Prezzo Italian Restaurants

...Express, Strada, Zizzi et al, Prezzo offer informal Italian themed dining in contemporary and stylish looking outlets. Prezzo have around 140 different city centre outlets dotted throughout the UK, many of which are located in listed buildings or places of historic interest. For example, the restaurant in Chichester (where we dined) is located in an old city centre pub with loads of traditional wooden beams and stained glass windows.

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...from Italy. So how did Prezzo measure up in comparison to Ask, Zizzi and Pizza Express? Read on and find out…..

== DÉCOR & AMBIANCE ==
Just like Ask, Prezzo outlets tend to be located in historical or unusual looking buildings. This is certainly the case for the Chichester restaurant, which is located in an old pub called The White Horse. I can’t honestly ever remember either drinking (or dining) in there when it was a pub, despite ... more

Money Saving Expert once again came up trumps on our recent trawl to find someone new to dine out. Having tried Ask last year (and coming away replete but not exactly over-whelmed with the menu), this time it was the turn of Prezzo, another high street Italian chain. Like Ask, Pizza Express, Strada, Zizzi et al, Prezzo offer informal Italian themed dining in contemporary and stylish looking outlets. Prezzo have around 140 different city centre outlets dotted throughout the UK, many of which are located in listed buildings or places of historic interest. For example, the restaurant in Chichester (where we dined) is located in an old city centre pub with loads of traditional wooden beams and stained glass windows.

Prezzo offer a broad range of Italian dishes including pizza, pasta, risotto and salads. Their emphasis is on using fresh seasonal ingredients, some of which they import direct from Italy. So how did Prezzo measure up in comparison to Ask, Zizzi and Pizza Express? Read on and find out…..

DÉCOR & AMBIANCE

Just like Ask, Prezzo outlets tend to be located in historical or unusual looking buildings. This is certainly the case for the Chichester restaurant, which is located in an old pub called The White Horse. I can’t honestly ever remember either drinking (or dining) in there when it was a pub, despite having lived in the Chichester area for the last 20 odd years. Therefore I cannot accurately comment on what sort of transformation Prezzo have wrought on the décor since their arrival. However, Prezzo have done a good job of using the period features of the building such as the ancient beams and stained glass windows to enhance the décor. Indeed, clever lighting with spotlights on the beams made the place feel fresh and contemporary, and married the ancient with the modern very nicely. It was a Thursday evening when we dined there, and the restaurant was extremely busy - almost full I’d say. The welcome we received was positive and friendly and we were seated quickly and efficiently, but sadly not at the best table in the house (more on that later)…..

MENU

Prezzo offer traditional Italian cuisine with a good range of antipasti, pasta, pizza and risottos on offer. Some Prezzo outlets offer Pollo Arrosto (rotisserie roasted chicken), and others offer Calzone (which is basically a folded pizza baked in the oven, topped with garlic butter and melted cheese and containing some kind of filling) instead. I think it depends on whether your particular outlet has the room to install the Calzone ovens. There is no Calzone option at the Chichester outlet, only the roast chicken option. However, if your nearest venue is without Calzone oven, worry not, the menu is extensive enough without, and there is a nice amount of choice for each course.

Antipasti /starters offer old favourites like Minestrone Soup, Bruschetta (baked focaccia bread with various toppings) or Garlic Bread. More interesting options I liked the look of were Gamberoni Piccante (tiger prawns marinated in garlic and chilli served with spinach and a tomato based sauce) and a particular favourite of mine Calamari Fritti (deep fried squid with a lime and dill dip). Starter prices range from cheapie garlic bread at £2.55 up to around the £5.00 mark for prawns.

Main courses offer a mind boggling array of choice - not only the usual suspects of pizza, pasta and risotto, but house specialities such as Crab Cakes, Red Pesto and Mozzarella Burgers or a range of interesting sounding Insalates (salads). All the pizzas are freshly baked in a stone oven on the premises and there are 10-12 to choose from. There are old favourites such Margherita, Quattro Formaggi and Tropicana, as well as more intriguing options such as Vesuvio (double pepperoni and red chillis). Pizza prices tend to range between the £6.00 to £9.00 mark.

