This Italian day and night cafe is located next door to Costa in the Courtyard behind St. Mary’s Church. It is Italian/Mediterranean themed inside with bottles of wine and olive oil dotted around and giant chillis, baskets and other hazards hanging off the walls. You have to sit to avoid banging your head on these but you should bring Anadin just in case. Punters seems to be passers-through or ex-school teachers – they read papers, laugh too loudly or just stare at each other silently whilst fiddling with a semi-stale biscotto.

The menu is quite large and there are always some specials on the board which are a bit hit and miss. We had ordered two soups for a laugh but the smile was wiped off faces when we got out bill; £7.95 for a soup and a strips of GF bread! Santa Maria! Fine but was expecting to receive some jewellery with it or shares in the business for that price. Food can be great but sometimes is overpriced and tastes like I made it. Good selection of cakes is available though if you fancy.

A bee had flown in and caused the diners to stand up and gently and aggressively waft the furry buzzer out. At one point the whole cafe was standing like a church service and started wafting newspapers like they were trying get a plane to land. The bee exited and all was calm.

In the summer though you can sit outside though there are only a couple of tables and you are a bit exposed (maybe because you have had to sell all your clothes after the last visit). On my last visit there was a large splat of tuna on the floor outside, obviously dropped by a waiter, but was ignored for an hour at least. I was expecting to be pounced on by hungry kitties but no such luck. Just a couple of bored looking Austrian tourists wanting to find the square.

The owner Sylvio (resembling the actor Henry Woolf) used to work in Sainsbury’s before setting up this business. Good luck to him but the food needs to be a bit more consistent and get its prices right. Despite the bee leaving, all the customers still managed to get stung. Sorry honey,  I will bee taking that line out!

 

Verdict: 3 /5

Good:

Clientele

Bad:

Prices.