Nonnas Restaurant
Nonna’s is an excellent Italian restaurant on Ecclesall Road. The restaurant looks warm and inviting from the outside with candles adorning the windows. My nerves on entering the bar were quelled as we were served complimentary nibbles and then ordered drinks from a gorgeous Italian waiter! We were greeted by a smiling waiter in the restaurant which had an enormous wine cellar on display covered by a pane of glass to tempt customers and my boyfriend! I noticed that Nonna’s has an excellent vegetarian menu. This may be expected from an Italian restaurant but effort has been put into the vegetarian dishes to ensure they are fresh and exiting. The menu also offers a variety of meat and fish options followed by Italian desserts, coffees and cocktails. Peroni is also served on tap bringing a bit a Tuscany to Sheffield.
We were seated on a cosy table for two and both settled down to read the enormous wine menu. Fortunately, the waiter was very attentive and recommended the olives and bread to us as nibbles while we were deciding. I have to say olives are not my favourite but they were marinated in lemon and walnuts and tasted amazing! We finally decided to order a bottle of red and white, the wine was pricey but worth the money. The Gavi di Gavi (£27.00) was quite dry but fresh at the same time with an aroma of gooseberries. The Pinot Nero (£32.00) was smooth and suited to easy drinking. After admiring the dishes coming out of the ‘cucina’, I decided to have the Tuscan bean soup (£3.95) for starter and my boyfriend decided on a small portion of the tagliatelle with mussels (£6.96). I have to say the tagliatelle was gorgeous with its rich and creamy tomato sauce I would recommend it as a main course or as a starter. My soup was equally tasty and made me feel very Tuscan! For mains we decided on the scallop risotto (£14.95) and the fillet steak (£19.95) with boulangerie potatoes. The service was prompt and attentive with our starters and mains delivered within ten minutes. When my scallops arrived they smelt wonderful. The scallops were tender, succulent and the creamy pine nut and spinach risotto made the scallops melt in my mouth. The filet steak was accompanied by boulangerie, wilted spinach and balsamic reduction. The fillet cut like butter, mixing well with the creamy potatoes and sharp balsamic sauce.
We felt stuffed after our main courses and decided to enjoy the atmosphere of Nonna’s. The restaurant was extremely busy despite it being a Monday night. The customers appeared to be regulars showing Nonna’s has a good reputation amongst diners in Sheffield. However, I couldn’t resist the temping desert menu and we decided to share the chocolate and vanilla panacotta with pistachio ice cream (£4.95). To finish we had gorgeous Italian cappuccinos and I felt very full! Nonna’s is worth the expense for a really authentic Italian meal and is a great place to visit for a special occasion as it has a friendly atmosphere and is not pretentious. The clientèle were not students but Nonna’s is a perfect place to take your parents and maybe persuade them to pay!
