Roma — Restaurant in England

FORZA ROMA! When you find yourself working away from home finding a good place to eat is a must. So it was for me when I found myself spending 2 weeks in Leicester. After the first night’s truly awful dining experience at my hotel, I had the good fortune to stumble across Café Bar Roma on Halford street in the city centre, and what a find it was. Decked out as you would find many a trattoria almost anywhere in Italy (plenty of wood and subtle lighting) it had a warm and welcoming ambience which chimed perfectly with the friendly and efficient service provided by the owner, Azziza, and her team who work tirelessly to ensure your time there is a happy one. It is a café bar during the working week and open as a restaurant in the evening from Wednesday on. Although I did not luncheon there, I wish I had! The lunchtime offers look remarkably good value. Yet, however welcome you are made to feel, you are there to eat, and if the food fails, you won’t return. I did! 4 times. And not once was I disappointed. All the traditional Italian staples are there. Pasta, pizza, meat and fish (and a selection of homemade desserts). First up, my tagliatelle salsiccie (with traditional fennel sausage) was delicious; light but filling, with the pasta al dente and just the right hint of fennel to the overall flavour. Not too strong but not missing in action either. The pizzas are simply first rate. I tried two! A simple rossa at £4.50 and a puttanesca with olives, capers and anchovies at £8.50; combining a light, crispy base (but still retaining a bit of that all-important “chew” factor) married to toppings packed with flavour. The scallopine al marsala (pork escallope in a cream and marsala sauce) at £16 was again beautifully cooked. Tender and moist with a sauce that did not overpower the meat but complemented it just as it should. Finally, to cover all areas of the menu, I had the sea bass fillet in a lemon butter and caper sauce (£16.50). This is an easy dish to get wrong. The fish can be dry or the sauce too sharp. No such trouble here. The fillets were cooked perfectly; skin crisp, flesh soft and the sauce was, again, a subtle but truly flavoursome accompaniment. Compliments to the chef! So, pasta, pizza, meat and fish all perfect; and the prices are so reasonable that one imagines they must rise soon. To produce this quality at the prices charged is nothing short of a miracle. And the well- chosen wines were sensibly priced too, with a carafe of the house at £10 (a real boon for the lone diner) and a bottle of house red or white at £14. It was no surprise to my lonesome self, as I eavesdropped, to hear that many of the diners were frequent visitors. All in all, a terrific dining experience. Great food; great service; great value. It is no wonder the place has been here nearly 30 years. If I am any judge, it will be here many years more. It...

My first impression right after entering was not positive. The smell was downright disastrous. In an Italian café, it should smell of freshly ground coffee, and possibly herbs if it's also a restaurant. Only good reviews made me go further. Otherwise I would definitely leave the restaurant immediately. Fortunately, I placed an order and food was delicious. Me and my friends ordered pasta: with tuna, salmon and lasagna. In addition, from Monday to Friday during lunch hours they have a great promotion: each pasta for 6 pounds and additionally they give a free drink (coffee, juice, tea) and bread with garlic butter. The bread with butter was crispy and tasty. The tomato sauce in lasagna was made of tomatoes of very good quality (which is the key in Italian cuisine). Pasta with salmon had a delicate and creamy consistency. Pasta with tuna was the most expressive and although good, the least we liked from all our dishes. You can only pay by cash. But if it causes that they can keep such low prices at such a good quality - this is not a major problem. The only thing I missed the most in all pastas, was the lack of fresh herbs. Basil and parsley perfectly match to lasagna. Both for decoration and taste. The toilet was very well maintained and very clean - which is quite important, because it affects the cleanliness of the kitchen. This place is definitely worth a visit, especially during the hours with their special promotion.

EDIT: As I can't reply directly to your comment, I can only edit my review. I visited your place on Friday (3rd of May) just right after closing the upper floor. The smell I was talking about was noticeable right after the front door was opened. It was similar to the smell of old or dirty mop or dishcloth. It was not irritating, so we could get used to it quickly and did not disturb us while eating. However, I and my three friends had the same impression at the entrance. Our meals were prepared with fresh ingredients and from the kitchen did not smell bad. This is why I do not know what was the reason and source...

This place is frozen in time, and not in a good way. I should have turned back, when a musty smell greeted me in a room full of furniture straight from school cafeteria from 30 years ago, but I guess we all need a bit of nostalgia from time to time.

After ordering 2 coffees and 2 cakes, we were told that they don't accept card payments, so not only they smell and look like 30 years ago, but they also function like 30 years ago ( At this point I really started to worry about the food here ). We were told there is a cash machine outside, which would be fine, if not for the fact that for the last year or so I pay with my phone everywhere and I can't use phone to get cash out of a cash machine. I was still fine, I live in the city centre, I can go and grab cash from home and be back in 15min. However when a waitress come to us after we had our £10 worth of coffee, and told us we need to leave an item like a phone as a deposit so we can go out and bring that £10 I've got very upset. I was treated as a thief, and a very cheap one at that.

There is a hand written information on the door, but is a few sentences long very unreadable, and definitely not something you will notice while opening the door. It should simply say "Cash Only" in big printed text and then be repeated near the sells point. Another nostalgic element I guess.

It's definitely not a customer-centric place. They don't wan't a card reader, because there is a cash machine nearby, so instead of making things easier for the customer, they make things easier (and cheaper) for themselves. The whole pressure of not trusting us over a tenner was just ridiculous. On top of that while coffee was decent the cakes were pretty bad.

Unless you are in need for your nostalgia fix, I...