With a heavy heart I write this review of the new incarnation of one of what was Sale's only two decent restaurants. The site used to house Da Vinci's, a lovely Italian restaurant that was a Sale institution. Many a low key birthdays with my friends was held here, where at the end the lovely wait staff would cover a piece of cake with sweets and strawberry sauce before dimming the lights, playing happy birthday over the speakers & making you feel embarrassed but wonderfully special at the same time. The service was a little hit & miss but the food was great. I miss Da Vinci's.
The refurbishment has turned a quarter of the old restaurant into a bar. They now have a cocktail menu and a nice range of seating at the front of the site. We first went in on valentines day, this seemed to be the initial day they were reopen, and then again last night (28th Feb). Both times the bar was chaos with us waiting a long time for a pint and a glass of fizz. Over 10 minutes between ordering and getting the drinks. It seems the bar simply can't cope with having to make restaurant drinks orders and serve the people at the bar.
We only ate last night, not on valentines. They have cut a lot off the menu and replaced it with, for example, some of those Italian classics - beef burgers. Hmmmm. Should a restaurant climb on the popular bandwagon and start serving trendy things that aren't faithful to its heart and soul? My money's on no, but each to their own.
There now seem to be a plethora of young, keen as mustard wait staff running around with plates of food. I spotted some dishes on slates, I can see what they are trying to do but there was never anything wrong with their old starter plates. Our waitress is possibly studying drama based on her opener when she greeted us - a very loud 'good evening ladies & gentlemen!' to just the two of us..... We ordered a steak, my favourite pasta (thankfully this had survived the menu cull) and, as always, a garlic pizza bread but to come out with our mains.
The bread arrived and we just checked with her that the other food was on its way. She said 'of course' then literally ran to the kitchen. It clearly wasn't. One flimsy excuse later we ate our bread sans mains. The other dishes arrived literally as I bit into my last mouthful of pizza bread. 'Just in time' the waitress announced as she put down our remaining food. Hmmmmm.
I was offered parmesan but only given a tiny amount, similarly stingy with the black pepper. I considered calling her back to ask for more but despite the number of staff it was impossible to get anyone's attention. My pasta was not as good as it used to be, I finished it but didn't enjoy it, possibly a different chef? The Mr said his steak was under seasoned with the dolcelatte sauce unpleasant. The creamed spinach was not good either although the chunky chips were lovely.
Other good point - the lovely young lad who brought over our wine. Overall the loss of a decent, local restaurant and a sad day for Sale town centre. read more