Popular Italian restaurant relocates to beautiful new city-centre site

Authentic, Southern Italian pasta specialists Grazie recently made the move a few doors down from their former Sheffield city-centre home into a stunning new space, so we popped along to show our appreciation

The opening of Grazie on Leopold Street was the realisation of a lifelong dream for its owner Vito Vernia, and in the three-years or so since then, the Italian dining spot has set about putting authentic Puglian cuisine on the map in the Steel City.

Photo credit: Ellie Grace

A noble endeavour then, and one which has been richly rewarded with an ever increasing fanbase. So much so, in fact, they recently made the big decision to relocate to bigger premises in order to accommodate, finding a new space just down the road in the former home of burger joint, Smoking Bull.

“Our first spot was a great beginning to our project,” says Vito, “during the three years we were there, even with Covid and everything, we still built a good reputation. We let people know who we are, what we do and how we do it, and the demand for our food became greater and greater.

Photo credit: Ellie Grace

“Because of the size of that place, and the lay out, we started looking for new premises, because there weren’t enough tables to cope with the demand, and kitchen-wise, we couldn’t expand our ideas.

“We still had two-years left on the lease, but when we heard Smoking Bull was moving out, we decided the time was right to move, because I’ve always thought this spot was the perfect place for us to relocate to.

Photo credit: Ellie Grace

“It’s on the same street, just two-doors down and it’s a nice size – not too big and not too small. I called the landlord and took the lease as soon as they moved out, before the sign had even gone up!”

Once the lease was signed in July, Vito set about putting together a crack team to create his perfect restaurant. First up, he sought out the help of a designer who shared his vision and who could bring a touch of Southern Italy over to Sheffield.

Photo credit: Ellie Grace

Angelica Picoco’s work can be found around the world and she just so happens to hail from Vito’s hometown of Polignano a Mare. After Vito had seen her work in the idyllic coastal town of his birth, he says he knew she would be the perfect person to recreate his vision in his adopted home.

Once the design was in place, the work to build the vision utilised talent a little closer to home, and Rocket Design, who is responsible for some of the city’s most eye-catching bars and restaurants, including Public and Domo, set about bringing the Puglian coast to Sheffield.

Photo credit: Ellie Grace

“Angelica is from my town and she has created a few restaurants there that look really nice, so she knew what I was after. Pretty much on the second drawing we settled on what we have now. She came over once just to see the place and then she gave me all the drawings for the builders to follow in Italian, so I translated as much as I could.

“They did a really good job and it’s been around three and a half months turnaround, which would have been even sooner, but we had to wait for the floor tiles to arrive from my hometown. It’s quite different from a lot of restaurants in town because it has been created in a different style.”

Photo credit: Ellie Grace

Vito wanted to bring the sweeping arches and mosaic tiles of his hometown to Sheffield, and once you venture inside, it has to be said that these touches really set the place off. With these touches, alongside the open plan kitchen and purpose built ‘pasta lab’, which adds a bit of theatre to proceedings, Vito has created a sleek, yet welcoming space to enjoy a hearty bowl of homecooked pasta.

And what of the food then? Given that he now has the extra space he needed, what delights does the menu hold?

Photo credit: Ellie Grace

“As before, the main thing we do is fresh pasta.” Says Vito, “We do three shapes of pasta, plus one filled pasta and one gnocchi. All the pasta is made fresh onsite. Sometimes it’s made in the morning, sometimes it’s made during the service, and if you’re sitting at your table you can now see it being made. Customers are like, ‘wow, they really do the pasta themselves.’

“We focus on one thing and we do it well, and people appreciate that. Everyone likes a big bowl of pasta and we do have different dishes that you can’t find elsewhere. It’s all inspired by Puglia, so we don’t have pasta bolognaise, and we don’t have arrabiata. Lots of the ingredients come from within a few miles of my town – the cheeses, the vegetables and the wine, which is made by our family.

Photo credit: Ellie Grace

The restaurant trade is very much in the family for Vito. He has himself been involved working in hospitality environments since he was 13-years-old, whether that’s working in restaurants or hotels, but he has also been around restaurants since the the age of two, and he remembers sitting at a bar watching his father make coffees for customers as a young boy.

When he moved to the UK, he eventually started working at Piccolino, Sheffield, and later became general manager; but it was always his dream to run his own restaurant, just as his family do in Puglia. When the original spot became available Vito tells us is it just felt right, as it was small, manageable and in a great location.

Photo credit: Ellie Grace

Given the sharp rise in popularity of that first venue, and the subsequent successful move to their beautiful new premises, Vito is rightly feeling very happy about the future.

“People know who we are and what we do.” Says Vito, “We’ve kept our ethos the same, it’s just a different look. Pretty much everything we were doing there, we do here, but with a few more interesting dishes, because we’ve got more space to play in.

Photo credit: Ellie Grace

“You know when you’ve got a dream and it comes true? That’s how I feel. The hard work has paid off.”

Grazie can now be found in 9 Leopold Street and is open from Monday – Saturday. For more details and bookings go give them a nudge on Insta here.