Not my Numero Uno choice for Italian food (Caffe Uno in general)

Member Name: duskmaiden

Product:	Caffe Uno in general
Date:	10/03/06 (223 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: nice coffee, clean

Disadvantages: expensive for what it is, no atmosphere

It was a Thursday evening just after pay da. Duskman and I had met for a drink after work and I could not be bothered cooking. The idea was a cheap and cheerful meal out. A nice bowl of pasta would hit the spot exactly. Manchester has a number of reasonable independent Italian restaurants and pizzerias. However we decided on Caffé Uno which is part of a chain. I had been past it plenty of times but had never eaten there. I chose it because I thought the name café made it sound reasonable value.

The Manchester City Centre branch is in a prime location facing the Town Hall on Albert Square. It’s usually buzzing in the summer with its cosmopolitan outdoor seating. It had a different atmosphere on a gloomy March evening. It was very quiet with only a handful of tables occupied. I really felt the place had no personality or atmosphere at all. Perhaps this would have been different on a Saturday night.

Caffe Uno serves your usual range of pizzas, pastas and salads. I do not eat red or white meat so was quite pleased with the number of vegetarian and fish dishes available. I was tempted by an unusual prawn Caesar salad but opted for one of the specials, Gnocchi with gorgonzola and basil pesto instead. I accompanied this with a mug of mocha. Duskman ordered a Spaghetti Carbornar and Appletise. This cam to nearly £20.

Our drinks came first. The mocha was not too bad at all. It was prettily presented in one of those nice glass Irish coffee mugs with large bit of quite hard Italian style biscuit. When my mail course arrived I was very underwhelemd with my dish. It’s one that I used to order all the time at Leonis, an interdependent restaurant just round the corner from Caffe Uno. This dish was very inferior. It was nicely presented but it seemed quite a small portion. The sauce was probably the best bit. It was a nice texture but perhaps the gorgonzola was that little bit overpowering. The Gnocchi seemed to come straight out of a supermarket. The basil was lightly scattered over the top of the dish. I thought it was very unmemorable and almost grudged paying £8.50 for it. I thought the price was a bit over the top. There is another small independent restaurant 10 minutes walk from Caffe Uno where you can get a three course special meal for that price. Luckily there were free bread stick to nibble on. To fill me up a wee bit more.

Duskman commented that his Spaghetti Carbonara both in portion size and taste was average. I was going to get a dessert but most of them were near enough £4. I know that is the going rate but I still feel that is too expensive for a non special occasion. We did have some nice mints with our bill though which suited me fine.

The service was no too bad. It was friendly , quick and efficient but nothing outstanding. We were lucky as on of our friends has had bad experiences when they forgot one main course altogether. The restaurant was clean but as I said I could not think of a word really to describe it. There were no quirky features or even annoying fake Italian features . The music if I remember rightly was just chart pop music.

Would I recommend this restaurant? I might for a quick coffee in the daytime. I though my mocha was reasonably priced compared to high street coffee chains but for anything else I would not. There was nothing wrong with this restaurant as the food and service was ok. However I felt that it was not value for money for a quick supper out nor was it good enough for a special occasion. This restaurant would be ok if you had no choice (say in a smaller town) but Manchester has number of decent restaurants such as Leonis, Croma and Stock, where I have had a much better, more memorable dining experience.

Summary: average itialian chain selling slightly overpriced food