Calzone Calzone

A folded pizza filled with cheese, tomato sauce, and a variety of meats or vegetables, baked until golden.

Portobello Garden

Portobello Garden

269B Portobello Road, London, W111LR, W11 1LL, United Kingdom

Cafés • Pasta • Pizza • Italian


"Out and about on a lunchtime constitutional along Portobello Road last week something interesting caught my eye. Set back from the road, hiding behind vintage clothes in the arcade, was an alluringly attractive Italian restaurant. On my own, without reading material and in a hurry to get back to work, I had no intention of sitting down to eat but I was compelled to go in and investigate. I glanced at the menu and clientele, was charmed by the decor of hanging dried meat and flowers, and decided I would return imminently.<br/ <br/ Thankfully an opportunity arose this week. I had taken it upon myself to arrange a lunch for myself and nine colleagues, and presented them with an option of four restaurants (secretly hoping that democracy would work in my favour). At first, take-up was slow as the more adventurous-sounding alternatives were far more popular, but risk aversion gradually set in and the simple Italian became the winner; a culinary hare and tortoise situation, if you will.<br/ <br/ “What if they don’t cater for big groups? What if it’s awful and I’m forever ridiculed for my restaurant choice?” Such questions were running through my mind, distracting me from my morning tasks.<br/ <br/ An amiable Italian gentleman saw the first sub-group and exclaimed “group of ten, this way please!” so we followed orders and went inside to our long table, immediately looking above us at the conservatory style ceiling and feeling as though we had walked into a Tuscan summer.<br/ <br/ Our charismatic waitress brought over an alternative to a complementary bread basket; a plate of amuse-bouche sized pieces of courgette frittata served on a forest of rocket. I was very impressed by this. They have foreseen that I’m going to be ravenous, having not eaten since my 11:00 AM apple; that I may not wish to bloat up on bread; that I enjoy being surprised, which I most certainly was. I had only been there ten short minutes and these people already knew how to please me more than some people who have known me for decades. If that isn’t customer service, I really don’t know what is. <br/ <br/ The menu is slightly unusual in that there isn’t the usual long list of pizzas and pastas to choose from, instead there were a couple of al forno dishes (baked in the oven), several paninis (with pizza bread), and a list of specials, a few of which were mains. I took from this that a decision had been made to offer a limited number of dishes, but to do them well.<br/ <br/ I had top-notch, considerably portioned gnocchi with bolognese sauce for £11.50, served whilst the tomato sauce was still bubbling from the oven, with fresh basil scattered on top.<br/ <br/ To make the experience even more superior, they should consider investing in a second credit card machine to take two payments simultaneously since this was a bit slow.<br/ <br/ I was really fond of this restaurant and highly recommend it. Now I just need to think up another reason to go back next week.."

Vito's Italian

Vito's Italian

284 South Road, Sheffield S6 3TE, United Kingdom

Wine • Pasta • Italian • Vegetarian


"Vito’s Italian had been on my ever-growing list of Restaurants to try for a while, so it was a welcomed nudge when Vito invited me to come and try what he describes as authentic Italian food. Being Italian himself, and heavily involved in all parts of the restaurant, the passion that Vito has for food really comes across in the dishes served here. The restaurant had a warm, open feeling to it and the bar area feels a little rustic. Our waiter was very friendly and tentative which I love about proper Italian restaurants, the staff always want to make you feel welcome as soon as you walk in. The specials board that evening included a lot of seafood so I didn’t choose from it this time but I do love seeing a specials board! The menu itself is vast so it took me a while to choose what I wanted, but it’s great to see that Vito’s offers the pasta dishes as a smaller portion for starters too. For my starter, an unusual choice for me, but I decided to go with Scamozza Al Forno Con Funghi – Oven baked Scamozza cheese with mushrooms, garlic and parsley. A large portion of big, fresh mushrooms lightly cooked and baked in lots of a cheese, far from the soggy, horrible garlic mushrooms you sometimes get on a menu that just leave a sour taste. I don’t often go for mushrooms but I was really pleased with my choice and really enjoyed this starter – so much cheese! Ben went with a starter portion of the Ravioli Aragosta – Lobster filled ravioli cooked with prawns and a touch of cream. Inside the ravioli was real, fresh, big chunks of lobster. The prawns looked big and juicy too and the dish was presented beautifully. I was tempted to be honest, but I stuck to my guns with choosing not to eat seafood (was the most difficult it’s been since I stopped eating it months ago! . However I am told this dish was perfect and delicious. It was a tough decision on which Main dish to go for. Vito recommends the traditional Carbonara. BTW don’t offend him by going to his ITALIAN restaurant and asking for an English or practically made up version of Carbonara in a cream sauce or with chicken in it – that is not a Carbonara and not an authentic Italian dish. I couldn’t believe when he told me that he had previous customers asking for it this was and giving a bad review when he said that he did not serve Carbonara in such a way. However, that night the meal that caught my eye most on the menu was Strascinati Con Salsiccia Lucana (nope I couldn’t pronounce it either – Strascinati (this word comes from the meaning to “pull” as you can see in the shape of the pasta cooked with homemade sausage meat, tomato sauce, basil and chilli. (Typical pasta from Vito’s hometown . Wow – the dish looked amazing, tasted amazing and it was amazing that I actually ate the whole bowl-full, but I did Really good choice and right up my street in terms of taste and ingredients. Ben went for a good old Calzone – Folded pizza filled with ham, mozzarella and tomato, made the traditional Italian way. The dough was perfectly folded and just thick enough that it was lovely and crispy on the outside and still soft on the inside. Fully packed with delicious ingredients, this Calzone did not disappoint, however it just beat him as he was so full. I tried it myself of course and agreed that it was really tasty. As well as the food going down extremely well, I loved the house red wine too – a Primitivo from the Apulia region, a really smooth wine. I am definitely going to get me a bottle of this for the weekend! 2 alcoholic drinks, 2 starters, 2 mains and some olives to start came to just under £60 which we thought was very reasonable and was superb value for money for the quality of food that we received. I think this restaurant would be somewhere great to go for a date or with the family for an occasion."

Frankie Benny's

Frankie Benny's

Worthington Way, M34 3JP, Tameside, United Kingdom

Cafés • Steak • Pasta • Mexican


"Terrible experience, was seated and we ordered 2 pints budwieser only to be told there 's no draught beer only bottles £5.10 a bottle £10.20 a pint basically) so we had 1 bottle each after waiting 15 minutes to get said bottle. Lady and child next table was shouting to waiter When will our food be coming please ? I went on the £12.90 2 courses menu) I ordered garlic pizza bread and pepperoni pizza but was charged £3.00 and £12.40 respectively...mmmmhh supposed to be £12.90 !!! All in Garlic bread was solid and tasteless, never seen garlic at all. Pizza ...probably the worst I 've ever had and I 've buried a few in my time, no cheese , no moisture, no taste, I had to ask for parmesan to put a glimmer of cheese on it . Total rip off ! I actually left with a horrible taste in my mouth. Wife ordered lasagne was OK but had carrots in it ???? She was a head chef for one of Holts brewery mainstream pubs for 10 years...never seen carrots in lasagne? Overall it was a bad experience, wish I 'd never gone in and left feeling ripped off despite the bill being reasonable Someone needs to tell the 2nd chef to put their phone down too , people waiting for food !!! Never got asked if our meal was OK ? Never got asked if we wanted another drink even though I 'd drank my little bottle before the starter arrived. Bad experience all round , won 't be going again in a hurry Happy New year"