A fire in the restaurant’s hood system caused Mama Ricotta’s to close on Thursday, and the restaurant remained closed Friday. The restaurant was evacuated, and the fire department was on the scene quickly to put out the fire. The restaurant’s reopened today.

“After assessing the conditions with appropriate teams, we have found minor water damage to the pizza bar but thankfully no other issues were discovered and we have been cleared to reopen,” owner Frank Scibelli said in a statement.

Scibelli had this to say on the day of the fire:  “As you might have heard, we evacuated Mama Ricotta’s around noon due to a small fire in our hood system that was quickly contained by the Charlotte Fire Department. We are incredibly grateful for their quick response time and expertise protecting our guests, staff and beloved Mama’s.

We are in the process of assessing the damage with our teams, including general manager Vinnie Delillo who is a captain of the local fire department, but can confirm that the restaurant will not reopen today. The safety of our guests and staff is of the utmost importance so we will cross all t’s before we are confident in re-opening. We appreciate the thoughts and best wishes and look forward to seeing you all hopefully very soon.”

Mama Ricotta’s is Scibelli’s first restaurant. He also owns Yafo Kitchen, Paco’s Tacos & Tequila, and Midwood Smokehouse. Mama’s serves traditional, red-sauce Italian cuisine and is a long-standing family favorite. —Kristen Wile

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