Nonnas Chesterfield — Restaurant in Chesterfield

First ever restaurant review, let’s go…

I was looking forwards to my first visit to Nonnas Chesterfield on Saturday night and the establishment certainly doesn’t hold back. It’s very upmarket, swish and clean. On entering I was advised that my group of 6 other dinners maybe at the bar upstairs with a flick of the hand. I had to ask for directions as the stairs are not easy to see if it’s your first visit. Not a good start. The stairs are hidden by a semi glazed wall in the center of the restaurant splitting it into two which is no bad thing. We had a drink upstairs and sat in the comfy area which was very nice. It can take a while to get served at the bar though, due in part to the cocktails being freshly made for people who may not be eating, so be prepared to wait. We descended to the restaurant and our table which for our party of seven was 3 normal tables pushed together with me on the end. It was situated directly behind the ‘front desk’ and partially behind a glazed screen but left our end table in the main access corridor directly in front of the main door. This would have been fine but on this calm weather night whenever the door opened a draft of cold air engulfed us. The area behind my chair was a busy area as the 3 or 4 children of the table of 12 behind us were playing in it. All the staff and customers managed to get past me without incident apart from one man who is either the manager or owner. On the first occasion he clipped my chair he semi turned to look without saying anything. On the sixth occasion within 30 minutes, I’d had enough and stopped him to point this out but he only semi apologized with an arrogance and a look of ‘I didn’t realize’, but afterwards somehow managed not to molest me again. The staff were proficient in taking the orders, were pleasant all during service and water was delivered to the table when asked for. We did have to ask for a new fork as one laid out had an obvious amount of food between the forks which I had spotted even without my glasses. Two of us had the aubergine pasta which arrived first and for £10 looked very small portions. Next came the lasagna, followed by tagliatelle where the portions were twice the size of ours. Oh well, maybe just a bad choice, I thought while we waited 5 minutes until they produced two missing dishes and ours were going cold. An extra main dish also appeared at the table but was quickly taken away. The aubergine was lovely but the pasta wasn’t quite right. It was a bit dry on top like it had been under a grill to keep it warm. It then came to light that two of our party had each other’s dish but I don’t know why or how and they didn’t seem to mind as they had plenty of pasta in their dishes. After the plates were cleaned away our table was delicately swept of any crumbs and after an age we were offered the desert menus where 4 of us ordered the tiramisu and the other 3 chose two other offerings. Again a delay as we had deserts on the table but had to wait a number of minutes for another two to arrive. Then an extra tiramisu appeared and was offered to the table but was taken away as we all had our deserts. The tiramisu was large and very nice but the others a bit overdone being served on a piece of slate with their glass of sauce on the side but with nothing to get it out and a smear of something else. (Surely slates should be out by now and tasteful desert plates in). With the plates cleared away we chattered for another 30 minutes but no one asked if we would like coffee so we didn’t bother. We did have to ask for the bill twice though which summed up the night. We didn’t pay the automatically added 10% service charge because I find it insulting in this country to do so when it goes in the till and also the service just did not deserve it. A small tip was left. How do I rate Nonnas? It could and should have been a great experience but sadly lacked by being disorganized, uneven portions and an arrogance of the management. Would I go again? Maybe but not for a long time and not...

Great Italian food and good wheelchair access.

I have spent a lot of time visiting this lovely restaurant. The staff are friendly, the atmosphere is great and the food is wonderful (if a little pricey). It doesn't cater for the typical pizza and pasta crowd but gives a much more authentic representation of Italian cuisine.

As a wheelchair user this is also a great restaurant. The car park is a little small but has one wheelchair accessible space (although due to the diagonal positioning of all the spaces you could get away parking in any of them if you are a disabled driver).

The restaurant is on one level with the main dining area to the left of the stairs when you enter. There is generally a good amount of space but I would book ahead of time and let them know you are a wheelchair user so they can give you appropriate seating. The tables are a decent height and I have never had any trouble getting my knees under them.

To the right of the stairway when you come in there is a coffee shop area which is mostly used for breakfasts (also yum yum) but the tables are those ones designed for stools so too high for your average wheelchair user. The staff are happy to serve you breakfast in the normal dining room area though.

There is a good sized accessible toilet at the back of the restaurant.

There is a bar area upstairs where they serve lighter snacks but the only way up there is to exit the restaurant and head to the far end of the small shopping complex and push up the hill. I do not believe there is a lift inside although I have never been up there myself.

All in all a great place to eat and drink, especially if you take advantage of their deals (early evening pasta dishes for around £7) or their seasonal set menus. We took advantage of their buy one get one free cocktails and also they have been offering 50% off the a la carte menu through January if you subscribe to...

A hearty atmosphere of hostility with a lingering whiff of food sadness - Nonna’s Chesterfield.

My partner and I booked a table at Nonna’s Chesterfield at 8:15pm on a Wednesday, via their website. This was our first, but crucially, not final mistake. We arrived to an essentially empty restaurant (they close at 8:30pm we later found out) and while we did think about leaving, we decided to stay as we had booked after all (mistake number 2). We were immediately greeted by a deathly stare from one of the chefs, along with a boisterous welcome that we’d “left it a bit late”. I’m assuming this isn’t one of those restaurants where the chefs are actually told of bookings… but in fairness to him we had clearly interrupted his cigarette rolling on the pass. EarPods in and hoodie on, Mr Angry continued to get very cross indeed about life, swearing about another table arriving “late”. Luckily we had front row seats as we were treated to a seat about 1m from the pass, what luck. As our wine was arriving we also got to hear a time check from him that there were only 4 minutes until closing. The food was about as good as the Chef’s attitude; could do better, and likely to lead to problems… Fungi all crema sauce was flavourful and nice but let down by tasteless mushrooms that were barely cooked. Bruschetta really was just totally fine, which is never good news, bread and tomatoes… yeah. Our mains continued the package of pain; pizza may as well have been bought from the takeaway across the road (chef might like it there, bar the late nights of course), Linguine al pesto had a big dollop of cemented cheese on top but was actually quite nice part from that, though very oily. It’s a shame, nice decor and nice menu, it could have been nice. Save your money or walk 10 miles to Pizza Express.

Overall parting gift...