Casa Italia — Restaurant in Liverpool

Nomad Food Quest visit to Casa Italia on Stanley Street, Liverpool. Seconds away from Mathew Street, opposite the Eleanor Rigby Statue. A beloved Italian restaurant that has been serving generations of Scouse families for years. It has a loyal following and is known for the pretty consistent queue outside. I stumbled upon a rare occasion when the queue was minimal, so I decided to see what all the fuss was about. It took around 10 minutes to get seated, another 10 to be served, and 10 more for the food to arrive. Now, a caveat: I’ve had Carbonara in Italy many times, also at lots of UK Italian restaurants and make it myself. I'd like to think to a high standard - so consequently I know I'm a tough critic. My experience at Casa Italia. Because of the restaurant’s popularity, the staff seemed rushed and had little time for pleasantries. It came across as brusque, but honestly, it reminded me of busy tourist spots in Italy and Paris. Maybe that’s part of the “authentic” experience. I've also been to many places where you are treated like one of the family. I only had one thing in mind: the Classic Carbonara. They do offer the Anglicised version with cream, like the supermarket ready meals many are used to, but that’s not for me. I ordered the piccolo (small) portion, which still cost £13.40. My first reaction: It looked very small. My Second reaction: A lack of garnish. I’m used to seeing Carbonara topped with ample guanciale and parmesan, usually offered with extra cheese and black pepper by the server. None of that happened. The guanciale was a touch sparse and pale, lacking the colour and crispiness I expect to see that comes from properly rendered fat of the guanciale. Then came the taste test. It was... underwhelming, when compared to what I'm used to. The texture was just about right, and the cooking method seemed ok. But it lacked the richness of extra egg yolks, the saltiness I'd expect from the guanciale and pecorino, and the punch of black pepper that defines a true Carbonara. The cheese profile was muted, and the guanciale didn’t add much texture. That said, it wasn’t bad. Just not great. For someone who’s never had a great Carbonara, this would probably be enjoyable. I added a generous helping of the powdered parmesan from the table shaker and a few good twists of black pepper. I was tempted to add a touch of salt - but I couldn’t bring myself to do it. With those additions, it became more adequate than underwhelming. Also, the bowl was deeper than it looked, so the portion size was actually fair for someone not wanting a decent sized meal, I thought £13.40 was a bit hefty for a small portion. My verdict? This isn’t a great Carbonara - not by Italian standards. Based on the flavour, I’d question the quality of the ingredients or how they were prepared, but that’s just my unverified opinion. At the priced charged I'd expect a great carbonara. Still, it wasn’t bad. I think most of their customers would be satisfied. If they are not chasing the “great and good,” there’s no need for them to change. But I think they should take the few small steps to up the game. L I won’t be frequenting Casa Italia for my Carbonara fix. I plan on going back to try a lasagne and maybe one of the other classic penne dishes. The waiter who brought the bill was pleasant - the first to ask if the meal was okay. I’m used to being asked mid-meal, but hey, better late than never. Would I recommend it? Yes. Give it a go. Many think it’s worth...

Sorry guys... First visit ever to this restaurant. First impression was amazing, the interior design fabulous! The colours, the style really good! Second impression was slightly lower as the toilet is at the top of the building, you have to walk two floors up, through the whole restaurant's 'floor' what can be annoying for the people who needs a little privacy while they're having their food. The staff was very disturbing. 3 waiters came to our table in 5 minutes while we were checking the menu. No smile, no 'good afternoon', simple asked what we want. They've served the starter, and when we started to consume an other waiter was standing there and wanted to take the order for the main meal. We said we want to finish this first... He wasn't too happy with our response. The starter was very nice, but poorly detailed on the menu what is that (they probably think that if you don't know the meal, you can check it yourself on the Internet - if they'd give you enough time 😁! Main meal - what else!? - was a shared large pizza, BADLY OVERBAKED on the crust especially on the bottom side and slightly under baked in the middle. Also, the toppings were quite funny with the raw slice of ham and salami. I asked the staff for some olive oil, they pointed the bottle, when I started to sprinkle on the pizza realised it was vinaigrette.... Also, we had to find ourselves the red sauce - can't call it tomato sauce (ketchup) as it is a really poor - cheap- quality what was also a big surprise by an Italian restaurant. When the waiter realised we have already used 2 paper napkins they took the rest of them to the next table, where we had to took a new one, again... There was no fork on the table, the waiter carried to us in his palm, did not cared about cover them in a napkin or whatever... The pudding was nice but never asked what we want with that (ice cream or cream... As the menu said it has multiple options). The waiter just served and that's all. The staff disturbingly staring all the time over the guests, but not the professional more the. Noisy way. Overall... We always wanted to try out this restaurant as it looks always very busy but it hasn't reach that level for us to return. Lots of improvements needed, especially with the staff. We have spent £35 for two and left £5 only because we didn't want to wait for the change back....

We visited Casa Italia, having researched Italian restaurants in Liverpool and read about its history and seen its high ratings - we went in feeling positive and excited.

There was a queue outside (which was promising) and initial impressions were good - the lady who showed us to our table was friendly and the ambience and decoration were great. Unfortunately, it went downhill from this point.

Most of the staff were friendly, but the service was very slow - we ordered our drinks and then waited quite a long time to order our food. Despite the long wait to order food and a long wait for food to arrive, our starter still arrived before our first drinks - we had to chase twice before they finally arrived. As mentioned above, most of the staff were great, but there was an exception - one chap was not suited to hospitality - twice he rolled his eyes at us and looked like he hated his job.

The bigger issue was the food - I was initially going to score the restaurant 2/5 (poor), but I then thought about the fact that we had one starter, four mains and a side and they were all very poor - so I can’t really give any more than one star, which I hate as I really wanted to like it.

We ordered a garlic pizza with tomato, expecting the sort of sauce you get in a pizza - bright red with maybe a touch of olive oil. Instead of a tomato sauce, we got a dark, dense, bland tomato puree. Our main courses were Penne Arrabiatta (penne pasta covered in the same dark, dense, bland tomato puree), 2x pasta bakes (tasteless with rubbery cheese) and a margarita pizza with extra ham (the same dark, dense, bland tomato puree, the same rubbery cheese and then just totally covered on top with a sheet of Palma ham - which was lovely), accompanied by cheap frozen chips.

On the positive side of things, the drinks were good and the food highlight was the mints that appeared (after several chases) with the bill. Following several more chases, we paid and left.

I don’t remember ever giving a bad restaurant review before, and I’m sad to do it today, but having picked the restaurant due to its good reviews, I felt I had to show there was another view to...