excel with is atmosphere and the sisters have got to work on that.

All that white makes the place feel a little chilly and as far as the temperature goes, The Italian Place wasn't a warm place on our night.

And it would have helped if Kerry had at least given some sort of acknowledgement we were there after chatting with the other tables on a quiet night. You like to know your custom is appreciated.

My wife began with a pleasant enough dish of Mare Monte, mushrooms baked with prawns, mozzarella, white wine and garlic (£4.95) which warmed her up although I was not quite so lucky with my starter.

This was just a vague stab at uovo Fiorentina, baked eggs with spinach (£3.95). This should be a light, briefly cooked dish with egg still runny on a bed of spinach. Instead, the egg was as hard as rubber and the spinach appeared as blobs through the tomato sauce.

More food news, click here.

I was much happier with my pizza Monte Cassino (£7.85), chosen because this was the only one with anchovies along with mozzarella, tomato and onion. Chef Antonio makes a good, chewy base and doesn't stint the anchovies.

The Italian Place does a decent job with the pasta, too. You shouldn't go wrong with Penne Salmone (£8.95), salmon in a cream sauce, and they don't.

We ate it with a mixed salad (£2.90).

We shared a sweet, a homemade tiramisu (£3.50) which was OK but had missed the shot of espresso which normally gives it a kick.

With two glasses of decent house wine, red and white, (a reasonable £2.75 each) our bill came to £39.70.

At the next table were a couple of customers the sisters have inherited. They've been going there for years.

But, for us, The Italian Place needs a little bit more, apart from the name, to stand out from the crowd.

The Italian Place
216 London Road, Sheffield.
Tel: 0114 255 3872.
Open all week, evenings. Credit cards. Music. Street parking.
My star ratings (out of five):
Food 3
Atmosphere 3
Service 3
Value 3
Italian restaurant category. Do not compare ratings between places of different style or price.


READ MORE
Your letters.
Business.
Today's features.
Latest sport.
Main news index.