La Scala — Restaurant in Rochdale

Ok time for an honest review.

This place is a reasonably comfortable setting.

The staff are quite friendly but a little slow at busy times which is fair enough, but either speed up or get more staff on peak nights.

The food can only be described as totally underwhelming.

We ordered 5 different starters and 5 different mains but no deserts.

The black pudding starter was very very bland. Honestly I could have knocked this up in my kitchen in minutes for 59p and it would have tasted much better, so to be charged £7 for this wasn’t that amusing.

All the other starters were ‘ok’ at best. Nothing wrong with them just nothing more than ‘ok’. But wow for what they charge I’m sorry the standard is no where near good enough.

The pasta was poor. Tasteless.

4 steaks ordered priced between £19 and £23 each with nothing but the old pretentious black pepper offered and a bowl of veg to share. £4 extra for a few chips if the kids require.

Well let me tell you these steaks where the poorest I’ve had in many a year and out of 100s of restaurants, good and bad.

We eat out at different places from pubs upwards 4 nights a week and I have had a much much better cooked, a much much better tasting steak from the Hornet down the road for £5.

Save your money and eat somewhere nice is my opinion.

Note for the restaurant. Please sort the standard of food out for the prices you charge as it’s simply not fair on either us who know about good or those poor people you are ripping off weekly who have...

First time dining here and here is our honest review.

We were warmly greeted and we were asked where we would like to sit (never had that before) which was nice for a change to choose instead of being sat somewhere waiting on staff put you.

We were asked straight away if we wanted drinks and then given a good amount of time to decide what we would like to order.

STARTERS :-

I had the scallops. Rating :- 5/5 (I would have loved more scallops & less chorizo) My husband has the Pate. Rating :- 4.5/5 A very good amount of starter.

Mains :-

I had the Sea Bass. A great portion size. Rating :- 5/5 Husband had the Lamb Shank. A massive shank with lots of meat and the mash was delicious. The veg was lovely. Rating :- 4.5/5

Desserts :-

I had the Crème Brûlée. Rating :- 3/5. It was nice. It was VERY small. I would have liked the top to be more crunchy than it was, definitely needed the blow torch on it longer. I absolutely am fully aware that a Crème Brûlée is meant to be cold and the topping warm/hot BUT, it definitely would have been better all warmed through IMHO.

Drinks were 1 pint of beer and an ice water.

The starters, mains and desserts are very well presented. The starters and mains are a very good portion size too.

The service was excellent.

Waiting on staff were very attentive, professional, courteous, never rushed us at all, dressed to impress & all looked immaculate.

All in all, it was a pleasant experience with very nice food and we would return.

It cost £84 for...

This was a first visit and a first of what will probably be many. The starter of Garlic bread with cheese and tomato was OK with the topping spread nicely and not to thin. The mains meat was slow cooked lamb that was was cooked to perfection, very little gristle and the meat was falling apart, you didn't need a knife to cut it - so tender. The beef and prawn dish was also cooked to perfection with a sauce that really deserved a 'plate lick' afterwards. Veggies (new boiled potatoes, carrots and, cauliflower with an onion sauce over the meat, were nicely cooked and not squashy. After a self imposed wait to let the meal settle it was followed with a pudding of home made New York Cheese cake, another a delicacy that was better eaten very slowly to make sure the taste and texture remained on the tongue. Very nice atmosphere with attentive but not obtrusive, service and a bill that came quickly when asked for without the 'tip included' (a pet hate is waiting for a bill and arrives with service charge included). We have eaten cheaper (and others have been a lot more expensive!) but never had lamb cooked better. Definitely one to go on the list of 'let's go again' and next time I'll try the more Italian dishes but that lamb...