Spaghetti Johns, 15 Castle Lane, Bedford, MK40 3NT
Well it has been a full weekend hasn’t it! Chip shop Friday, Chicken Shop Saturday and now Italian on a Sunday.
Spaghetti Johns is located in Castle Lane which is a reasonably new development in Bedford Town Centre, just behind the Swan Hotel and next to the old Castle Mound, the problem is that the building that Spaghetti John and its neighbours... occupy had been left empty for quite a long time since building finished that I really don’t think a lot of people know it’s there.
I know a couple of people who have already been and have heard mixed reviews on the place so I thought I’d better check it out myself being both “The Belly” and also a lover of Italian food.
The building and area which surrounds are pretty much brand new, what used to be a grotty old car park is now a street of boutiques, bars, restaurants & apartments. I’ve got to hand it to the developers as this is a vast improvement on what was here and makes great use of the area.
Walking ion to the restraint I notice that there is a large Italian family eating here (always a good sign for an Italian restraint), also the place is run by genuine Italians, the problem was that apart from the family were the only other people in the place (which goes back to me thinking not many people know about this area yet). Sadly, as my wife and I sat down the family left leaving us the only two customers in the rather large area (always a bit daunting).
We were soon seen to by a waitress who brought over our menus and took our drinks order. Looking through the menu there was a good choice of dishes but not too many which I personally like. There were the traditional dishes you expect to see plus some others that you wouldn’t such as the Al Cinghiale (Wild Boar Ragu), Arancini Repieno (Deep Fried Rice balls) and the Di Bacala, Rucola e Zucchini (Cod raviolo, rocket and zucchini with celeriac puree, radicci and provolone cheese).
There was the option of Lasagne on the menu with a notice underneath to ask the waiting staff about today’s lasagne. When we did ask we were told by the waitress that she “thought” it was just normal… and that was that. I’d expect her to know to be honest since she is serving the customers but even if she was unsure I still would have expected a “I’m not sure, let me ask the chef and I’ll come back to you”.
After my parents joined us we all placed our orders:
Starters
Me: Arancini Repieno (Deep Fried Rice balls)
Pa Belly: Tris di Bruschette (Traditional bruschette Tomato and basil, beans,tuna and onion and buffala mozzarella with pesto)
When asked which of the toppings he would like, Pa Belly ordered the Buffalo Mozzarella but did question the waitress as he had ordered it the last time he’d been there and recalled that each bruschetta had a different topping. Later the waitress came back to say that he was right…. Again, I would have expected the waiting staff to know what the dishes were.
Mrs Belly & Ma Belly: Cesto Di Pane Misto (A basket with fresh backed mixed Italian style bread, butter, extra virgin olive oil and homemade tomato and chilli jam).
The rice balls were excellent, they came served with a small side salad and a sun dried tomato dip that was also excellent. The bread basket my wife & ma ordered was quite big so all four of us had to help out on that but again the bread was very good and the chilli jam was quite unique, a bit like strawberry jam with sweet chilli sauce. I can’t comment on the bruschetta but Pa Belly seemed to enjoy it!
For our main courses:
Mrs Belly ordered the Tagliatelle con Ricotta e Noci (Tagliatelle with ricotta and walnuts) and really enjoyed it.
Myself, Ma Belly & Pa Belly all ordered the Al Cinghiale (Wild boar and meat ragu in a traditional tomato sauce) but after we started eating it we kind of wish we hadn’t. The actual boar meat ragu & tomato sauce were delicious, really rich in flavour but the pasta was fresh, thick and chewy which although it didn’t ruin the meal completely it was a bit of a let-down. We did mention this to the waitress who again went off and never returned, it wasn’t until we’d finished eating that the owner came to take our plates and to discuss the pasta. We were told that because the pasta was fresh & thick that it would never go soft from boiling and that it was “Al Dente”. I hate to disagree with an Italian about pasta but when I’ve made my own pasta it has always cooked soft, if the pasta was supposed to be Al-Dente then it should have stated it on the menu. It was undercooked, end of… I just wish he’d have said “sorry about that but thank you for bringing it to my attention”. It’s not like I want anything free out of it but if something’s not as it should be then I feel you need to let these places know.
