Pesto Widnes Review
Reviewed by Linzi Davies
Myself as my partner attended the above location at 7.30pm on Monday 17 November, although this restaurant is only a five minute drive from my house, it isn’t somewhere where I have eaten before, never having really fancied the idea of “Piatinni” (small plates with big flavour). We arrived by car and found the car-park to be quite large in size with a number of clearly marked bays, a number of which were empty. The outside of the restaurant was clean and well lit, however it was difficult to see where the entrance was at first.
On entering the doorway we waited for a few minutes near to the desk before a young man from behind the bar appeared and asked us where we would like to sit. We opted for the restaurant area rather than the bar and found a table quite close to a large group celebrating a birthday. The tables were well laid out and offered adequate space between each for wheelchair /pushchair access. The glasses on all the tables were sparkling and there didn’t appear to be any smudges etc… on the tables. The male who showed us to our table asked had we been before and explained that one of the girls would come and take our order when we were ready. He took an initial drinks order and when I requested iced water, offered to bring a jug and glasses for both of us.
I perused the menu which was unique and offered a wide variety for both vegetarians and also a gluten free choice. My partner and I then had a few laughs over who was going to order as most of the dishes were extremely hard to pronounce (at least for us)!! A few minutes later, a young girl approached the table and asked if we were ready to order, it would have been nice if she had a name badge or introduced herself as I like to use names wherever possible, as we were not quite ready she made the suggestion of some bread and olives which arrived speedily and were extremely tasty, a selection of three different breads. The one negative to the table was the radiator was on full blast which actually burnt your hand to touch, they didn’t appear to be low temperature radiators which my partner (a plumber) suggested they should have. This wasn’t too much of an issue for us as we moved our place settings over slightly but it would be something I would check if I went with my young family. To her credit the waitress appeared to quickly notice our discomfort and offered to turn the heating down which was gratefully accepted.
We finally made our choices and decided on, Coscia di pollo imbottita (two boneless chicken thighs, stuffed with Parma ham, a hint of sage, spinach and mozzarella cheese), Polpette di manzo (spicy beef meatballs in a tasty tomato, garlic and herb sauce), Tagliatelle con porcini (tagliatelle with porcini mushroom, thyme and cream sauce) and finally Gnocchi con dolcelatte en pomodoro (Gnocchi with melted dolcelatte cheese and fresh piccolo tomatoes). The final dish was after a recommendation from the waitress as we had no idea what Gnocchi was. In case you’re wondering they are small soft dumplings made of potato and served warm to hot.
Overall the meal was very tasty and extremely filling; all dishes were served promptly and were well presented and hot. I particularly enjoyed the meatballs which were exquisite, just the right amount of spiciness for my palette and also large in size, the three served were more than enough between two of us, the chicken thighs were also lovely, cooked thoroughly and steaming hot. On the negative the taglitelle I found to be a little bit bland, missing a little kick of flavour and the Gnocchi, well both I and my partner found it awful. I think that was mainly down to the texture of the dish rather than it being a bad dish, to me it just felt lumpy and thick and certainly not something I would order again. To compliment the main meal we selected a bottle of house white wine, Bianco Lazio Villa Desideri which was served throughout the meal, unfortunately for my partner he was designated driver for the evening so I enjoyed a large proportion of the fresh and fruity beverage myself.
Onto desserts which again were fantastic, I had the Torta al limone (a tangy homemade lemon mousse with fresh cream) and my partner the Vanilla Cheesecake served with forest fruits. Both dishes were well presented and delicious to eat.
Overall I would say that this was a perfect ending to a very busy day for the two of us, the staff were polite, attentive and knowledgable about the dishes they served and the food was tasty and hot (a must in my book) I look forward to our return visit.
We really enjoyed the atmosphere and staff were very friendly and knowledgeable. A couple of the dishes weren’t to our taste but that wasn’t down to the restaurant but our personal tastes.
Rating: 4/5
For more information, to view menus or to make a booking visit www.pestorestaurants.co.uk/location/widnes.
217 Birchfield Road, Widnes, Cheshire WA8 9AH | 0151 424 3729
