Mi Piace restaurant to open in former Norwich Road Bathstore

Mi Piace has revamped all of the rooms in the former Bathstore shop in Norwich Road.

Inside the restaurant on Norwich Road (Image: Jude Holden)

One of the chefs, Anton Peci, said the team are “extremely excited” about their new plans, which have been two years in the works.

He said: “Ipswich needs a nice Italian restaurant and that is what they are going to have.

"We have a high-quality chef in the kitchen, a proper Italian menu – pizza, pasta, steak, fish, deserts and everything will be fresh.

“The customers will see the fresh food being prepared in the kitchen from where they sit.

The food will be prepared in view of the customers (Image: Jude Holden)

"We have a coffee shop upstairs and there is a shisha bar outside where people can relax. There is parking behind too.

The coffee area in Mi Piace (Image: Jude Holden)

“We also have some of the finest Italian wines, we have cocktails and soft drinks, everything.”

He added: “We spent a lot of money on this place, and it is going to be hard but I am sure we are going to succeed and become the number one restaurants in Ipswich.”

The restaurant recently submitted a retrospective planning application for a retractable pergola awning for the shisha area so on sunnier days customers will be able to sit in the open-air.

The business has also applied to Ipswich Borough Council for a premise license. 

The shisha area at the restaurant (Image: Jude Holden)

The store, which was previously a bath and shower shop called Bathstore, has been empty since closing at the end of November 2021.

Customers can sit in the open air on sunny days (Image: Jude Holden)

Its closure was previously announced in 2019, after the national retailer went into administration, but the Ipswich store was then acquired by Homebase along with more than 40 other Bathstore branches.

However, the national chain later decided to close the shop.

A bar in the restaurant (Image: Jude Holden)