Pesto

The idea of Italian tapas enticed me! Boy, how wrong was I?
Hmmm… This is what you’ll leave thinking, after sampling small dishes of flavourless luke warm food… It honestly tastes like it’s come out of a frozen bag and bunged in to a microwave. The pasta dish was watery and bland. The meatballs tasted as if they’d tipped a full jar of Italian seasoning in to the four of them and the meat was really overdone. They may have been having a bad day, we did arrive at 7pm-​ish on a Saturday night but it wasn’t enjoyable.

Italian tapas? Are you quite mad?
Not quite, it seems. Gone are the hearty large meals ordinarily associated with Italian cuisine, replaced with noblets and tidbits and slices and a series of small bowls. It makes sense when you think about it. Italian food is supposed to be languished over during a long, wine fuelled evening. Thus why not turn it into nibbly little portions?
There’s a great bread menu for starters, which I’d certainly advise getting involved with as you might find yourself going hungry with the smaller dishes. Especially if you’re sharing. Sharing isn’t always fair. Other nibbles include antipasti like olives, marinated mushrooms, prosciutto and cheese, bruschettas, potatoes and asparagus. The mini salads are a great idea if you’re in the mood for a bit of everything, and the five inch pizzas are just darling. The likes of deep fried squid, smoked salmon and prawns make up the fish menu and you can get little meat tasters as well as miniature pasta dishes.
If you go there absolutely ravenous, you’ll fall victim to the same process as a sushi bar. You’ll clean yourself out financially. Best go when you’re in the mood for a light lunch, and that way, you might not feel as guilty about overindulging in the wine (so easily done when having tapas). The chain quality might not blow you away but Pesto’s worth a try at least once.

Hmm I’m on the other side here. I too love pasta, and I love Tapas. I love the sharing and sampling little bits of everything. However, I must say, I don’t think it works with pasta.
I can’t help feeling that pasta should come in a big buxom dish in a big buxom pile. Here you get three little pastas, and its just not satisfying. And the small pizzas, they’re just annoying, I like a good 12 inch.
As for the taste, its not bad, but whats the point eating pure carbs if you’re not even going to be full. Plus its not cheap. I’ve got to say they’ve made a good effort here, and in the Deansgate Pesto too. The staff are friendly and the décor is nice and rustic. It’s the concept though, its just rubbish.
Little samples of pasta, not for me. Give me a large carbonara or spaghetti and meatballs any day.

Pesto is somewhere that wins my heart, equally attributable to the fact that I love Italian food and that I love anything miniature. This Italian tapas restaurant, where you can sample a number of dishes at one sitting such as teeny tiny pizzas and pasta dishes, has a wonderful atmosphere too. The staff are friendly and they’ve made the décor as rustic as it can be given it’s located in a such a large shopping centre.
It really does feel like you’ve been transported somewhere entirely new. Try the Patata Pomodoro (basically the Italian version of Patatas Bravas) or the Arancini (deep fried balls of saffron risotto rice stuffed with mozzarella). Bella!