Carluccios

[iainpb]

Antonio Carluccio is opening a new eatery in my city, has anyone visited of his other places in the UK? This is opening along with a branch of Brasserie Blanc so is really adding culinary hotspots to the city. Generally reviews seem positive for Carluccios, has anyone tried the food there?

[PoppySeedBagel]

It's OK but only Ok - it's a chain, and therefore predictable

[Gary Marshall]

is the dining scene in bristol that bad that a brasserie blanc and a carluccios really improves things or am i missing the sarcasm?

surely there's some decent independents?

[iainpb]

No sarcasm intended - Don't get me wrong there are some fantastic restaurants in the city but not many and certainly not enough. Not a michelin restaurant in sight, we have 2 or 3 that are regarded by Hardens - any new semi-respectable restaurant that arrives can't be bad. We also have a Harvery Nicholls restaurant opening, though an elite department store I'm not sure what they can offer the restauarant scene.

[Harters]

You'll find it a reasonably worthwhile addition, bearing in mind that it is a chain. I'd eaten at a couple of branches "down south" and was quite pleased to see one open in the Manchester area. It's at our local shopping mall so there is now somewhere there that's decent for lunch - or a pre-cinema dinner "on the plot".

[Timothy Burke]

No sarcasm intended - Don't get me wrong there are some fantastic restaurants in the city but not many and certainly not enough. Not a michelin restaurant in sight, we have 2 or 3 that are regarded by Hardens - any new semi-respectable restaurant that arrives can't be bad.

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Something similar applies to Leicester - and we also have a Carluccio's opening this week.

[chefmatt]

i think carluccios is fine, just a bit hit and miss service wise as they generally employ local lads and lasses. don't order anything they can cock up, basic antipasti and bread has been a winner for me and i like their lemonade

[Roger le goéland]

Went there multiple times in Cambridge, due to the lack of many other decent venues to have a coffee, breakfast or dinner right in the centre.

Boring, boring food. But at least it's not reheated from frozen, and yes whilst the cooking is not great (e.g. carbonised parma ham with dry eggs, or massively underseasoned sea bass) the ingredients taste like they were fresh not too long ago. The vin santo was not good at all, and the pastries ok. I love the bicerin, although like everywhere else the coffee tastes stale and overroasted on its own. Unlike other southern EU places though, they cannot produce a decent espresso out of it.

The ice-cream is fun.

I'd say they are to Strada etc. what old Starbucks is to new Starbucks.

[PoppySeedBagel]

Strada is hit & miss too - I like the one in Market Place W1 - next door to Carluccios, and so much more fun, with far better food - and real Italian staff. However we now have a Strada in Reigate, and it's almost like Carluccios - no Italian staff, and it shows - dull, and chainy (ie the same menu everywhere)

[confiseur]

Strada is hit & miss too - I like the one in Market Place W1 - next door to Carluccios, and so much more fun, with far better food - and real Italian staff.  However we now have a Strada in Reigate, and it's almost like Carluccios - no Italian staff, and it shows - dull, and chainy (ie the same menu everywhere)

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...quite like the one in Kingston, not bad at all for what it is..they even have a couple of Italian waiters..

[Roger le goéland]

Strada is hit & miss too - I like the one in Market Place W1 - next door to Carluccios, and so much more fun, with far better food - and real Italian staff.  However we now have a Strada in Reigate, and it's almost like Carluccios - no Italian staff, and it shows - dull, and chainy (ie the same menu everywhere)

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Well, I had a lobster risotto at Strada Cambridge, and it showed that the staff never tasted lobster, nor had they ever seen a risotto. Rice undercooked, gluey, and the lobster was like chewing gum. The other dishes were so badly executed too... I mean, they charge an absolute fortune, surely "Italian" food is quite easy to cook!

I don't think the origin of the cooks should matter in a chain. McDonalds ( ) was successful precisely because they devised a system allowing them to serve the same quality of food anywhere. Strada should train its staff to cook lobster at least to edible levels.

Then again, in Cambridge it is sufficient to have a microwave, a freezer and a door near the centre with "restaurant" above it to charge £30 a head and be full most nights.

[RedRum]

Carlucios it ok... just ok... foot is pretty greasy, and anything too complicated is a disaster. Even for Cambridge it is pretty average... I hear that Jamie's chain will open here is Cam, I have heard good things about it.

Cambridge food scene is pretty bad, apart from a couple decent curries, and of course Alimentum and Midsummer house and Loch Fyne (sometimes...), everything else is pretty average. I hear good things about Restaurant 22 but not yet tried it, and I was pleasantly surprised with Graffity at Hotel Felix.