I visited recently with a friend looking for a quick bite to eat near Cardiff Central railway station, as we were both arriving and leaving by train. It's in the same block as John Lewis and opposite the Marriott Hotel. The décor is done pretty well: one side has a wall of glass (as do all the premises here) but they've softened it with their shop, selling pasta, meringues etc at the entrance area, which is all prettily done in pastels. Inside, the main restaurant is spacious, with high ceilings, and the overall minimalist effect is softened with wood. So far so good. We both had mushroom bruschetta to start, followed by Penne Gardiniera and Spaghetti Carbonara, and we went for soft drinks as it was a bit early in the evening to be drinking (I'm getting to that sort of age). The bruschetta was fine - toasted bread, with a mixture of sautéed mushrooms, spinach, garlic, and quite a lot of chilli. This was quite tasty, and not too heavy, but some might find it a bit spicy. I've had their Penne Giardiniera in other branches before, which has finely sliced courgettes, chilli flakes, garlic, cheese and fried spinach balls. The latter taste quite salty, but remind me of my Mum's stuffing balls (which is why I'm fond of it). They'd overcooked the courgettes a bit, but the taste was nice. My friend's Carbonara was less successful. This version lacks the creamy sauce one normally associates with carbonara, and is made simply with eggs, Grana Padano cheese, guanciale (pork cheek lardons), and seasoned with black pepper. Arguably, this makes it more authentic, which would be fine, except the guanciale were cooked to a dark brown colour and were so hard, my friend struggled to eat them. He also found it rather tasteless - hence losing a star. Service was fine - efficient rather than friendly - and the bill came to £43 including a tip. I don't think I'd rush back on that experience, as there are other places in the area to try next time. read more

As someone who has been a massive fan of Carluccio's, I was horrified to discover yesterday that Carluccio's had already been open for three weeks without my knowledge (I'm meant to be the Cardiff insider after all)! The Cardiff Carluccio's is located by the new library on the Hayes, and together with its neighbours Gourmet Burger kitchen and Wagamama, turns a once downtrodden area of Cardiff into a buzzing metropolitan spot. The moment I entered Carluccios I was greeted by a friendly Italian waitress who was more than happy to answer my many questions about the restaurant, and seemed as excited as me that Cardiff finally has a Carluccio's. For those unfamiliar with this Café, Carluccio's specialies in good Italian food such as pasta, Panini's, salads, and seafood at not too high a price. The atmosphere is relaxed but still retains a touch of class, and I was pleased to see that the Cardiff branch already appears to be quite popular. I had Pasta Con Funghi, and was surprised to find it to be even more delicious than when I last ate it at their South Kensington café (Cardiff obviously has a very good chef). The cafe isn't particularly large, but neither is it too small, and there are tables outside which I imagine will become increasingly popular as summer approaches. If you unfortunately don't have time to sit and eat, there is a takeaway option for Panini's, cakes, coffee and croissants (these in particular are very yummy). What's more there is a small shop, where you can purchase cookbooks, oils, Italian biscuits, and the most incredible pasta (I usually mass buy it when in London, so this is very handy for me). In addition to this you can also buy fresh cheeses, oils, fish, breads and many other deli items (does this place get better?). read more

Carluccio's - Italian Near Me - Cardiff, CRF

Wow, this is a great place. The design of it is just lovely inside and with all the sunny weather of late we could sit outside and enjoy all the bussle of Mill Lane while enjoying a great meal. I can't say the food was as good as it is over in Jamie's Italian but it works out a little bit cheaper. The service is very attentive and you are made to feel very welcome. I also think this would be a really good place to bring the kids as it seems pretty geared up to having them there, just like all restaurants in Italy are. If you fancy something different they also make up picnics for you, and well the deli was what first attracted me to the place. The cakes are bellissimo! read more

