Romeo's
- This article is about the former Southside Italian restaurant. For the Bessemer restaurant, see Romeo's Restaurant (Bessemer). For the sporting goods store, see Romeo's Sporting Goods.
Romeo's, originally Romeo's Grill, was an Italian restaurant operated by the Romeo family from the mid 1920s to the late 1990s. Mitchell Romeo opened the restaurant with his wife, Theresa around 1934 in the building known as Restaurant Row or The Strip at 421 20th Street South. Their son Alfred joined the venture as a partner in the 1940s. Alfred died in 1968 and his widow Evelyn took over with their sons, Herbert and Ernie.
At some point the business relocated to 2110 7th Avenue South where it was later joined by Antwan Garnem's Antoine's Restaurant. Romeo's was known for its snug, warm ambiance with red-painted walls, red-and-white tablecloths, tabletop candles in chianti bottles, and cheery wood booths hand-built by Mitchell Romeo. In 1986 the dining room was used as a filming location for a scene in the feature film Verne Miller.
The block, known as Block 189, was proposed for condemnation on behalf of the University of Alabama Health Services Foundation as part of the proposed site of the Kirklin Clinic. The Foundation ultimately dropped that block from their plans, but in 1988 Brigham-Williams & Associates and Landmark Co. both discussed proposals for large-scale mixed-use developments on the same block.
They were forced to move out of their Southside location in 1992 when the building's owners Terry Henley and Owen Vickers sold the property to the owner of a new Arby's restaurant on the corner for use as a parking lot. Henley and Vickers began tearing up the parking lot used by his tenants before they agreed to leave, blocking access to customers and delivery trucks.
Antoine's relocated to Cahaba Heights. Romeo's closed when its lease ran out December 27 of that year and reopened on April 9, 1993 in the Clairmont Plaza South shopping center on the 3300 block of Clairmont Avenue South in Forest Park. The former restaurant's tables, chairs and booths were moved to the new space.
Romeo's was closed before 1997. It's former space was taken over by Viva! Italian restaurant.
References
- De Seiding, Peter & Mike Harris (April 20, 1979) "Restaurants, like people, have their off days." Birmingham Post-Herald/Kudzu, p. 4
- Rupinsky, Patrick (July 19, 1988) "Southside block once again focus of redevelopment plans." Birmingham Post-Herald, p. 1,3
- Bereckis, Nancy (Septemer 29, 1992) "A 'lot' of problems." Birmingham Post-Herald, p. B1
- Bereckis, Nancy (October 21, 1992) "Antoine's leaving city limit." Birmingham Post-Herald, p. F8
- Yarbrough, Nancy (June 2, 1993) "Despite move, Romeo's can still charm your Juliet." Birmingham Post-Herald, p. C1