Bistro Italiano — Restaurant in England

Restaurant was busy when we arrived and we waited around 5 minutes to be seated ( I did ring ahead and ask if a table for 2 was available) we were shown to a table at the back of restaurant which was pushed against white wall which was also all we had to look at! We waited a good while before we were given menus and drinks order taken. No pumps its bottles only so 2 Peroni ordered. Weren’t quick with drinks or taking order., a male member of staff stood next to our table and just stared at my partner which was weird and uncomfortable then after what seemed an age he walked off .. didn’t ask or take order! Finally someone who asked if we were ready to order! We were both hungry and food took a good while to arrive. I ordered Penne alla Siciliana which was aubergine in a basil, mozzarella and tomato sauce. Very disappointed with what was on my plate overload of penne and tomato sauce, I couldn’t find any mozzarella and aubergine was a few tiny pieces. It was basically pasta and bland tomato sauce .. we ordered a garlic bread with tomato to share with mains the bread was cooked well but It was overloaded with bland tomato sauce: Nobody came to ask if everything was ok or if we needed more drinks ( we did need drinks) due to location of table was difficult to catch anyone’s attention. We’d finished before anyone came to table: we didn’t bother with another drink just wanted to leave. I did mention the lack of ingredients on my plate however he didn’t seem interested! My partner had fish and wasn’t impressed: overall a busy restaurant with no atmosphere and poor service ., and dishes missing main ingredients wouldn’t be in a...

Venue - Quaint quirky Italian, very intimate, music was a bit weird for the vibe of the place, was expecting nice chilled Italian music but the tempo was a bit on the quicker side, was funny listening to the staff singing along though (we were next to the server station, was hard to miss)

Staff - Couldn’t have done more for you, genuinely very attentive and consistent, walked us through the specials board etc.

Drinks - Wine list was extensive, have a huge selection of some really good ones.

Food - Personally not blown away but it was tasty, chicken was a little on the dry side, don’t think it matched the cost in my opinion.

Cost - Definitely on the higher side, but it’s Durham city centre, I think it’s slightly too high for what it is but nothing to make a drama about, it would be somewhere I will return to for a...

We called into this place for an early dinner, to be fair we'd been here a few times but not for a long time and it had sort of slipped our minds. We were the first there, to the point of having lights turned on as we entered. Quite amusing watching the place come to life. Our starters were the sacllops and lobster ravioli, both excellent. Mains were both steaks, one Diane and a fillet, again perfect. This five Star review comes with a slight caveat, I might have marked the over all review down because of the deserts, nothing wrong with them, just generic and a bit disappointing. But seeing as the starters/mains were so good, it didn't seem fair. My advice would be skip the deserts and have a coffee. It's a lovely place to eat, with great food(bar the deserts) would...