A'Vucciria — Restaurant in Borough of Rossendale

We dropped in last night to give this place a try. Inside an old bank, it's spacious, there's a lot of people just having a drink and a chat, no music, just a lovely atmosphere in a well thought out setting.

They have an online booking system but as this showed they had seats all evening we didn't bother, and just did a walk in.

The menu isn't too big - which I like as you don't get lost trying to find something to try. There is a good range of things to go for, and these are smaller dishes, served tapas style as soon as they have prepared and/or cooked them. The wine list is good too - everything from a reasonable house wine through to stuff at £75 a bottle. We had a white and a red at £25 each and I was very happy with the price vs quality.

The waiting on staff were very attentive, and for the first time in a long time, the whhite wine was placed properly in a wine bucket that had both ice and water in so the body of the bottle could submerge and remain chilled. There was also a proper cloth serviette with it to stop water dripping off the bottle when it was poured. The wine itself was served correctly by the waitress, and these little things make a big difference to me - thank you.

The food was good - tasty, just enough on each plate that it didn't get overwhelming, and we left nothing behind. I hate it when you get too much food, and you end up leaving food on your plate at the end. We had stuff that was Italian/Sicilian, including regional cheeses, and there was planrty to try that you wouldn't see at your average Italian place.

Minor constructive criticism hence four stars for service - the dishes arrived a lot quicker than we expected, so we still were eating cold appetisers when the hot food came. This didn't really bother me, but the Mrs would have preferred not to have all of the food on the table at once. It could also have been due to the place only having a couple of other diners, if it was packed busy with diners, the dishes may have arrived more slowly. Next time we go, we'll ask them to take their time, or order dishes in two stagese. This probably reflects on us, rather than the restaurant, but if you're going yourself, you know what to expect.

Very good, it deserves its 5 stars from us, and we will come...

New review; having raved about this place since my first experience, I was sad it’s changed. I believe the chef has changed, or their passion has if not the staff member. The menu seemed similar if not exactly the same but the food & presentation has changed. Being vegan I ordered everything from the Vegetable section. Whereas the first dining experience saw the dishes treated as meals/plates in their own right, previously excellent presentation, different tasty elements on the plate, on this occasion what we received were dishes with just the one vegetable, no garnish, nothing about them. Each dish was like if ordered from a ‘sides’ section of a menu. When looking at other people’s options around me in the restaurant, the meat/other dishes seemed interesting, such a shame the Veg section is now being treated as side fillers. Just green beans. A miniscule portion of plain mushrooms which had a strange flavour. A bowl of plain boiled potatoes. Some plain chickpea fritters. Everything tasted fresh but having had this plain experience, I’m hesitant to go again. I’d love to give them a third chance so I hope they make the veg section great again!

My original review from over a year ago; Came for a birthday lunch with my brother. The Waiter & Chef went above & beyond to change some of the veggie options to vegan, giving me choices of flavours, offering alternatives & everything was absolutely delicious. Will...

went on a friday at 5pm and asked about opening times which they told me was from 12 noon every day. I stayed and had a drink and something to eat which was good. Went back on the Tuesday and it was closed ,they have no signage outside to tell you of opening times and it still wasnt opn at 7.30 when we drove past. From my experience its coming across as a beautiful place with decent food but very unprofessional.The staff are very young and untrained , basic mistakes like no announcement of a grand opening and now they are open for business nobody knows when. Get your act together, you have a great place and could do well but people will not be impressed with these silly oversights and try to put some personality in the young kids you decided to employ. Employing cheap young kids that have no idea is like putting second hand tyres on...