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Restaurant Review: Il Migliore, Calverley Bridge, Leeds
WITH so many Italian eateries dotted around Leeds city centre and its suburbs, a restaurant must provide diners with quality food and good service to achieve any sort of longevity.
Unfortunately, Il Migliore failed in both departments, with some dishes that were barely edible and service so poor that we didn’t stay for dessert – not something that often happens to Oliver.
The outcome is particularly disappointing as the restaurant has achieved some decent online reviews since it opened in Calverley Bridge, on the outskirts of Horsforth, last year.
But our experience was far from enjoyable and in fact bordered on the unpleasant, with Il Migliore now attaining the dubious honour of being one of the worst restaurants I have ever been to.
But our first impressions were good. Il Migliore is located slightly off the beaten track in a stone building dating back to the early 20th century, which was formerly the home of French restaurant Paris.
It’s the kind of area you wouldn’t really expect to find a restaurant, set back from the outer ring road in between Horsforth and Calverley, just behind an industrial estate and next to a railway line.
The square building stands at the side of a fairly wide road and, surrounded by empty land, looks a bit cold and imposing from the outside. Thankfully, the interior of the restaurant is much more inviting.
Cosy-looking
Walking into the restaurant, you are faced with a lounge area to your left, with a cosy-looking fire and several big armchairs, and a long bar to your right.
The decor seems to combine old with new, with red brick walls and wooden beams reflecting the building’s past; and leather and chrome bar stools and shiny black counters to highlight a new chapter.
Through the narrow bar area, the venue opens out into an airy, conservatory-style dining space, with a mezzanine at the back containing one dining table for a large party and a white piano.
We were seated just next to the mezzanine, at a table with black leather chairs and minimal decorations – simply white tablecloths and cutlery.
The walls are designed with black-and-white patterned wallpaper which reminded me of Etch-a-Sketch doodlings, and the sparkly, crystal-effect chandeliers on the ceiling are another stand-out feature.
In terms of the menu, Il Migliore offers the standard range of Italian cuisine – pizzas, pastas, steaks, chicken dishes and a variety of starters.
At the beginning, the staff looked after us reasonably well. We ordered our drinks, browsed the menu, and placed our orders.– but it all went dramatically downhill from the main course onwards.
To start, I chose the king scallops in a spicy tomato sauce (£7.95), while my dining partner picked the mixed salad with smoked salmon and prawns (£6.95).
After an incredibly short wait, the dishes were brought to the table – and they were fairly sizeable.
My dish was served with a salad which had seen better days and was falling off the plate, while my dining partner’s salad, despite being a main part of his meal, was no better.
Mushy
In fact, it was the moment that I bit into one of the soft, mushy tomatoes that I realised this probably wasn’t going to be the best meal in the world.
The rest of the starter did not fare much better – although the scallops were juicy and well-cooked, the sauce was hot rather than spicy and was extremely bland.
My dining partner’s prawns were also bland and flavourless – which turned out to be a running theme of the night – and lying underneath the top layer of salmon was a pile of grey, slimy skin.
So far, not so good, but we were desperately hoping the main courses would reveal something positive.
To an extent, they did. My dining partner ordered a medium rare rump steak, served with roast vegetables, potatoes and a blue cheese sauce (£15.25, plus £1.50 for the sauce), while I chose the the Kiev Calzone, with mozzarella, chicken, garlic butter and tomato sauce (£9.25).
The steak arrived perfectly cooked and it tasted succulent and juicy; making it the best part of the meal by a country mile.
The sauce actually had plenty of flavour and was a good accompaniment – although the vegetables were soggy and bland.
By contrast, the calzone was virtually inedible. Soggy, tasteless dough covering a grey, sludgy filling which had no chicken flavour whatsoever but plenty of garlic to compensate. After struggling through the first half, I passed it to my partner. He tasted it but immediately gave up, he found it so unpleasant.
We remained hopeful that dessert would mark an upturn in our fortunes. However, dessert wasn’t to be.
After our main courses were cleared, we sat and waited for one of the staff to bring us a dessert menu.
And we waited and waited, before finally losing patience after 25 minutes.
The staff – two different men and one young lady had served us in the time we had been there – bustled around other tables and we honestly wondered whether we had become invisible.
In the end, we had to ask the young waitress to bring us a menu, and her reaction to our request seemed to be one of surprise mixed with annoyance.
She came back with the cheap-looking plastic menus and then went off again.
She chatted to the table next door for around 10 minutes, not even glancing at us once in that time, and then disappeared back into the kitchen.
By this time, we’d had enough – it was 35 minutes after our plates had been cleared, and still no dessert was in sight. We retrieved our coats on and headed to the bar to pay, where the waiter looked neither surprised nor bothered to see us standing there ready to leave as quickly as possible.
Just as we were leaving, the young waitress emerged from the kitchen with the dessert order for the next door table – and not a flicker of acknowledgement for us in her eyes. Simply charming.
I wish I could at least say the value for money was good – but it wasn’t, with the bill coming to a total of £51.
