Italian Pizza Italian Pizza
Cafe Citta

Cafe Citta

4 Church Street, Cardiff I-CF10 1BG, United Kingdom

Cafés • Pizza • Italian • European


"cafe citta is a tiny little restaurant that is worn away and is very inconspicuous. if they have not made extensive food research, they might miss it at the end because it looks impressing from the outside. I recommend to them however to go an effort because if they are looking for authentic Italian food in cardiff, cafe citta should definitely do on their list! atmosphere: it is a very small restaurant with barely walking. the tables are small and crampy, so when they come with more than 3 people, I recommend to them a booking well in advance. but despite being small, the decoration is really charming. it felt more like going into someone's living room than a real restaurant! there were flowers each table with beautiful wooden tables, whose table legs were decorated in very ornate style, and cool paintings on the wall as well! customer service: excellent, could not be better. not only the personal friendly, but they were also very attentive and made sure that our table was well clarified without having to say anything at all! Food: that was excellent. as an appetizer we had the caprese, which was fresh buffalo mozzarella with a beautiful sauce and fresh tomato. the mozzarella was fantastic and really very fresh. we also ordered the polenta al ragu and the bolognese soße, which accompanied the polnta was fantastic! for a pornstar, I ordered the pollo alla romana, which was a whole chicken breast with sage, parma ham, and a side of kartoffel and salat boiled. we also had a garlic pizza to share. they gave us chili oil and parmesan on the side for extra spices. everything was great! I am usually not too excited to order chicken breast in a restaurant, but it was extremely juicy I didn't know that chicken breast could be so tender! there were great aromas everywhere. the only negatiw is that I recommend to give them the garlic pizza. it was quite bland and needed half a quantity of chili oil and parmesan to save it. overall I recommend cafe citta. next time, I would try one of her pasta dishes, how my partner swept over his tagliatelle carbonara!"

Rumour

Rumour

Totnes, 30 High St, TQ9 5RY, United Kingdom

Pizza • Steak • European • Restaurants


"The positive is that the food is good. But the negative is the service time and the attitude of the staff. We were seated and had our order taken after 20 minutes. A little slow but it was a busy Saturday evening so understandable. Starters came promptly and were eaten. We then got ignored by every passing member of staff for at least 50 minutes. Quite the skill! Once there was a break in our conversation and I realised how long it had been, I stood up to intercept a waitress and asked “are our mains on the way, please?” Our ticket was checked by her at the kitchen hatch and we were told “yes”. At this point our starter plates were cleared after they had sat on the table for at least 35 minutes. Our mains then took another 25 minutes to get to us, so I suspect that being told they were on their way was a lie. To be clear: we were given our mains 1hr 20 mins after placing our order. I complained to a waitress who sent over a manager. The manager asked if we’d had starters (yes, we had) and said that it was our fault our main was so late as we’d had a first course. How insulting!!! Blaming the customer for their bad service. Disgusting. When I said it was still far too long to wait between courses she then changed tack and said the kitchen was “really really busy” well, they weren’t busy cooking our food now were they?! And despite the place being full when we arrived, by this point of the night over half the tables were empty. There were 3 tickets on the pass along with ours and tables were 2 4 people (no large groups) so I feel that was also another lie to get out of it. What a shocking way to treat customers! My advice to you is: if you want your food served in a timely manner, either take the advice of the manager and don’t order a starter, or, be sure to communicate with waitstaff once your first course is finished and ask for your main to be cooked and served promptly. (Note: food also sat under the heat lamps for long lengths of time as staff stood socialising with one another behind the bar rather than serve customers) I hope this advice is of use as I would have appreciated it ahead of my visit! Good luck. [Reading other reviews, ours is not the only experience of slow service and seeing staff chat to one another rather than deal with the customers paying their wages. Would be interested to receive a reply to this review]"

