Italiana Fifty Five Liverpool Road - Italian Restaurant Manchester — Restaurant in Manchester

Interior was nice, service and speed of food was great, food was tasty but i think don giovanni is slightly better as they had halal parmesan to put on the food and were more generous with portions (my friend paid £4 to add chicken in her tagliatelle and it was about 3 pieces)! i got the mushroom tagliatelle and also got the tomato bruschetta which was a bit overpriced for what i received, was expecting tomatoes to be chopped finer like i’ve seen at other restaurants but it tasted nice! Also got the the strawberry raspberry mocktail, this was disappointing tasted like unripe strawberry and water for £8.50, they need to add syrup or something to make it taste good! Also the servers are weird when it comes to the service charge, I explained we were students so we’d need to remove it but that the service was great and we would definitely write a good review for the server who was called paulo, then my friend went to pay with her card and he tried to charge her with the service charge even though i’d told him not to which i can tell was by purpose as he was hiding the card reader amount from me and only showing her as she didn’t know what amount it was meant to be, he manually wrote in the amount on 3 occasions during this so it wasn’t like there was an automated error he was very conniving about this, luckily her transaction didn’t go through as her card was faulty and when i got to paying i told him to remove it again and he was acting sheepish about what he’d done, either he was just greedy for extra money or the restaurant isn’t paying him a legal wage, this is the UK and tips aren’t necessary never had this treatment anywhere that we’ve been before, stop trying to rob innocent students, we should be able to treat ourselves to a night out without having to pay for someone’s wage and you as a server should be giving good service regardless of tips,...

A friend proposed dining here and I love Italian food so obviously I said yes. But it was very ordinary.

On arrival there was a friendly welcome, however there was a smell which seemed to pervade the front of the restaurant. It smelt like dirty cat litter. We sat briefly in the bar which has a long padded seat which was set very high. Even my taller friend had his legs dangling down which I found amusing.

A friendly server showed us to our table which was nice and didn’t smell. I liked the table. We ordered some cocktails and both chose a starter. I had the tomato bruschetta and my friend had squid. Drinks and starters came in good time. The bruschetta was ok. The bread had been toasted but it was cold and kinda soggy. The tomato mix was nice but needed a lot more seasoning. My friend enjoyed his squid.

For mains I had the lasagne with a side of garlic bread and my friend had the margarita pizza. Again the food came in good time and was well presented. However the garlic bread was disappointing and confusing. It seemed like garlic paste had been haphazardly thrown on random areas of the bread. No butter, no parsley and very dry. This was raised with our server who was apologetic and took it off the bill. My lasagne was underwhelming. The sauce tasted like it was straight out of a can. There was hardly any white sauce or meat. The meat had a strange grey colour but it tasted fine. I’ve had better lasagne from Tesco tbf My friend said his pizza was good but not the best he’d ever had.

I decided I wanted an affogato because of course I did. This scoop of ice cream & coffee took the longest time to arrive! Perhaps they don’t sell it as often? My friend had an expresso which came straight away! When it did arrive the coffee was delicious but the ice cream had freezer burn and didn’t have a great texture.

Staff were great all evening, friendly...

Real, Italian food made by ‘Real Food’, Cibo is for you

Cibo, by Don Giovanni, means ‘real food’ and real food is what it provides. There’s a subtle pick setup that makes you feel calm and very hungry at the same time. Then there’s the hanging plants and chilled music giving it a fresh, hipster vibe. The addition of a few golden disco balls and you’ve got yourself a fancy Italian atmosphere.

What did we eat? We hear you ask and that’s what we’re about to tell you; Half & Half Garlic Bread [£5.50] - It’s half tomato, half cheese making everyone happy and all provided on a fresh garlic bread base. The tomato was very much tomato passata type flavour and was sooo moreish we scoffed it all (& very quickly at that too) Mozzarella Fritta [£5.95] - You may be thinking how so very meh as it’s just mozzarella dippers and this is where you’re wrong. The frittas were on a tomato sauce base and for those of you used to our reviews, you know we love ourselves a tomato base. This base was even good as a dip for the cheesy garlic bread Ipoglosso Sfumato (without Prosecco) [£14.50] - Simply put, it’s Halibut, a fresh white fish that was grilled perfectly. It was a little plain though needing the lemon and think a hint of a flavour would’ve made it better Ravioli Aragosta [£15.50] - This was lobster ravioli that we got as a recommendation from the waiter, and what a recommendation it was. Thoroughly enjoyed this creamy, tomato base topped with fresh parsley. This was definitely a good’un

So, yes onto dessert - we were so full by this time but souffle! Warm, chocolate gooeyness and it’s a yes from us (though could have been a little more gooey to be perfecto)

Recommendation Rating: Medium Price: ££ Service: 7/10 Halal:...