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Strada restaurant review, Lakeside, Thurrock, Essex

sandra — Mon, 14 Mar 2011 15:47:33 +0000

Pollo alla Milanese at Strada Lakeside Essex

This has to be one of the best chain restaurants in my eyes, yet it doesn’t seem like a chain when dining there due to its relaxed atmosphere, lovely furnishing and interior and the staff who, although very professional, do not seem to follow a chain restaurant style fixed service.

The menu also appears individual with a varied mix of pizza, pasta, risotto, stew and a la carte meat and fish dishes.

I have been a few times now and have tried the pizza and pasta, but one of my favourites is the seafood risotto – light and beautifully flavoured so that you can still taste all the individual flavours of the various seafood (prawns, mussels, clams and squid). The chicken in breadcrumbs is so flavoursome, it was a great surprise and the fish stew is rich with tomato, herbs, prawns, squid, mussels, clams and red mullet. Tasty, yet probably pretty healthy too!

All the staff that served us were Italian. I am not sure if that is the case in all the Strada restaurants, but it really added to the Italian theme, and they were more than helpful. I asked to try some wine, and they offered me samples with a smile. Talking of which, the wine list is very varied, offering many Italian wines I have never had before. Every wine we have tried has been fabulous yet reasonably priced and most are available by the glass which is great, as one doesn’t want a bottle when shopping!

Date of visit – various during 2010 and 2011

How many dined? 2

Average price per person for 3 course meal (excluding drinks) – moderate (£20 to £30)

Service charge included? no

Food – 7

Service – 8

Ambience – 8

Value for money – 8

Address: The Boardwalk,

Lakeside Shopping Centre,

Thurrock, Essex

RM20 2ZP

T: 01708 890 038

F: 01708 890 059

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Immo Italian Restaurant review, Chelmsford, Essex

sandra — Wed, 09 Dec 2009 13:43:45 +0000

pizza and salad at Immo

From the outside, you would think that this place is quite small, but once you enter, the restaurant goes back a long way, and gives way to plenty of room and many tables. For a weeknight, it was busy, and everything looked good. We managed to get one of the booth type seats, so we have plenty of room, and the service was great.

They have a pizza oven and the chefs are on view, so it has a nice busy atmosphere.

We had Olivcs with our peroni to start, and they were very good olives. Next we had calamari and they were a very good sized portion, with salad and mayonnaise. After, we followed with a pizza to share and salad. Everything was fresh and well cooked. I have seen a few bad reviews for this place, but I cannot see why, as we thoroughly enjoyed it. If it were closer to us, we would go back for sure. It felt like…

…a night out, due to the buzz of the atmosphere. I liked it a lot.

Restaurant name

Immo Italian

Date of visit

November 2009

Restaurant telephone

01245 358533

Restaurant address

8, Baddow Rd, Chelmsford, Essex CM2 0DG

Average price per person for 3 course meal, excluding drinks

moderate (£20-£30)

How many dined?

Value for money rating?

7/10

Atmosphere Quality rating?

8/10

Service Quality rating?

8/10

Food Quality rating

7/10

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Ask restaurant review, Southend on Sea, Essex

sandra — Thu, 19 Nov 2009 13:47:04 +0000

Ask are a large chain of restaurants, present in most Towns, serving a range of pizzas and pasta. They are good, but there is so much choice in Southend-on-Sea, I tend to go more to other Italian restaurants. Keeping up with modern life, they have added salads, burgers and other mains to their menu, so they offer something for everyone and the quality is better than it used to be. This restaurant in Southend is often busy, and everything tastes fresh, whilst the staff are pretty good.

It is reasonably priced, has some decent wine at a good price, and is a nice dining experience.

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Il Gattopardo Italian restaurant review, Westcliff on sea, Essex

sandra — Sat, 17 Oct 2009 18:05:11 +0000

Gattopardo restaurant, westcliff essex

I had been meaning to go to this restaurant for years and even featured it in one of my short stories, but still didn’t go until recently. I have no idea why, but we finally have and we were delighted. The interior is beautiful, with high ceilings, large colourful oil paintings, chandeliers and upholstered chairs with a bar which is quite a feature. It was apparently a former bank. All this and yet it has a cosy feeling. The service was impeccable and friendly and the food gorgeous. Although I ended up eating most half of Michaels as it was so good!

