Riva Blu Italian Restaurant & Bar, Leeds The Springs — Restaurant in Leeds

After visiting the Manchester branch with my partner, I decided to take my Dad to this one as it’s only down the road from us! Sadly a very disappointing experience here, despite taking our order within 5 minutes of seating us - the service after was very slow! Starter arrived within 25 minutes but was another 40 minutes if not more for our mains which were all ordered at the same time so really shouldn’t have taken so long! Trying to grab a waiter’s attention was very difficult as they were constantly focused on a large party booking at one of the other tables.

The “COTOLETTA DI POLLO” was highly disappointing for the £23.50 price, it was literally 2 very thin pieces of breaded chicken (like cardboard not an overreaction) with a plop of sauce, it was very dry and not even slightly tasty. No extras included like fries, spaghetti, pasta etc. Very overpriced for what it was. Nobody asked us whether our meal was okay while we were eating it and only after was it queried, we told the waiter the issues with the dish and he returned to say the chef apologised and dessert was on him, handing us two dessert menus. My Dad didn’t really want a dessert and was kind of over the whole experience after the disappointing main course, when the waiter returned I told him he didn’t want one and just wanted a Cappuccino instead and ordered my choice of dessert. When the bill arrived the cappuccino was still charged to it? The total of the two items would have still been £10 less than the terrible main course. We didn’t even want a freebie but the waiter offered!

Trying to get their attention (again) to finally pay the bill was another 10 minute challenge. Service really needs to be improved, it really wasn’t worth the £77 bill for...

Went to Piccolo for a spontaneous lunch with boyfriend. Ordered the VEAL MILANESE , which was extremely bland. I explained this to them, and they were extremely attentive and kind to get my main course changed. I resulted in getting the hunter's chicken, and this was not so great either. . .

The reason for the 5-star rating is that my partner really enjoyed his pizza, he said it's the best one he's ever had. My sides were amazing, and my starter was light and nice too. It's unfortunate about my mains, but the restaurant was extremely polite and understanding.

Taste is subjective, and they were more than willing to accommodate my needs. I gave up getting a main after my second attempt, as I needed to get going, however they were also happy to bring out fresh sides, as they were worried that the sides were going to get cold when we were waiting for my second main choice. I declined as there's no need.

When paying they explained that they had not charged for the sides, which I was not expecting, and was happy to pay for.

When leaving, my partner and I had a brief discussion about the mains, and he was so apologetic, which I appreciated, but was further explained the reason the VEAL MILANESE is cooked the way it did.

The manger ended up getting us a pizza to go for free, which again, I did not expect, but was soooo appreciated of their attentiveness and care for the customers.

I did pay the service fee, as regardless of not eating the mains, my partner enjoyed his, and the staff were so kind.

Overall great experience from this...

We have went out for a lunch break to Piccolo as it was one of the restaurant that offered nice vegan/vegetarian food but also had other options available. I must say that I was positively surprised by how good the food turned out. We had Branzino and Pollo Tartufo which even though they looked like small portions, they were really filling but didn't make us bloated. Staff was also really friendly and helpful. I highly recommend this place but I wouldn't provably be visiting it frequently due to pricing. It is fair but a bit above my budget to make it regular. Update 24/01/24: With the new promotion for January, we have decided to try few more items from menu and we weren't disappointed. Duck literally melted in the my mouth and my friends advised me that steak and fish were amazing as well (see added photos). The desserts were also really good and even after having main course and dessert, we still felt amazing and ready for more albeit we run out of time and had to go back. I was also really surprised by the back which I haven't seen before but you can see as the food is cooking and there is even stove which I believe is for making pizzas (again, see photos). We plan to bring more colleagues from office next week and will definitely try some more...