If pasta is more to your liking, then Prezzo do the usual Spaghetti Bolognese, Lasagne, or Spaghetti Carbonara, as well are more exotic options involving ingredients like asparagus, tiger prawns, oak roasted salmon or pancetta bacon. Prezzo offer a choice of 15-20 different pasta based dishes, so something to tempt everyone. Pasta prices range from £6.00 to £9.00 per dish. Lighter meals are served in the form of risotto or insalate. In addition to all these menu options, there is a daily specials “blackboard” as well.

The dessert option is fairly limited but not less mouth watering because of it. It’s not particularly Italian sounding, despite a nod in the direction of a Vanilla Pannacotta. Other options are chocolate fudge cake, sticky toffee pudding or cheesecake. Dessert prices are a fairly hefty £4.00 to £5.00 each.

OUR MEAL

Thanks to Money Saving Expert, we were in possession of a couple of vouchers offering us a two course menu plus drink for £10.00 per person. This appeared to be a very good deal indeed, so we decided to give Prezzo a whirl.

Basically we had a small array of four starters to choose from, followed by a larger selection of 10 or so main courses. This was accompanied by either a glass of house wine, a bottle of Peroni beer or a soft drink. If we decided to have the same sort of menu it would normally cost around £15-£18, so we were, of course, keen to try it at £10.

For starters, there was a choice of either Garlic Bread, Bruschetta, Mozzarella Garlic Bread or Mozzarella in Carrozza. I plumped for the Mozzarella in Carrozza, which was Mozzarella deep fried in breadcrumbs and served with Pomodoro sauce. I had no idea what Pomodoro sauce was, but it sounded interesting so I gave it a whirl. The dish was actually two large crescent shaped breadcrumb coated parcels of mozzarella - a much bigger portion than I was expecting, and rather generous. The Pomodoro sauce in question was a mild tomato based sauce - fairly meek in flavour. Mozzarella is a rather bland tasting cheese, and the Pomodoro sauce needed to be a little more adventurous. In my opinion it needed some fire in its belly - adding some tarragon, chilis, garlic or black pepper may have added some life to it. My partner chose the Bruschetta, which was foccacia bread with a topping of tomato, basil, red onion and garlic. The Bruschetta was nicely crunchy, but lifted from being just a boring large crouton but the addition of a tasty layer of tomato and herby flavoured sauce.

For the main courses, there was a little more choice on offer, and this took some careful consideration before we made our final choices. There were four different pizzas, four different pasta dishes, one salad and a vegetarian option to choose from - so something for everyone. I was tempted by the Fusilli con Polpette (meatballs and mushrooms in a garlic and tomato sauce finished off with rosemary), but decided to be a little more adventurous after my rather bland starter. I plumped for a Pizza Vesuvio (double pepperoni and red chillis), as I adore pepperoni. I was a little worried about how much chilli would be included on the pizza, as too much can spoil a meal in seconds for me. There were a couple of “safer” options - namely Spaghetti Bolognese and Spaghetti Carbonara and my partner chose the Spaghetti Carbonara, and a good and generous portion was served. The spaghetti was nicely al dente and served with a suitably generous amount of pancetta bacon and creamy sauce. The waitress grated a large quantity of extremely tasty parmesan onto it, which made it nicely cheesy. My Pizza Vesuvio was also a very good sized portion. I was able to locate and remove a lot of the chili from it, as there was rather too much to make it “safe” to eat. I was offered additional chili oil on my pizza by the waitress, but declined this offer, as I felt the level of spiciness was more than sufficient. The pepperoni slices were a little small for my liking, but there were a good quantity sprinkled over the pizza. The edges of the pizza were nicely crispy and centre doughier. On the whole we were impressed with our main courses - the portions were a lot more generous than those served at Ask.

There were no desserts offered on the £10.00 menu, but that really didn’t matter as we were full from the starters and main courses. We were offered desserts and coffee, but declined both. However, if I ever return I think I could easily be tempted their Hazelnut Bombe (meringue with vanilla ice-cream and hazelnuts).

