Compà Beeston — Restaurant in Broxtowe

What a wonderful evening my husband and I enjoyed at Compa', yesterday. Each Wednesday through September they are holding a set evening menu of traditional dishes cooked by nonna. You will be treated to the cooking skills, traditions and years of practice by one of the owners' mothers; I can assure you this is as authentic as it gets as I am Italian myself. The decor is simple because just like in Italy, it is not about your surroundings, its about the food. Each dish arrived presented in a simple way as it would be in any local taverna in (real) Italy. The menu is a filling four course affair (come hungry). The antipasti is generous with olives, bocconcini (bite size mozzarella) pizza, bread made by one of the owners' fathers (the bread is so very Italian and I heard a few people comment on it) and a few other items. We were then served rigatoni con fagioli e patate: pasta with beans and potato. Another staple meal from the southern most regions of Italy. Being vegetarian, we did not eat the chicken course and were served parmigiana as an alternative. This is a simple dish of layered aubergine and a ragu. Simple by no means equates to easy and there is a skill in perfecting it. In my opinion, if you have never eaten it before, ditch the chicken and try it. It parked me right back in my own nonna's kitchen. If you still have room, the dessert course is also an authentically Sicilian. They have steered away from the obvious Italian desserts like tiramisu' and have opted to offer you cannoli: a roll of hard pastry filled with riccotta. I have eaten this dessert here before and can say that the pistachio one is excellent. It is very sweet though and if you are more of a savory person or you don't really like desserts, half might be enough but take the rest home! The meal ended with a regional drink called zamu', served with water and over ice ( perhaps leave the car at home). I am a Malbec drinker and although they didn't serve that, the owner offered me a wine that was very similar and I very much enjoyed a glass of Nero D'Avola , it carried the same weight in the mouth as a Malbec does but did sit heavy in the stomach. The restaurant was never over crowded or noisy and the friendly, accommodating staff handled what looked like a busy evening with ease. If you make one of these evenings you will meet the lovely elderly Italian lady who is cooking for you. The meal was not rushed and nor did we wait long between courses, all four courses plus the zamu' will mean your evening will last around two and half hours. Of all the Italian restaurants I have eaten in outside of Italy, this by far ticks the traditional box for me.

The restaurant is small and it does get warm. I saw a previous poster say they needed an air con unit which is now installed. They keep the kitchen door open and so at any time on your way to the bathroom you can see the magic at work. There is a great sense of family about how things are ran here which is very much how you are treated as you arrive. Compa' is a new kid on the block and they are small but I think they will very much give other Italian restaurants a run for...

Excellent meet n greet service with the lovely Joanna ( this is the English version of her Greek name). She was very attentive, warm and personable. She's a asset to the business and we would go back. It's a very authentic Sicilian style bistro/ cafe and it felt quaint walking in and I was excited to intoduce my friend to Compa. I've been to Sicily and loved it there.

However, our order took ages to come out considering that, although most of the tables were initially occupied, it didn't seem too busy. The one waitress seemed to manage table service really well so I think the delays were in the kitchen. We did smell burnt toast at one point and wondered if that was ours!🙂 I had previously eaten the Arancini at the Beeston branch a few years ago. The Arancini, in Nottingham's city branch, were the same size and a generous portion for a starter (4 pieces). My friend and I had both ordered the Ragu filled ones and expected a little more tomato and meat flavouring within the rice filling,or for them to be served on a little ragu sauce as the ones were in Beeston when I had them before, so we were a little disappointed. However, we asked for a little more olive oil and balsamic so dipped them in that instead otherwise they would have been quite dry. We also ordered a side portion of bread (which came with a tiny dish of olive oil and balsamic ). The bread was just some basic French style sliced baguette very very lightly toasted. It would have been so much better to have had some Italian or alternative Mediterranean style bread, forcaccgia,pitta, flatbread etc.

Desserts were delicious.....gorgeous cafe Tiramisu for me with delicious coffee! My friend had the lemon version with coffee and loved hers too.

We would have had a main course too but time disappeared in waiting for the starters so opted for cold desserts instead. Our table was booked for 12.45pm and we left there at 14.10pm.

The prices were about right for a city eatery. All in all a pleasant pre- show lunch.

We went to see Torvill & Dean at Nothingham Ice arena and had a lovely time...

Booked for valentine's night. Upon arrival was told it was a £40 set menu and that they had emailed customers to let them know (I had nothing in my inbox or junk, and it didn't say upon making the booking on the website). Drinks ridiculously overpriced, £7 for a 500ml beer (although tasty), £10 for a large glass of wine?! Where are we, London? We were first seated right at the door and it was absolutely freezing with people going in and out. We asked to be moved once a table cleared. We were then placed next to the edge full length windows, still absolutely freezing the whole evening. If there is double glazing, it definitely wasn't working. Starters came - trio of fried balls and focaccia, and were all really nice to be fair. We never received cutlery or napkins until the main course, felt uncomfortable with sticky fingers after picking up all of the starters. Main course was very underwhelming, just pasta shells, creamy sauce and cut up ham - felt like a kids meal. Side 'salad' was just shredded lettuce, and a small slice of toasted bread (no butter, no oil or balsamic dip). Trio of desserts was to finish, a small bowl of diced strawberries, an actually really nice pistachio profiterole, and a large cannoli. Slow service between courses (we were there an hour and 45 minutes in total) We were never asked during any course if everything was alright with our meal. We were left after dessert for a while, no one cleared the plates (it was 9:40 by this time and not many tables left), we had to take ourselves over to the bar to pay. They had the audacity to add a service charge (extra £10!), didn't verbally tell us either, just showed us the receipt and immediately tried to charge us. I asked them to remove this, and we weren't asked why, or if there was anything wrong that they could remedy next time. Wanted to try somewhere new and support local businesses, but shan't be returning. I know inflation is a thing but still can't believe it was £40 each for...