Since Mrs Belly has a bit of a sweet tooth we obviously stayed for dessert and since Spaghetti Johns boats about being a Gelateria then we just had to have the ice cream.
What can I say about the ice cream? Hmmmm, it was simply amazing! There were 12 or 14 flavours to choose from and it is all made fresh on eth premises by the owner. My god does he have a talent there! I’ve been to Italy twice before and this really does match up to the ice cream I had over there, it’s a bloody art in my opinion. I got myself three scoops to try: Cherry, Pistachio and Ferrero Rocher. Seriously, they were all delicious, the cherry ice cream had whole glacier cherries mixed in to it, the same goes for the pistachio with full nuts mixed in and the Ferrero Rocher had massive chunks of the Ambassadors favourite party food throughout.
That’s the food out of the way, there are a couple of other niggles I have about the place. Firstly when you enter the restaurant the first think you’ll notice is just how damn bright the place is, since the inside of the building is very minimal, white & stark the bright lights basically kill any atmosphere that may have been there. If they dimmed the lights a little the whole place would feel warmer & more inviting. The other issue I had was that there seemed to be a lot of people working there but very little custom, there were four people working in the kitchen, three waiting staff + the owner. Then there were some other people who were either working there or just friends of the staff. The problem in a situation like that is that people are just hovering about, I could see that everyone was basically watching us eat. I can’t stand that, I don’t want people staring at me while I eat thank you very much! It’s like they’re desperate for something to do, at one point it appeared that we had finished (we hadn’t we were just paused & chatting) and I could see the waitress heading towards the table out of the corner of my eye so I picked up my fork just before she reached us and I saw her spin on her heels 90 degrees and head off the other way (heh).
I know I’m being a bit down on the place but I honestly think a lot of the problems are down to the place being new . I’ll go back and give the place a fair chance again maybe sometime later next year to see how things have improved but my first visit wasn’t exactly the experience I was expecting or wanted.
Well it has been a full weekend hasn’t it! Chip shop Friday, Chicken Shop Saturday and now Italian on a Sunday.
Spaghetti Johns is located in Castle Lane which is a reasonably new development in Bedford Town Centre, just behind the Swan Hotel and next to the old Castle Mound, the problem is that the building that Spaghetti John and its neighbours... occupy had been left empty for quite a long time since building finished that I really don’t think a lot of people know it’s there.
I know a couple of people who have already been and have heard mixed reviews on the place so I thought I’d better check it out myself being both “The Belly” and also a lover of Italian food.
The building and area which surrounds are pretty much brand new, what used to be a grotty old car park is now a street of boutiques, bars, restaurants & apartments. I’ve got to hand it to the developers as this is a vast improvement on what was here and makes great use of the area.
Walking ion to the restraint I notice that there is a large Italian family eating here (always a good sign for an Italian restraint), also the place is run by genuine Italians, the problem was that apart from the family were the only other people in the place (which goes back to me thinking not many people know about this area yet). Sadly, as my wife and I sat down the family left leaving us the only two customers in the rather large area (always a bit daunting).
We were soon seen to by a waitress who brought over our menus and took our drinks order. Looking through the menu there was a good choice of dishes but not too many which I personally like. There were the traditional dishes you expect to see plus some others that you wouldn’t such as the Al Cinghiale (Wild Boar Ragu), Arancini Repieno (Deep Fried Rice balls) and the Di Bacala, Rucola e Zucchini (Cod raviolo, rocket and zucchini with celeriac puree, radicci and provolone cheese).
There was the option of Lasagne on the menu with a notice underneath to ask the waiting staff about today’s lasagne. When we did ask we were told by the waitress that she “thought” it was just normal… and that was that. I’d expect her to know to be honest since she is serving the customers but even if she was unsure I still would have expected a “I’m not sure, let me ask the chef and I’ll come back to you”.
