Carluccio's - Leeds

Well, theres alot to be said about my first visit to Carluccio's. I popped in for a bicerin, the first place ive managed to find it up North so i was

If you're looking for something simple yet unique carluccios Is a must, we walked in and got a table straight away on a Friday evening, service was

I have previously visited Carluccio's in London, and was thrilled with it thenThe deep fried spinach balls in particular were awesome.

Nope. I 'm sorry, but nope. Look, before you judge me, my Mum was desperate to try here. I think the Italian wait service, al fresco dining (bleurgh we 're in a shopping mall , and pasta romanced her in. I 'm not saying I 'm above all that, I just knew it to be fluff and nonsense before we even sat down. I am also being grumpy about it, and I was grumpy whilst we were there, which wasn 't really fair to me ol ' mum. (I paid the bill, which hopefully makes up for some of that. It 's only May, for goodness ' sake, and it 's the UK but the blankets are packed away until winter. My WORD it 's cold in Trinity! The waiter was actually, in the end, kind of sweet. I didn 't enjoy how rushed he made us at points, but it was Sunday and they were closing shortly, I guess. He also had to deal with two utter gits who were drunk and trying to get away without paying, so y 'know. Tough job. But, listen it 's the substandard food I have an issue with. I just don 't ever feel the love when I 'm in a chain, amirite? I ordered the tomato and mozzarella starter. The description sounded like a divine party, worthy of the Roman Gods. The reality was four cocktail sticks with a total of four cherry tomatoes (in halves and a blob of cheese the size of a pea. What could have been mistaken for an accidental drippage of balsamic coloured the lame, uninspired bed of rocket. Not impressed. The pasta wasn 't much better. One of my mussel shells didn 't even have mussel in it. The seafood wasn 't ruinously over cooked, but it wasn 't delicate. The pasta was stuck together in places like when I fudge making spaghetti at home and some bits are accidentally al dente/simply not cooked. (You know what I 'm talking about. When you don 't bother stirring the saucepan. I admit, this dish looks like it was meant to be simple (and therefore divine in its flavour butter and garlic. But it wasn 't. It was underwhelming and it was just simply below par. (My opinion, of course. The courgettes in butter were totally delicious, though. Worth the four quid odd? Defo no. Best thing about it was the bread and butter pudding but I do LOVE cream. I actually, truly wish that fifty quid had gone to a local, independent resto. I really regret feeding this crappy machine. Sorry Carluccio 's, I 'm SO not into you.

I went to this restaurant with a friend for some drinks and dessert. I tried the Fruit Tart and my friend had coffee with Fig Rolls. My tart came with vanilla ice cream, which was delicious and complemented the tart well. The Fig Rolls were also very tasty. However, the service was a bit slow. Initially, they asked us to wait for a clean table and it took a while before we were seated. It was quite busy and we almost lost our table. Additionally, it took some time before we could pay our bill. I hope the service improves for my next visit when I try their savory dishes. For now, I give it 3 stars for a decent afternoon dessert and coffee experience.