Popular Otto's Moroccan Restaurant to transform into new business on Sheffield's Sharrow Vale Road

Otto’s Moroccan Restaurant on Sharrow Vale Road recently changed hands, now the new owners are planning to significantly refurbish it and rebrand into a modern eastern Mediterranean restaurant called Dodona.

As part of the process, Sheffield Council is reviewing changes to the premises licence.

The new owners asked permission for various changes including longer opening hours.

But the health protection service and environmental service objected, raising concerns about noise nuisance and saying the plans were “inadequate”.

It will now go to a meeting of the council’s licensing sub-committee on Tuesday, September 6 for a decision on whether the plans can go ahead as proposed.

Otto’s goodbye

Theresa and Otto, the owners of Otto’s Moroccan Restaurant, released a statement on their website saying their last day was Friday, April 29.

They said: “The time was right. We can’t retire but we can change direction.

“We have lots of good reasons to do it now including family reasons.

“The name will change but this corner of Sharrow Vale will get a new lease of life. Perhaps we all will.

“We are now unemployed for the first time in 35 years. No plans yet just some time to recover from the last 14 years of running our business and living and breathing Otto’s Restaurant.

“We want to say a massive thank you to so many people who have helped us over all these years as customers, as staff, as suppliers, as neighbours (including our fantastic landlords John and Anthony) and as friends. You have been amazing and we will miss you but we aren’t going far and I’m sure Otto will be popping up again in a restaurant near here very soon. He won’t be able to stay away.

“We will be looking for somewhere smaller than Otto’s. It is pretty huge.

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“The website and email will stay live and we will respond to messages when we can. Any news about our next venture will be posted here.

“Looking forward to the next chapter and hope to see you all soon.”