Carluccio's - Italian Near Me - Cardiff, CRF

Never heard of the place, but went there for my 40th birthday yesterday. Inside, you could feel the buzz. The place was lovely. A very modern feel to the place, light, airy, and spacious . I was with my brother and two friends. I ordered the starter of chicken pate, and breaded chicken, my brother the special, a chicken risotto, my friend the seafood pasta, and my other friend some ravioli. I'll give then 10/10 for service, as our starters turned up in a flash. This is where things started going downhill. The bread was slightly stale, and there really wasn't much bread in the breadbin starter. I have an issue with restaurants and stingy bread. I have a massive issue with restaurants and stingy stale bread. My chicken pate starter was very very tasty, and full of flavour, but I only had about 4 tiny pieces of bread with it, which I quickly devoured. My brother called the waitress over for some more breadsticks to finish of the pate, and she came back with a plate with....two breadsticks. I snapped them in half, and we shared between the four of us, the rest of the pate. hmm. After our starters, the mains turned up very quickly. I can't knock the waitress. She was perfect ( apart from being stingy with the breadsticks). Attentive, chatty, and really seemed, like the rest of the staff, to be enjoying their jobs. Always good for the total ambiance of the place. The main meals arrived, and my chicken was great. A big piece of chicken breast breaded on a small plate of salad. It was moist inside, seasoned well, but damnit ! I wanted to stick it between some bread ! but no, that was it. No sides. No chips, no bread, nothing. My brother's risotto arrived, and I thought he was going to do a Ramsey. It was undercooked, under seasoned, looked like porridge, and was bland tasting. 'I've had better', he said miserably. My friend's seafood pasta was very tasty ( I tried some), as was my other friends Ravioli, but the portions, yet again were 'meagre', as my ravioli chomping friend said. The presentation of both the ravioli, and the seafood pasta left a lot to be desired. The ravioli arrived in a bowl with no presentation. No garnish, no tomato, nothing. Just clumps of ravioli on a plate. It took 3 of us about 3-4 minutes to demolish everything on out plates. Our other friend took longer as he's a super slow eater. My ravioli friend ordered ice cream. Two minuscule scoops in a tiny bowl. Very nice, he said. I estimated you could probably make about 40 scoops worth from a single Ben and Jerry's carton. So there we have it. My memories will be of stale bread. No bread. Sharing of the 2 breadsticks. ravioli on a plate, and ice cream portions that wouldn't satisfy a super model. That and the great company I was with. It was my 40th, and I did enjoy it. I suppose by eating so little, I was able to have a few more drinks later ! When I think of Italian food, I think of lots of it. I think of the scenes in Goodfellas, and Casino, where the love, and the joy of Italian food is there for all to see. I think of the big fat guy who owns this place, laughing and joking and telling everyone to eat more ! More ! More ! There was something very clinical about this whole operation. It FELT like a chain. If anything, it felt like an upmarket Mcdonalds. There didn't seem to be any love for the food. Straight across the road, is Jamie's Italian place. My advice. Avoid this place, and go across the road to Jamie's. I've been there, and there is love, more food for your money, and lots and lots of unstale bread. Bill came to £90 for 4 people. read more

I've been to Carluccios a couple of time's before and after a long day at work, I wanted some good pasta and I knew Carluccios could deliver this over, say, Jamie's Italian where I've had some mediocre wine and GF pasta that wasn't cooked well. My seafood GF pasta was lovely - the waitress had mentioned a potential 20 minute wait as it was GF and cooked fresh but this wasn't an issue. I ordered a glass of red wine - again, decent and reasonably priced. So far so good but I made the mistake of ordering dessert and this is where Carluccios goes down in my estimations. The menu showed lots of gluten free options and this is rare on a dessert menu so this is why I ordered, rather than leave after my pasta. Not good. Within about 30 seconds of ordering, my chocolate fondant arrived, clearly microwaved and not a chocolate fondant, but just a rather lousy GF chocolate sponge with ice cream. Fine if I had this as a supermarket option at home, but not paying about £5 in a restaurant which prides itself on it's food. Service was friendly and attentive so no issues there but only 3*'s due to the lousy, nuked GF pud. Carluccios - could do better.... read more

Had a perfectly good lunch here, with friendly and efficient service (they seem used to it being packed to the rafters). It's in a great location for shoppers and reasonably priced. They seem genuinely keen to offer real Italian cuisine - it shows and pays off. We had foccacia and olives (which, admittedly, the waitress forgot to bring), a couple of glasses of wine, spaghetti with pesto and spaghetti with clams - although there was a really generous portion of clams, the dish could have done with a bit more flavour. Good, proper coffee to finish - bill came to £33. read more

Might have caught the chefs on a bad day here, but I really wasn't impressed by what they had to offer. A nice enough looking place, but then no different from every other generic Italian chain, the one thing I did like about this place was the small shop at the front where you can buy reasonably priced wines, meats and other foodstuffs. I'm sure I will go back if only for that. The service was good, and I have no complaints there, but the food was distinctly average. For starter, I ordered the bruschetta which, albeit fresh tasting, didn't have much going on. It was good, but no better than what you expect to get in a restaurant these days. For mains, I went for the ravioli. I am a fan of all things that involve spinach and ricotta cheese so I was looking forward to this. My advice would be don't bother - there wasn't a great deal of flavour and the amount of salt in the dish's butter/sauce was staggering. As much as I wished it was a good dish, it really was disappointing. On the upshot, we had a bottle of red which was staggeringly nice so that does earn some points back. read more

Has a actual gluten free menu with a lot more choice than you usually get in Cardiff.

