Roma Italian Bistro & Pizzeria is moving soon about three blocks west on Fifth Avenue South rebranding as Ottimo on 5th Cucina & Bar.
When Thai Sushi by KJ closed this summer at 409 Fifth Ave. S., the owners of Roma restaurant recognized an opportunity to expand their hospitality business. The new location has more seating and a larger bar and kitchen than Roma’s space at 655 Fifth Ave. S.
“I can expand the menu with different varieties of pasta, more steaks, filet mignon, a couple more seafood dishes,” said Edmon Metaj, who co-owns the local restaurant with his wife, Ledia. “More important, the bar will be a full bar with handcrafted cocktails.”
That’s important for Metaj because he will be behind the bar most of the time. He has been a head bartender or bartender at many area upscale restaurants and resorts for more than 20 years. He and his wife also are both active residential real estate professionals at Coldwell Banker Realty.
Because the Metajs feel that the Roma brand they inherited is mostly known as a pizzeria, they are changing the restaurant’s name when it relocates. “It’s more than a pizzeria. It’s an Italian restaurant. It has other dishes,” Ledia Metaj said.
Roma, open 11 a.m. to 11 p.m. daily, has a menu of Italian-based cuisine with appetizers, salads, pizza, pasta and risotto, as well as seafood, chicken and veal dishes.
“It’s a regular restaurant. Pizza is just one item like anything else,” Edmond Metaj said.
The Collier County couple is working on licensing and permitting the new restaurant now with the goal to open this year. “We’re hoping by December,” Ledia Metaj said.
Roma will close when Ottimo opens so that the owners and staff can focus 100% on the new restaurant, she said. The couple will start fresh with Ottimo.
“The name of Ottimo in Italian is perfection, excellent,” Edmond Metaj said.
The planned relocation will actually be the second big move for the restaurant, which started 15 years ago as Ron’s Italian Pizzeria & Cafe at 690 Fifth Ave. Burhan “Ron” Ruli initially launched Ron’s across the street in August 2009. Ruli had to move the restaurant in 2011 when hotelier Phil McCabe razed its one-story building to replace it with the three-story Club Level Suites expansion of Inn on Fifth across the street. That’s when Ruli renamed the restaurant Roma.
The Metajs bought the business from Ruli four years ago. “We took over in 2020 and changed it,” Ledia Metaj said.
When they move this year, they will have the same landlords. M Development leases out both buildings, which it purchased a year ago with other downtown properties from Hoffmann Commercial Real Estate.
Naples-based David Corban is the architect for Ottimo and also was the architect for that space’s original restaurant, Thai Udon Cafe, which launched in 2016 when a former bank office was transformed into a restaurant. Thai Udon eventually changed hands and became Thai Sushi by KJ, which permanently closed its downtown Naples location in June.
During its regular meeting on Oct. 16, Naples City Council unanimously approved Ottimo’s petition for outdoor dining on private property. The new restaurant will have 34 seats and nine tables on its streetside covered patio.
The restaurant’s exterior plans still must be approved by the Naples Design Review Board, senior city planner Nathan Jones said.