DRINKS

Prezzo offer a full selection of both soft and alcoholic beverages, a lot of which, not surprisingly, have an Italian origination. From the wine menu you can have Frascati or Chianti as well as choices from other wine producing countries. Beer wise you're limited to bottled Peroni lager - on offer at a wincingly expensive £3.25 for a 33cl bottle (or £5.95 for 66cl bottle). Our menu price included two drinks, so we ordered two bottles of Peroni, and then paid extra for a soft drink for me. A bit sneaky on our part, but a bottle of lager costs £3.25, and my soft drink was only £1.95. We decided against coffees, but they are priced rather reasonably under £2.00, so worth noting for future visits.

SERVICE

The service was extremely attentive and very friendly. We were offered generous portions of freshly grated parmesan with main courses - both of which are a welcome touch. Our waitress stopped by several times to check our meals were to our liking, and we were offered further drinks several times. Despite being on the cheapie menu, we were never made to feel like cheapskates or second class citizens like some restaurants do. There was a mix-up with my starter, and I was served with a Mozzarella Garlic Bread instead of the Mozzarella in Carrozza that I’d ordered. Once this was pointed out to the waiting staff, they were profuse with their apologies and a replacement quickly sought and served.

However, the table we were seated at was certainly not the best seat in the house, and I think that in showing our discount vouchers to the member of staff who seated us, we sealed our fate. That said, you can’t blame them. They’re going to put their full price paying customers on the better tables, and the discount ones in their equivalent of Siberia. The table we were seated at was in a narrow corridor with 3 or 4 other small tables directly leading off from the kitchen. The noise of the crockery and cutlery (not to mention shouty chefs!) was a little loud at times, and the corridor a constant hive of activity through waiting staff collecting hot dishes or returning empty plates to the kitchen. Added to which, the 3 or 4 tables in the corridor were quite close together and therefore quiet conversation was a little strained at times. Definitely not the table for a romantic meal à deux anyhow! If I return to Prezzo for another meal, I shall definitely be in favour of dining towards the front of the restaurant rather than the back (or upstairs).

RECOMMENDATION?

Our bill came to an extremely reasonable £21.95 to which we added a tip. I consider £21.00 for a pair of two-course dinners and drinks to be a rather good deal. That said, I don’t know if the food was impressive enough to want to make a return visit and pay full price. Don’t get me wrong, there was nothing wrong with it - it was all certainly tasty enough and generous of portion. Given a choice between Ask, Prezzo or Pizza Express, then I’d definitely choose Prezzo. The portions at Prezzo are a lot more generous than Ask, and the ambiance a lot more “grown up” and welcoming than Pizza Express. However, I just find that the majority of chain based Italian restaurants lack a certain je ne sais quoi (or whatever the equivalent is in Italian…). The menus make all the right noises, but the food lacks the wow factor. Maybe I’ll return and try out the freshly roasted chicken at Prezzo one of these days, as that does sound rather nice. In my opinion, if you’re dining on the high street, you’d have to go a long way to beat the food at Café Rouge, The Slug and Lettuce or Nando’s in comparison.

Three stars from me; good portions, attentive service, but slightly let down by rather bland food and a table located in the wilderness (but without the matching solitude and tranquillity).

OTHER STUFF

Prezzo is owned and operated by Prezzo Plc, and they also run ChimiChanga (Mexican food), Jonathan’s, The Ultimate Burger, Meat Packers New York Grill and iMMo Café outlets.

Prezzo Plc
Johnston House
8 Johnston Road
Woodford Green
Essex
IG8 0XA

Telephone No: 0845 602 3257
Website: http://www.loveprezzo.co.uk/ or www.prezzoplc.co.uk

• The full menu can be found at the website above and there is also a restaurant search facility.
• All major credit cards are accepted
• Disabled access is good at the Chichester outlet, but there is a slight step down into the ladies toilets (these are located at the back of the venue, and were clean and tidy when briefly inspected).
• The emphasis in any Prezzo is on laid back, casual dining, so the dress code is relaxed and informal.

If you're fond of dining out do have a look at www.moneysavingexpert.com (http://www.moneysavingexpert.com/deals/cheap-restaurant-deals) before you make your plans. There are often discount vouchers on offer (current deals are available at Zizzi, Ha Ha, The Slug & Lettuce, La Tasca, Prezzo and many others).

 

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