The menu is extensive with a huge range of pastas, starters and mains – plenty of meat and fish dishes, and some lovely desserts. It was hard to choose!

We had lovely pasta and calamari starters, and this was preceded with an olive plate, which was a nice surprise. I had filet steak for my…

…main but wished I had the veal, as it was so good, I ate about half of Michael’s! The vegetables were well cooked and we really enjoyed it. Although it was not particularly busy, the ambience was great and the staff so friendly they chatted and took photos for us.

Although I would try to keep this place as a treat, as it what I would call a ‘proper’ night out, I will definitely be back very soon!

Gattopardo means Leopard and the restaurant is named after a palace in Sicily.

Restaurant name

Il Gattopardo

Restaurant telephone

01702 391789

Restaurant address

65, Hamlet Court Rd, Westcliff-On-Sea, Essex SS0 7EY

Average price per person for 3 course meal, excluding drinks

moderate (£20-£30)

How many dined?

Value for money rating?

8/10

Atmosphere Quality rating?

9/10

Service Quality rating?

9/10

Food Quality rating

8/10

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Flying pasta Italian restaurant review, Westcliff on Sea, Essex

sandra — Fri, 19 Jun 2009 14:16:11 +0000

We had been here a long time before and went back as we had a show to go to at the Cliffs Pavilion theatre, but I wish we hadn’t. We were in a rush, and I have to say, they did serve us quickly, although they only gave us a table as we were going to be quick. We had a pizza and a prawn spaghetti dish. The spaghetti dish was ok, but lacking in authentic flavour. The pizza was covered in cheese and was soggy. It may be that we are spoilt with the pizzas at Irmas, which cannot be beaten in this area, and even Pizza Express are better, but everything we asked for seemed to be a problem to the staff, who appeared to want us to just eat and go.

However, they do get a good crowd in, so it must reflect that their service and food is acceptable to many and perhaps some of their other dishes are better. They are also situated in a good place, by the sea and the Theatre, next door to two other Italian restaurants.

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Frankie and Bennys, restaurant review, Southend on Sea, Essex

sandra — Sat, 21 Feb 2009 13:14:07 +0000

frankie and bennys pizza lasagne and meatball spaghetti september 2008

I like Frankie and Bennys and have been to Basildon and Southend on Sea, and I must say, this southend on sea branch is much better.

This was a weekday evening. I had the mussels starter and it was rich with perfectly cooked mussels. I was rather surprised how good it was for a chain restaurant.

The main, we shared two dishes and a garlic pizza bread. Everything was great, apart from the lasagne which was rather sloppy.

However, the garlic bread was lovely and the meatball spaghetti delightful.

The wine list is limited, but we found a couple of decent ones on the list – good value!

(please click on the images below to enlarge and press the back button on your browser to return to the main page)

Restaurant name

Frankie and Bennys

Restaurant address

18/20 Southchurch Road, Southend On Sea, Essex SS1 2NE

Restaurant telephone

01702 460 732

Website address

www.frankieandbennys.com

Date of visit

September 2008 (we went back in 2010 and had some uncooked chicken but the manager sorted it out, so I would still go here in 2011)

How many dined?

Average price per person for 3 course meal, excluding drinks

inexpensive (under £20)

Service Charge included?

Value for money rating?

8/10

Atmosphere Quality rating?

8/10

Service Quality rating?

8/10

Food Quality rating

8/10

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Bella Italia Italian restaurant review, Southend on Sea, Essex

sandra — Sun, 21 Sep 2008 12:42:50 +0000

We have visited this restaurant a few times and have had some nice meals. The interior is comfortable and cosy, set out in a rustic Italian style, as are all the restaurants in this chain.

On this particular occasion, we had Calamari to start. They were a little overcooked, but tasty and a good sized portion, although I prefer a thinner coating generally. We also tried the very tasty minestone soup, with a crunchy piece of ciabatta bread. The garlic grossini side order were long round breads soaked in garlic butter and they were delicious and moist. We also made up our own pizza which came out with a delicious crisp base, and just the right amount of mozzarella so that it wasn’t soggy like some. Accompanying this, we had a very good mixed salad, which came with black olives, yellow peppers and a very good dressing.

Overall, the food and service was good, but the prices perhaps a little high for a chain restaurant.

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