THERE is no shortage of good Italian restaurants in Chester, so competition is fierce.
From independent, homely establishments like Donato & Sandro to hidden treasures like Bollicini and major chains such as Bella Italia, there’s something to suit every taste and budget.
On this occasion, my girlfriend and I decided to venture into new territory.
Piccolino is a chain with 22 outlets around the country, in places including London, Leeds, York, Manchester and Liverpool.
According to the company’s official website, the Chester branch is located ‘in the heart of Chester, next to the Governor Shopping Centre’. I’m pretty sure they mean the Grosvenor Shopping Centre, it’s an unfortunate mistake.
We’d heard it could get extremely busy, so we booked in advance. A wise move given that it was a Friday night on a races weekend.
The building, on Pepper Street, looks impressive from the outside and our first impressions were good.
Once inside, this continued. We arrived about 15 minutes early so had a drink in the sleek and modern bar.
While supping the first of several Peronis a waitress brought over some complementary olives, bread and balsamic vinegar to get our appetites going. So far, so good.
I went for the seafood risotto with king prawns, squid, mussels and saffron, while my better half opted for the beef meatballs with tomato sauce. Both came in at the right side of £10. We also decided to share some garlic bread.
It was quite a while before our waiter came over. In fairness to the service staff, it was extremely busy so we gave them the benefit of the doubt, and a busy restaurant is generally a sign of a good restaurant.
When it arrived, my risotto was enjoyable. My girlfriend’s dish came with only four meatballs, which was slightly disappointing.
We had a chocolate dessert each, which was fantastic and went a long way to making amends.
A price tag of more than £50 for two people is slightly more than we would normally spend, but we all have to treat ourselves once in a while, despite the current financial climate.
The Bill:
Large Rigatoni Polpette £9.25
Large Risotto Fruit di Mare £9.75
Garlic bread with cheese £4.10
Budino al Cioccolato x2 £10.50
Peroni Nastro x6 £21.00
TOTAL £54.60