Based on the quality of the food served to us, it was all overpriced with the exception of the steak.
But although our experience was far from a pleasant one, it would be a lie to say the restaurant had no potential.
With a bit of improvement, some of the dishes might have been good; and the decor and atmosphere certainly had some positive qualities. But the questionable taste and appearance of most of our food and, particularly, the absolutely appalling service, really let it down on this occasion.
FACTFILE
Address: Calverley Bridge, Calverley Lane, Horsforth, Leeds, LS13 1NP
Opening times: Mon to Fri 11.30am until 2:30pm and 5.30pm until 10pm; Sat 5.30pm until 11pm; Sun 12pm until 9pm.
Tel: 0113 258 4300
Website: www.ilmigliore.co.uk
STAR RATING
FOOD.......................................... **
VALUE........................................... *
ATMOSPHERE......................... **
SERVICE .................................. *
***** EXCELLENT **** VERY GOOD *** GOOD ** AVERAGE * POOR
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Comments
There are 21 comments to this article
Page 1 of 2
Helen1311
Monday, February 27, 2012 at 08:27 PMOliver's review described my experience with the restaurant to a tee. The only difference being whilst we were waiting for the rest of our main courses to be cleared and dessert menus, the waitresses were sat at the other side of the restaurant eating their dinners. It has to be one of the worst dining experiences in a long time. Several friends have reported the same, food not bad but service during the meal terrible.
Brer Fox
Saturday, February 25, 2012 at 03:19 PMIn reply to Sylvie38.Surely the faults the critic found lie not with the diner but with the restaurant itself.It is NOT a critics job to give a good review when they have had a poor experience.I have read the responses from both the manager and yourself and I have to say that your crude and arrogant posts have put me off visiting the place..The shame lies with you and not with Oliver.
sylvie38
Saturday, February 18, 2012 at 02:20 AMI'm really surprised that the region's newspaper is criticising a business in this way - to the point of potentially putting it out of business. If they weren't providing a service that was liked by a number of people, they wouldn't be in business. I've never been to this restaurant but it must take a lot of effort and determination to operate in an economic climate such as the one we are in: we should be supporting independent businesses. In my experience you get back what you put out into the world - maybe a little more respect from you, Oliver, might have resulted in better service. It would also be interesting to know what credentials you have to pass judgement on these hard working establishments and also what your personal criteria is for a 'good' restaurant, because it doesn't seem that consistent.
apullin
Thursday, February 16, 2012 at 08:50 PMWell you can only speak as you find and our experiences at this restaurant have been faultless, dined here both as a large party for my husbands birthday and as a couple one Saturday evening. Surely it is not "Olivers" job to slate a restaurant in such an aggresive manner but to give a helpful unbiased opinion . There is obviously more to this story than meets the eye. I found this review by accident, so glad I did so I could put an honest customers point of view,
BrianG1959
Thursday, February 16, 2012 at 08:28 PMHmm! Reported as 'Unsuitable' presumably, irrespective of the veracity of the assertion! Still, it's nice to have one's family rushing to defend the indefensible. I think the critic had every right to call the visit as experienced. As for the comments from the staff and relatives; well, the professionalism or lack thereof is plain for all to see. I won't be going back but I'm also certain that I, along with the poor critic, will not be missed. Brian G.
jameshoodleeds
Thursday, February 16, 2012 at 07:02 PMWell, where do I start? I am of course referring to this complete load of garbage which has been publicised as a "review". First things first - I will be completely honest from the offset and advise that this restaurant is indeed owned by my Wife's Uncle however, please do not let this sway you, my comments here are completely un-biased and reflect my true experiences of visiting this restaurant. We first visited Il Migliore shortly after its opening last year. The chef had no idea that we were there when we placed our food order and as such had no time to make any kind of special provision to that effect. For starters I ordered the salmon which was very good indeed, my Wife ordered the Italian meats which again, she anjoyed very much. For main course I had the fillet steak. I should say without prejudice that (bearing in mind due to my profession I am a seasoned diner) it was one of the best steaks I have ever had served, and I have eaten in some of the finest restaurants in Yorkshire. Additionally, I believe that £22.00 for a meal of that quality, considering I could have paid over £30 at Bibi's and got served a lump of old leather was very good value for money. My Wife had the Penne Carbonara which she enjoyed also. After a very filling two courses, we decided to dispand with desert and retire to the bar. My Wife was driving that evening so stuck to soft drinks, I however, opted for the wine list. The house wine served at Il Migliore is called Vipre (both red and white varieties) and although I do not profess to be a wine connoisseur, it was very delicious and added both a perferct accompniment to the meal and was a good all-round drinking wine for afterwards. It was very reasonably priced as well considering that Bibi's have this quite far down their wine list at over £20 a bottle! I must say I am disappointed to read the review give here having had first hand experience of the excellent food, excellent service and excellent atmosphere afforded by Il Migliore. I regulary take my clients to lunch here (the lunch menu is great value for money combined with a good selection and fast service for the work-lunchers) and bearing in mind that the restaurant is a good 20 minutes drive from our offices in Gildersome, this should speak for itself not to mention taking my customers there! I would urge the YEP to re-review this restaurant with different diners so that they cannot be recognised and subsequently given special treatment. I am sorry to here that you allegedly had a bad experience but please, take it from me as an experienced "foodie" that this is one of the best restaurants in Leeds if not Yorkshire for a quality, Italian culinery experience.
