It was to be our first food review as a family. We (Cath & Thomas) were excited. The Cheeky Pickle (aka our 3 year old daughter) was just hungry.
We visited the branch of Prezzo Italian restaurant in The Light, which sits directly opposite the escalators leading up to the Vue Cinema. We hadn’t been before, despite walking past numerous times. With Leeds having an abundance of fantastic independent places, we tend not to go to larger chains much, and indeed, this is our first ever review of a chain restaurant.
Prezzo started out as a small independent when it opened its first restaurant in the heart of London in 2000 and now has over 90 restaurants across the UK. Their purpose is to “Share the joy of Italian dining through our menu (our product), our service (our people) and our environment (our places).”
It was 12.30pm on Friday, with half a dozen tables seating customers. As we walked into the spacious, modern room we were greeted warmly by our server Kayleigh – whether you are in a chain or an independent, a friendly member of staff brings a vital personal touch, and Kayleigh did this perfectly, including for the Cheeky Pickle, who was edging from hungry to hangry.
The menus arrived, with the Cheeky Pickle receiving a paper menu, some crayons, and some 3D glasses. The paper menu had a wordsearch and a couple of other activities, some 3D illustrations, and a QR code for more activities. (We didn’t try the online bit as we are still just about clinging to the hope that we can avoid her demanding an iPhone for her 4th birthday.) These are all part of Prezzo Kids Club, making meal time fun for the whole family.
In our reviews, we like to try as much variety as possible from our choice of dishes on the menu. Thomas being vegetarian means we tend not to cover both meat and fish, but there are (he insists) enough vegetarians around that it would be wrong not to cover some of the meatless options in a review.
For starters we chose to share the warm Focaccia Bread with Olive Oil and Balsamic Vinegar (£4) and Mozzarella and Tomato Arancini (£8.95, a portion of 4 small pieces). Arancini are always my go-to when eating Italian food, and it’s a good test. These were very moreish, served on a bed of pestonnaise (a pesto mayonnaise). The Focaccia was simple and light, as it should be.
The Cheeky Pickle had ham and tomato pizza and chips. We had tried to persuade her to get a pasta dish so we could try the rainbow pasta (a ‘stealth vegetable’ option that allows parents to get some extra fibre and nutrients onto the plate through the means of “oh look, how pretty!”), but this suggestion was firmly resisted. This arrived at the same time as the mains after Kayleigh checked how we wanted to do things. Hanger averted, we settled into an unhurried lunch.
Our mains were Crab & Lobster Ravioli (£18.95), Goats Cheese & Roasted Pepper pizza (£15.95) and Spinach & Ricotta Cannelloni (£17.95). This is more than we’d usually have ordered, but it makes for a more thorough review and we’d deliberately skipped breakfast.
Prezzo don’t claim to be reinventing Italian food – and why should they? The classic dishes are classic for a reason. Touches like the chive oil on the ravioli probably aren’t strictly traditional, but it worked well. The ravioli filling was delicious and seafood sweet,with the cream sauce not being too heavy, acidity from the tomatoes cutting through nicely, and the chive oil adding a bit of earthiness.
The pizza was thin crust, with a good balance of sweet peppers and tangy goat’s cheese. The dough was cooked well and held up under the moisture of the tomato on the topping (which seems like faint praise, but Thomas usually ends up wearing almost as much topping as he eats…)
The cannelloni was not perhaps an obvious choice for a hot August day, but Thomas can’t resist spinach and cheese. Again, this was a nicely balanced dish, squarely in the ‘unmessed with classic’ bracket.
Lemon desserts are in my opinion the best desserts, so I had to try the Sicilian Lemon Meringue (£7.95), and as an Italian classic we also chose the Tiramisu (£7.95). Both were delicious and light. The lovely sharpness from the lemons contrasted nicely against the boozy coffee, syrupy delight of the tiramisu.
For drinks I chose Angioletti Italian Cider, which was delicious and not a name I have come across before. With apologies to Thomas’s West Country ancestors, this Italian-brewed cider was very good – crisp and light but tasty, and perfect for a leisurely lunch on a hot August afternoon. The low alcohol Chance Lean Cider Thomas went for was also very good – darker than the Angioletti with a full apple flavour, and Thomas said that he wouldn’t have guessed that it was 0.5%.
For the kids, there are the “Little Meals, Big Adventures” menus. For 2-8 years you can get 2 courses for £8.50 or 3 courses at £9.50. For 8-12 years olds, it’s 2 courses for £12 or 3 courses £14.
The kids’ menu allows for a lot of ‘build your own’ flexibility, which is very handy as a parent when you can’t be sure from one meal to the next what will be in favour. The pizza was as well-made as ours, and the chocolate ice cream was really good – as best we could tell from the tiny tastes the Cheeky Pickle allowed us to have. Her feedback was “Yummy, yummy in my tummy” as she rubbed her belly. Asked if she’d like to come back again, she loudly replied “Yes, please!”. While this didn’t help much with the word count of the review, she has to start somewhere.
As far as chains go, we were pleasantly surprised by the quality of the food, relaxed atmosphere and friendly staff. The prices weren’t quite as cheap as we’d expected, admittedly, but eating out has got expensive in recent years. Having chains such as Prezzo does bring economy and employment to cities and towns, and in amongst exploring small plates independents, tasting menus and unfamiliar, we’ll be honouring our daughter’s request to take her back.
https://www.prezzo.co.uk/restaurants/leeds-the-light
…..photography by Cath Kane.
