RESTAURANTS + BARS

Replacing Roma Cafe, Amore da Roma opens Saturday

Melody Baetens
The Detroit News

After closing this summer, longstanding Italian restaurant Roma Cafe will be reborn this week as Amore da Roma.

The new chapter of Roma’s story starts Saturday with the public opening of Amore da Roma. Roma Cafe originally opened in 1890 and was considered to be one of Detroit’s oldest restaurants.

Janet Sossi Belcoure and her family owned Roma for decades, but upon deciding to retire, she sold it to the restaurant’s chef of three years Guy Pelino. He came to Roma in 2014 from Mario’s in Detroit, replacing longtime chef Mike Saeed who worked in the kitchen there for 40 years.

Pelino says the restaurant has undergone visual improvements since closing in July, but the menu is “basically the same.”

“It got a lot of touch ups that an old building needed,” he said. “Updated the wine list quite a bit.”

Of the staff, Pelino said there are some new faces but a lot of the longtime favorite staff members will return.

“We’re keeping the same ambiance as the old restaurant and would love for many of the loyal customers who came here for years to come back and be very happy,” said Pelino. “We’re keeping a lot of the food the same, the meat sauce, the salads that they loved, all that’s going to be the same and we’ll offer a few new choices.”

Amore da Roma is at 3401 Riopelle in Detroit. Call (313) 831-5940. Reservations accepted.

mbaetens@detroitnews.com

Twitter: @melodybaetens