Me and my boyfriend were wandering around Nottingham City Centre looking for somewhere to go for a…read moremeal, we wanted to go somewhere we hadn't been to before but where the food was a little different from our usual places. He was drawn in by the massive sign saying "Grills, Pasta, Pizza" and I was a bit hesitant at first but after glancing at the menu we decided to try it. And I can honestly say it was the best decision I've made all year! I was initially put off by the decor but once inside I realised how nice and simplistic it is. Has a very old fashioned railway feel to it however it can be a little misleading, whenever I'd walked past it before I thought it looked like it wasn't finished being decorated and that no one was ever inside. The truth is I think it was the high ceilings that give it this impression.
Anyway, we were served by someone called Nico I think (according to the receipt) and he was lovely, always made sure we were happy with our food and asked if we wanted recommendations, had lots of knowledge about the menu and extremely helpful. The theme of the restaurant is Italian but with a slight twist. We decided to have a starter which is unusual for us but we decided to share it between us so we wouldn't be too full. We had meatballs in tomato sauce with cheese and I have to say, I never knew meatballs could taste so good. I could have easily eaten a whole meal size of just that, the meatballs fell apart in your mouth and the sauce and cheese were both gorgeous. We were actually regretting only ordering one portion! My boyfriend then ordered Cannelloni with meatballs in bechamel sauce with Nico's recommendation and also told us what the ingredients were as we'd never heard of bechamel sauce before. I ordered a pizza that had peri peri chicken, mushrooms and rosemary. I was a little reluctant at first as I'm not really one for herbs but it was very subtle, not at all overwhelming and I was just sad that I couldn't eat more of it! I tried my boyfriend's cannelloni too and it was fantastic, and I'm not really keen on creamy dishes. One thing that I really liked was that even before our meals came, Nico gave us an extra plate as I think he'd gathered that we liked to share our food. We didn't even have to ask for one, it's nice having waiting staff that use their initiative. The only thing that I didn't like was that I didn't have room for dessert as the dessert menu looked fantastic! There was a really good variation, most restaurants have all similar desserts and a small selection but Wildwood had a fair few to choose from, it took us long enough just to choose our mains because everything looked so good.
The atmosphere of the restaurant was fantastic too, everyone seemed really happy with their food and the restaurant itself is quite long so there were room for bigger parties. I think the only slight downside was our table was a little too small, I'd have liked a little more space but it wasn't something that was a major inconvenience. We had a good view into the kitchen too and it looked beautiful and well organised, you could see they had a good rhythm going and no one was getting stressed, all the staff seemed very happy which was nice to see.
Overall we had one starter, 2 meals and one drink each for just over £35 which is an absolute steal considering the quality of the food. I've been recommending the restaurant to everyone I know and me and my boyfriend have said we'll definitely go again and want to make it a regular thing as we were disappointed we were too full to have dessert and we want to try everything on the menu!