Makaron - Pasta Fresca Bar — Restaurant in England

Pros: the garlic bread is very buttery and flavoured well with garlic. The price is good for the portion size you get - £2 and it comes on a platter so you can definitely share it with someone. I wish the bread was toasted/cooked more in the centre too, it felt like the edges were cooked the rest of the bread was just warm/soft. Cons: the pasta tastes average I had penne with pomodoro and basil sauce, chicken and Parmesan. My plate of pasta was cold, it only seemed warm in one small spot of the plate. I had chicken in my pasta and the chicken seemed like it was precooked separately and just mixed into the dish before serving because that was cold too. I’m used to receiving a warm plate with steaming pasta however here the plate is cold and the pasta is lukewarm at most. There is no extra Parmesan at the table so you cannot add more cheese to your meal it is just the light sprinkle they add to the plate for you before bringing the plate to the table - I’m used to being served the cheese at the table and adding as much as I’d like for my dish. The amount of chicken added to the pasta was a good portion though. I also tried a mango cooler however it tasted of plain soda and with a subtle lime flavour, there was no mango flavour at all and I did check with the waiter to make sure the drink was correct. The coolers contain no fruit juice, it is all soda with a syrup as flavour, except the one I chose either had little to no flavour or they forgot to add it I don’t know. I wanted to try the tiramisu however they were making a new batch at the time so I would have had to wait for it and given I wasn’t impressed with the food I decided...

We visited this place on a Monday night so it was not packed out and relatively quiet. With it being a local business, there were only 2 members of staff on shift so the service was quite slow to start with. Given that it's a new place, I would have wanted some explanation on the different Italian sauces and flavours and how the ordering worked and to feel welcome when you come in. I think it may have been a rough moment as they seemed to be rushed off their feet preparing orders for other customers when we walked in so it was a long time before we were acknowledged. It was actually another customer who was seated watching us wait who insisted they take our order over his for dessert as we had been waiting.

When our order was eventually taken, I didn't feel I had the opportunity to ask for the chefs recommendations as he was cooking orders for someone else. We went for penne pasta with tomato and basil sauce and parmesan cheese. The food did come out quite quickly which was good and taste good too but I don't feel it was quite as authentic as the Italian food I've had in Italy.

We also ordered Desserts - the famous tiramisu and also a pistachio cake. The tiramisu is worth the hype and was divine. The pistachio cake was ok.

Despite the initial slow service, I would revisit. I feel it may have been a busy moment when we arrived and perhaps as the business becomes more established, they will have more staff too. The place itself was cute and cosy inside and food does come quickly when you...

Saw amazing reviews for this place and was quite excited to try it for the first time. However, we were quite disappointed with it in general.

I ordered the Cacio e Pepe with chicken and spinach. The chicken was shredded and the texture of it mixed with the pasta was very odd it did not complement the pasta well and made it feel very stringy. The sauce itself was nothing special, I’ve had better.

My friend ordered the Arabbiata and she agreed the texture of the chicken was quite off putting. Peppers were very hard and the dish was just loaded with lots of chillies and toppings that she finished the spaghetti faster than the toppings.

The service offered was quite off-putting actually. My friend mentioned very clearly at the start that she did not want cheese in her food. But when the pasta came it was sprinkled with cheese and we had to send it back as she has a dairy allergy. However, the waitress persistently denied any mention of an allergy and stated my friend actually asked for Parmesan in her food. It was quite shocking as both of us had to continually “bicker” she didn’t get the order right.

Overall, the portions sizes are quite big. The tiramisu is very good. But because of the average tier food and service, it is unlikely we...