Nuova Italia

Nuova Italia

18 Church Street, South Somerset, United Kingdom, BA22 8LJ

Pizza • Pasta • Steak • Italian


"The short-spell of warmer and sunnier weather continued; so we decided to take a potential 90 minute drive-out to visit the Somerset Levels. Our main destination was a National Trust property near Ilminster. It was however 11:30 when we got-underway, so we decided to have lunch first; before it became too late. As a result we rerouted to the town of Ilchester, to visit this highly recommended Italian ristorante. Ilchester itself is small and quiet, with a pocket-sized centre featuring three pubs; one is also a hotel, and there is a further hotel across the bridge over the River Yeo. Shops seem very scarce, but there is a convenience store near to the filling-station, otherwise it’s a shopping-trip to nearby Yeovil. The town is known for it’s classic cheese bearing the town’s name. Ilchester Cheese is a type of Cheddar (the town of Ilchester is, like the town of Cheddar, in Somerset). We called-ahead to ensure we had a table reservation, but that turned out to be unnecessary; because the restaurant was very quiet. During our visit, there was only one other couple dining. When we arrived we parked in a nearby (free) public carpark, not realising that the restaurant had it’s own carpark. The restaurant is moderately large inside with about 25-30 tables in a long, slender, but rather dark, dining area (maybe the lights were switched-off). As it was sunny we decided we would sit outside in the covered terrasse area, located at the side of the restaurant. Being well-sheltered here, we were quite warm from the sun shining through the clear corrugated roofing. The wooden side-walls facing the adjacent private carpark, and also the main through-road (the B3151), were unglazed. There was a tolerable degree of traffic noise. There were a lot of plants in the terrasse, including some climbing plants; once in full leaf and bloom, they will likely to become very attractive. Some of the plants however were a bit untidy, needing some deadwooding. We studied the menu and then the senior waitress told us about the specials; which totally changed our dining plans; there were Scallops available! For both of us the opportunity to eat King Scallops is a no-brainer. I also chose my main from the specials; being the ‘Filet Steak’, with the extra option of a mushroom and cream sauce. My Partner chose the ‘Penne Pollo’ main (chicken and pasta). We took drinks: my Partner choosing a white coffee, whereas I ordered an Elderflower Cordial. The coffee was good, and the cordial (my favoured ‘Bottle Green’ brand) was very refreshing served on crushed ice. The King Scallops (Capesante): were served with sea salt (or maybe rock salt) and freshly ground black pepper, and panfried in butter. The generous portion of six scallops each were browned and absolutely perfectly cooked. They were the very epitome of why we love eating these delicate molluscs. The beards (the roe) were on; they are part of the plate and can be eaten once cooked; having a slightly firmer texture than the scallop muscle. Beards are full of nutrients and minerals, and have a slightly richer flavour than the scallop muscle. Our scallops today did have a slightly gritty texture, but this was not due to insufficient cleaning; it was just the salt (however it initially felt wrong). The Filet Steak with Mushroom and Cream Sauce, and fries: I ordered the steak medium rare and when it arrived it was most certainly perfectly cooked. The good-sized thick fillet was pink and juicy; having a superb flavour and a firm texture. The perfect creamy mushroom sauce was so obviously homemade and delicious. The generous serving of fries were not overcooked and were unsalted. This suits me, as I believe salting can kill flavours rather than enhancing them. The fries were perfect and there were plenty in the serving. Penne Pollo: Seasoned chicken breast, mushroom and fresh penne in a creamy mushroom and white wine sauce: the plate looked good and the generous serving of pasta was perfectly cooked, with just sufficient sauce to coat the pasta. Sadly the chicken was not very good, it had a slightly rubbery texture and reminded my Partner of cheap processed chicken. I had tried a piece of the chicken from my Partner’s plate and I agreed that it was not good; it was bland and definitely had an odd texture. I do regret having to mention this, but in my (circa 900) reviews here on TA I always “tell it the way it was”. My Partner queried the source of the chicken. I think our (senior) waitress was a little upset, denying that the chicken was anything other than fresh. Indeed the waitress returned a minute or so later with a prepared raw chicken breast to prove that the chicken used was anything other than a fresh ingredient. We accepted this. Later, following some research, I now wonder if the chicken was affected by “woody breast”. There is a lot of information on the web about this problem. It could be that the restaurant’s supplier is providing intensively-farmed chicken (such farming methods are a common cause of woody breast). We were driving, so a glass of wine with the meal was inappropriate. We were also quite full from our generous meals, so desserts were not required. We were pleased with the service and the ambience here, and we hope to visit again."