Not worth the price... I had the lobster spaghetti for 15 pounds and had one piece of tiny claw n the rest was tiny little crayfishes. Very bland n watery. It's what I get for going to a chain... read more

This is a really lovely restaurant with great staff and a generally upcalss air to it all.

A decent, simple Italian food menu, reasonably priced. Service can be a little bit patchy at busy times and the atmosphere can sometimes feel a bit 'hollow' and cold, but as long as you avoid the busiest periods you'll get a decent meal here, which hopefully will make you feel slightly better about not having bothered to queue for Jamie's restaurant over the road. read more

Had a very enjoyable lunch here on a Sunday. We sat outside in the sun. Service was not very fast but we were in no hurry, it was a lovely day and it was nice to chat with each other read more

I had a really enjoyable work night out here. 3 courses from the fixed price menu with large glass of wine and a coffee was £18! It was really tasty good quality food too. The restaurant has a nice ambience - the service was not fast but it was nice not to be rushed. read more

Me and the hubbie went for a meal last night at Carluccio's, and were very much looking forward to it. I had the Penne Alla Luganica, i.e. penne pasta with spicy italian sausage, which sounded lush. The dish turned out to be a fairly meagre portion of luke warm pasta, with an even smaller amount of meat and tomato sauce. I expected pieces of sausage, as the description suggested, but instead the meat was finely minced, (like a bolognese) and was not remotely spicy. I commented to the waiter that this is not what i expected from the dish, and he explained that the meat was ground into the sauce. My husband had the Ossobuco Alla Milanese (Veal with tomato sauce served with saffron rice). He said the meal was nice, but again, nothing special and definitely not worth the £14. At the end of the meal when the waiter asked how our meal was, i said well actually, it was just ok, average really. At this point instead of the waiter apologising and/or actually asking what was wrong with the meal, he instead asked if we wanted to see the dessert menu!!! Had waited a fairly long time to eat here, so was very disappointed, and will not be going back. With a name like Carluccio's, i expected more. read more

There's no doubt that Carluccio's is a colourful and stylish addition to the Cardiff skyline, the restaurant decor and layout works very well but personally I would avoid the outside area with buses whizzing past and the noise of adjacent local bars especially on Friday / Saturday nights. Given the small size of the dining area I would say the 'shop' should be reduced in size allowing more space for diners, also the coffee bar is not well explained ( take away? ) and easily missed. The entrance through the shop, especially in the evenings is also off putting. I've had lunch and dinner there now on separate occasions and have to say both times found the food offering rather lacking in imagination, it's such a pity when you feel the food on your plate is not much more than a ready meal from M&S! With local competition like Wagamama and Zero Degrees ( surprisingly excellent Pizza and beers ) Carluccio's really need to concentrate on the things Italians are famous for, the food on your plate! It doesn't take much to add something to a dish that makes it memorable, all I remember from last night is the excellent company and conversation ( very Italian ) so far I would say Carluccio's are a long way from what is expected of modern Italian cuisine. read more

Myself & The hubby ate here yesterday lunch time . We didn't book and had to wait about 10 mins for a table which was no problem. We took a meal off the specials board which was the lamb chops with fried peppers. The meal it self I enjoyed but, we were not asked how we wanted the lamb cooked my husbands was raw in the middle:( For the price I thought it would have come with a side dish of maybe some saute potatoes!! We were asked if we wanted some black pepper (there is none on the tables) The waitress put a minimal amount on and walked away!! Our waiter was lovely and the service we received off him was excellent. Would we eat there again NO far better out there where they actually leave the condiments on the tables and ask how you want your meat cooked. read more

Pleasant enough surroundings and charming staff but the menu is limited and the food rather bland and uninspiring. I had heard good reports but with so many good Italian restaurants around I won't be returning. read more

Good price for their fixed price menu. Nice food, not amazing but a good post work venue. Recommend.

Have to say this was my first time of visiting a Carluccio's Restaurant and it won't be the last. The experience was superb, from the moment we walked in the staff were extremely professional, the food was delicious, full of flavour and well presented. I'm definitely a fan!!! read more