Al Carretto

[vox]

January 2013

January 2013

Today April 2013

[THYLACINE]

Has Al Carretto moved to new premises? I hope so. Whist the 'Ristorante' looks to be loaded with character, a move to a new location surely could not do it any harm. The building is not exactly an acrchitectural icon is it?

And as for a modelling agency!!! I just can't picture Elle McPherson pulling up outside in her Jag.

[vox]

And as for a modelling agency!!! I just can't picture Elle McPherson pulling up outside in her Jag.

It often amused me as I passed by Thylacine.

[dunsbyowl1867]

Has Al Carretto moved to new premises? I hope so. Whist the 'Ristorante' looks to be loaded with character, a move to a new location surely could not do it any harm. The building is not exactly an acrchitectural icon is it?

And as for a modelling agency!!! I just can't picture Elle McPherson pulling up outside in her Jag.

From the Star 2010

All over at Al Carretto

Published on 15/12/2010 09:28

IT has fed famous footballers, city MPs and even one businessman who emigrated to Spain but loved the ribs so much he had them flown over.

Al Carretto is the little Italian restaurant on Sheffield's London Road which opened when garlic bread was still unheard of, wine was ordered by the litre and waiters - like all men - came with mutton sidechops and flared trousers.

Now, after 29 years of good food, big portions and decor that never changed despite already looking dated in 1981, Sicilian owner Mimmo Mazzola and his wife, local girl Diane, will this weekend close its doors for the final time.

They will leave with their lease on the property run out and the owners hoping to develop the site.

"I came to Sheffield for three months and I stayed for more than three decades," says Mimmo, who still speaks with all the extra As of an Italian in full flow. "When we opened this place there was nowhere in the city like it - there was nowhere you could go and have a steak or a pizza with your family.

"It's been 30 years of hard work but also great times and friends.

Customers come back time after time, for the food, yes, but for the atmosphere too. We have grown up with them. It is sad to close, I have loved every minute."

Perhaps no-one will miss Al Carretto more than Tony Barrington, a retired businessman who has been visiting since it opened.

It was he who, while living in Spain in 1988, had Mimmo's famous spare ribs - and a lasagne for the wife - flown over.

"They tasted every bit as good as they did in Sheffield," says the 79 year old of Beauchief.

And he's not the only one with good memories - football legend Derek Dooley was a regular as is Sheffield Central MP Richard Caborn.

Mimmo again: "They come because we do things simple - tasty food, friendly service. We loved having them, we were so proud"

The 55-year-old, who worked in two other Italians in Sheffield before he opened Al Carretto when he was just 26, says one of his most memorable nights, bizarrely, was when the restaurant flooded.

"It was a Saturday night. I'd phoned the council to tell them the river looked high but they said it's fine, Mimmo," he explains. "It wasn't fine. Water gushed inside. I didn't know what to do - but the customers took off their shoes, rolled up the carpet, moved electrics - I was so thankful, they were great friends."

And now for the future for the father of two and 53-year-old Diane of Gleadless?

"I don't want to leave but it is how it is - I will take a holiday, go to Sicily, see my parents.

"Maybe one day I will open a new place but I am not young any more. I do not know if I could do it all again."

[SteveHB]

Interior photograph, June 2007 .. Al Carretto (flickr)

[THYLACINE]

Shame . . . I wouldn't mind having some of those spare ribs flown over.

As for the interior, thats my kind of place, chequered tablecloths an' all

[SteveHB]

Shame . . . I wouldn't mind having some of those spare ribs flown over.

As for the interior, thats my kind of place, chequered tablecloths an' all

Along with the photos of Derek Dooley and a Sheffield United chair cushion.