Rucola

I tried this place once around six years ago, and it’s safe to say nothing much has changed.
Let’s do bullet points:
— Layout feels cosy, even though it’s a big restaurant with well over 20 tables
— Friday night, apart from us, there were two other tables full
— It’s an Italian, but don’t expect pizza on the menu
— It’s dark — as in I can’t see what’s in my food kind of dark
— Décor’s a bit aged, with a funny looking old sofa at the entrance, old style television hanging off an arm off the wall, etc.
— Staff are friendly, but please Mr Waiter man, please ask if I’d like another drink before you run off with the empty glasses
— They have a Tom Jones style act next Friday if that rocks your boat
Let’s just drop one star for all the bad points from above, but all these aside, it’s the food that makes a restaurant, and unfortunately the food here is only just slightly better than okay, and definitely nothing to write home about.
Starters (aka first courses) costing £8-£10, mains around £13 to £16, and the pleasure of picking something from the desert trolley would cost you over £5.
For the five of us, bill came to £27 a head; that’s with only one person having a starter, one person having desert, and one person having a glass of wine.
If they improve the food and be (much) more reasonable with their prices then this may stretch to be a three/​four star restaurant.