BrianG1959
Thursday, February 16, 2012 at 02:20 PMComment removed by moderator
ladyleeds
Wednesday, February 15, 2012 at 07:44 PMI've read many a restaurant review from the YEP over the years when deciding where to eat or whether to try somewhere new, and will admit that after reading this I was a little apprehensive about the Valentines meal we had booked last night. I am however very pleased to report that we had a fantastic evening in a lovely, spacious restaurant with very pleasant, polite staff. The food was served quickly, it was all very well cooked and I wouldn't hesitate to go back. The pizza we had was particularly good. As a first time customer, I can honestly say that the staff could not have been more attentive and I did not notice any of the preference for regulars. I wouldn't normally bother to comment on a review but feel that the review provides a very unfair reflection on what seems to be a very good Italian restaurant in a beautiful setting. Give it a try!
CanDoo
Tuesday, February 14, 2012 at 08:48 PMWe are traveling to Leeds later in February, and wanted to locate a few good restaurants prior to our arrival. Judging from its exterior, the Migliore appeared that it may be a good place to eat. We have decided that this restaurant will not be on our list. Our decision is based almost entirely on the comments the restaurants manager has posted here. They had an opportunity to display a positive attitude to customers but they chose to do the opposite. The experience that the original poster had, seems to reflect this managers attitude towards clients.
ilmigliorebossman
Monday, February 13, 2012 at 06:51 PMMy response is not intended to blight peoples honest opinion, everyone is entitled to that and the freedom to express the same, However this is not an accurate report of events that occured on the evening, as for the internet i fully agree that anyone could be posting comments, even our own staff, but then again...........you could be Oliver!
Horsforthrich
Monday, February 13, 2012 at 05:37 PMWell, from my perspective and have eaten at this restaurant a few months ago and was also rather disappointed with the overall service and food on offer. It gave me the impression that it looked after those customers who go regularly (e.g. Make sure they are happy service wise, have a good chat etc), however for those people they don't know, don't spend a great deal of time "fussing over". The review above kind of mirrors that behavior. Then, the responses below shock me. Firstly, in the world of the Internet, the same person could be writing the good comments about eating there, or at least the staff could be. Secondly, how the manager has reacted is rather childish in my opinion. A restaurant manager should try use any review as tool to improve, not in a childish way trying to catch them out. Maybe you should direct your efforts at those people eating at your restaurant by improving service, rather than playing tit for tat on here. I for one will not be eating here again and have suggested likewise to friends and family.
ilmigliorebossman
Sunday, February 12, 2012 at 04:18 AMi do apologise i should have said 19,57! (not as big a mistake as yours mr M!)
ilmigliorebossman
Sunday, February 12, 2012 at 04:13 AMi am the manager of this restaurant. Oliver..........or shall i call you Mr M?..........you made a dreadfull mistake when you were paid to write this review...............you paid your bill with a credit card. tut tut. you see we have an EPOS system here which times your first drink order @ 19.14hrs you paid your bill @ 17.57hrs! which indicates that you were in my restaurant for a total of 43mins!,,,,,,,,,,,i do believe that we have broken a world record!! if you waited 35mins for a dessert menu then it means that in the other 8 mins you were here, you had a drink at the bar, you ordered, you received and consumedor not starters, and main course! get a grip oliver! (oh, and by the way, smoked salmon is sliced wafer thin and has no skin) send a pro next time and not a kid! and by the way the HE you refer to was a SHE! (we have cctv also) and yes it conforms! see you in court for slander! brian. restaurant manager Il Migliore.
eccles320
Sunday, February 12, 2012 at 12:31 AMThis guy is talking absolute crap. We went tonight and everything was amazing, The food was 110% the staff are welcoming and very friendly and polite. The atmosphere is great, 2 places for a quiet drink and then a very tranquil area for eating. This guy needs to get his self checked out. One of the best italians in the leeds area, I recommend that every one should go and try it. Great overall restaurant. DO NOT PAY ATTENTION TO THIS ARTICLE. Its a load of B**LOCKS!!!!! * and if anything is to be said of this im happy to argue with you all the way !!!
brian1944
Friday, February 10, 2012 at 09:27 PMWhat an appallingly inappropriate review! I have eaten at Il Migliore, as part of both small and larger groups of diners, and have always been pleased with the quality of service and food, on every occasion. It is unfortunate that such a bigotted and venomous piece of newsprint should be allowed to blight anyone's attempts at a business venture. I shall not find it necessary to read Oliver's reviews ever again.
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