After my parents joined us we all placed our orders:
Starters
Me: Arancini Repieno (Deep Fried Rice balls)
Pa Belly: Tris di Bruschette (Traditional bruschette Tomato and basil, beans,tuna and onion and buffala mozzarella with pesto)
When asked which of the toppings he would like, Pa Belly ordered the Buffalo Mozzarella but did question the waitress as he had ordered it the last time he’d been there and recalled that each bruschetta had a different topping. Later the waitress came back to say that he was right…. Again, I would have expected the waiting staff to know what the dishes were.
Mrs Belly & Ma Belly: Cesto Di Pane Misto (A basket with fresh backed mixed Italian style bread, butter, extra virgin olive oil and homemade tomato and chilli jam).
The rice balls were excellent, they came served with a small side salad and a sun dried tomato dip that was also excellent. The bread basket my wife & ma ordered was quite big so all four of us had to help out on that but again the bread was very good and the chilli jam was quite unique, a bit like strawberry jam with sweet chilli sauce. I can’t comment on the bruschetta but Pa Belly seemed to enjoy it!
For our main courses:
Mrs Belly ordered the Tagliatelle con Ricotta e Noci (Tagliatelle with ricotta and walnuts) and really enjoyed it.
Myself, Ma Belly & Pa Belly all ordered the Al Cinghiale (Wild boar and meat ragu in a traditional tomato sauce) but after we started eating it we kind of wish we hadn’t. The actual boar meat ragu & tomato sauce were delicious, really rich in flavour but the pasta was fresh, thick and chewy which although it didn’t ruin the meal completely it was a bit of a let-down. We did mention this to the waitress who again went off and never returned, it wasn’t until we’d finished eating that the owner came to take our plates and to discuss the pasta. We were told that because the pasta was fresh & thick that it would never go soft from boiling and that it was “Al Dente”. I hate to disagree with an Italian about pasta but when I’ve made my own pasta it has always cooked soft, if the pasta was supposed to be Al-Dente then it should have stated it on the menu. It was undercooked, end of… I just wish he’d have said “sorry about that but thank you for bringing it to my attention”. It’s not like I want anything free out of it but if something’s not as it should be then I feel you need to let these places know.
Since Mrs Belly has a bit of a sweet tooth we obviously stayed for dessert and since Spaghetti Johns boats about being a Gelateria then we just had to have the ice cream.
What can I say about the ice cream? Hmmmm, it was simply amazing! There were 12 or 14 flavours to choose from and it is all made fresh on eth premises by the owner. My god does he have a talent there! I’ve been to Italy twice before and this really does match up to the ice cream I had over there, it’s a bloody art in my opinion. I got myself three scoops to try: Cherry, Pistachio and Ferrero Rocher. Seriously, they were all delicious, the cherry ice cream had whole glacier cherries mixed in to it, the same goes for the pistachio with full nuts mixed in and the Ferrero Rocher had massive chunks of the Ambassadors favourite party food throughout.
That’s the food out of the way, there are a couple of other niggles I have about the place. Firstly when you enter the restaurant the first think you’ll notice is just how damn bright the place is, since the inside of the building is very minimal, white & stark the bright lights basically kill any atmosphere that may have been there. If they dimmed the lights a little the whole place would feel warmer & more inviting. The other issue I had was that there seemed to be a lot of people working there but very little custom, there were four people working in the kitchen, three waiting staff + the owner. Then there were some other people who were either working there or just friends of the staff. The problem in a situation like that is that people are just hovering about, I could see that everyone was basically watching us eat. I can’t stand that, I don’t want people staring at me while I eat thank you very much! It’s like they’re desperate for something to do, at one point it appeared that we had finished (we hadn’t we were just paused & chatting) and I could see the waitress heading towards the table out of the corner of my eye so I picked up my fork just before she reached us and I saw her spin on her heels 90 degrees and head off the other way (heh).
I know I’m being a bit down on the place but I honestly think a lot of the problems are down to the place being new . I’ll go back and give the place a fair chance again maybe sometime later next year to see how things have improved but my first visit wasn’t exactly the experience I was expecting or wanted.
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