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Restaurant review: Adel's Divino
One minute you're wandering through a maze of suburban streets then, with one sharp turn, you find yourself in Zsa Zsa Gabor's dining room. Surely this can't be right?
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No, it is. Forget the mock Tudor and bay-windowed roads outside, welcome to Divino: a little, glitzy corner of Italy right in the heart of North Leeds. Blimey.
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At first it's tricky to know what to make of the restaurant. Sure it looks a little gauche, a bit too in your face with its mix of pink, black and white leather but on the other hand it does have an alluring atmosphere and as soon as we walked through the door the staff did one basic thing which wins you over from the start.
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"Good evening sir, can I get you a table?"
Ok, that sounds like a basic requirement, but it's not always a given
believe me. And from thereon in the service was always reasonably attentive.
I say reasonably attentive because there were one or two moments which irked. I ordered a coke which never came and our wine, once poured was never topped up. Minor things but all inadequacies which mean that
Divino is very much a mid-market restaurant, which is fine.
Interestingly it's also a local family-orientated restaurant. For all the boutique surroundings the menu and friendly ambience means that the place seems filled with young and old, families and couples. It's relaxed, it's potentially romantic, in fact it can be anything to anyone – and that's impressive.
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There are far too many restaurants that strive to pull in a niche market and in doing so only alienate everyone. Far from falling between several stools this place has pitched it just right. Small wonder it was pretty busy and buzzing on the Friday night we visited.
Suburban restaurants are important. Really important. They're a genuine focus for local communities and (to use another clich) a source of pride for communities to say they actually have, and support, a quality restaurant. And this is a quality restaurant, not top end, but a pretty good calibre just the same.
The food was also pretty good. I started with a tricolore salad of
avocado, tomato and mozzarella drizzled with basil and extra virgin olive oil, which was just right in terms of freshness and portion size.
My dining partner had the special of mussels which were perfectly cooked and plentiful.
My main wasn't quite as successful, I went for the 8oz Filleto Dolce which is a pan fried fillet of beef wrapped in parma ham and topped with dolcelatte with a light red wine sauce.
The problem was that it was taste overload, like an earthquake of flavours which left my tastebuds not knowing quite where to turn next. First was the hit of the ham then an undercut of cheese, a sting of wine. But all I really yearned to do was drink in the subtle flavours of the actual fillet. Shame.
Still, my dining partner had no complaints about his chicken breast which was stuffed with spinach and ricotta and all our accompanying dishes of veg were perfectly prepared.
Desserts were passable but not spectacular. I went for the strawberry ice cream – which was reasonable but not out of this world, and it was a similar story with my dining partner's cheesecake.
You can't complain too much about the food here though, there's nothing you can pinpoint which is a terrible flaw but at times the dishes can be underwhelming while at other times it's a case of overkill. Just choose your meals carefully.
Another annoyance is the cost. Divino isn't a budget restaurant. The majority of starters are priced 6-8, pasta and pizza dishes 8-9, while the mains vary from 11-20, with most around the 15 mark. Which is relatively pricey for a local restaurant.
The wine was more reasonable, with half the list coming in at well under the 20 mark – our own choice was just 14.95, a lovely Conch Y Toro Sauvignon Blanc with a gooseberry, nettle and lime hint.
In total, our bill came to a not insubstantial 91 with the 'discretionary' service charge, even though there was no indication on the bill that it was discretionary.
Knock off the tip and three courses with a bottle of wine and one coffee, still came to 83 which, even considering I had a steak, is still quite expensive. It isn't an outrageous tab to pick up but it is the kind of price you might expect to shell out in the city centre.
But then again, you can't help but feel they've tried to recreate the feeling of a central restaurant here on the outskirts of Leeds and they deserve credit for trying, not least because they've been largely successful.
The food isn't staggering, the prices don't represent great value and the interior, well, it certainly won't be to everyone's taste. But the overall package of Divino is somehow incredibly endearing and a real credit to the neighbourhood.
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