Piccolino

Overall the experience was slightly underwhelming. It wasn’t bad, but considering the price I expected a bit more. As has been mentioned in some previous reviews it does seem a little bit confused. It has the pretence of a high end and classy joint but isn’t getting it quite right in the details. In fact some my say ‘style over substance’. However I did have some reasonably good food. The drinks were over priced, of course, and the waiter was thickening up his Italian accent in feigned authenticity (I think) and that was exacerbating matters. Still as I said the food is good-​ish… but expensive … which in balance means this place was bog standard and if it was not so conveniently placed would have to significantly raise its game to survive. I advise going 5 mins further out from the centre where restaurants that are selling themselves on being high end are working a little harder for their custom.

I’m not quite sure why I’ve never tried Piccolino before, I’ve walked passed it a million times and nothing has every lured me in. I eventually decided to try it after I was trying to book a table for twenty on a Friday night at another Italian place around the corner but they said it was too big a party. A friend suggested Piccolino and so we went with that.
There ended up being thirteen of us for a hen-​party meal (not THAT kind of hen party, it was all very subdued, honest) last Friday. I’d told them beforehand that we had a smaller number than previously planned and they were fine about it. We arrived just before our booked time of 8.30 and it was full. Very full. We waited in the small waiting area for over half an hour before they squeezed us in somewhere. When I say squeezed I mean it — there was no room to move and as I was on the end I had my elbow nudged a number of times by waiting staff pretty much running by.
So I’ll go with the positives first. They gave us some free breads and olives because of our wait (we had been there over 45 minutes before our order was taken). The food was gorgeous I had the baked mushroom and goats cheese starter (£7.50) followed by a spiced aubergine pasta (£9.50) for my main which they made with penne for me rather than the spaghetti it comes with on the menu (I try not to eat spaghetti in crowded restaurants as anyone in my vicinity will be covered in it). Portion sizes were great and it was all really, really tasty. I’d also sampled a gorgeous limoncello bellini while we were waiting to be seated which was very tasty.
Now for the not so positives. As a veggie I was a bit gutted at the lack of veggie options on the menu (one veggie pasta, one veggie pizza and two veggie risottos for the mains). I found the whole atmosphere quite stressful. As I’ve said it was a Friday evening and was full but I’ve been in plenty of busy restaurants that have been nowhere near that noisy. I mean really, really noisy where I could barely hear the person sat next to me. I don’t know if it’s because they had so many parties in or if the ceiling is low or what but it really ruined the feel of the evening and made me want to rush my meal.
I was also not at all impressed with the service. We’d asked for a jug of water four or five times before some of us (not all) were given a glass of water each. The waiter didn’t bother coming round to each of us to take our order but stood at the opposite end of the table so we had to shout across (I’ve already mentioned the noise level so this wasn’t easy). Now my friend and I have a bit of a weird food thing and we don’t want the world to hear what we are ordering so we weren’t impressed with this. When a different waiter brought the food out we couldn’t hear what he was shouting and he wasn’t the one who had taken our orders so we all just looked at him and tried to guess which meal belonged to who.
So far so bad. It was really difficult to get the waiter’s attention at any point as they were all rushing around and if one of us got his attention and asked for something, he would run off before anyone else on the table could ask for what they wanted. My friend attempted to order a glass of Merlot for about 10 minutes and then had to wait about that long again before she received it. Merlot-​gate then started when she thought it tasted foul and when we compared it to what was allegedly a glass of the same that someone else had ordered it was obviously off. The waiter replaced it with a glass that was drinkable but didn’t seem very happy about it.
In the end we didn’t bother sticking around for dessert (not something I’m in the habit of doing!), we got the bill and left. It was a real shame that the service was so bad, I don’t know if they were short staffed (although the staff weren’t particularly apologetic so maybe not) or that’s just how it is there. The crazy noise level, rushing around of the waiting staff and having to shout our orders across the room made for a stressful evening so I won’t be back on a weekend evening again.
Having said all that, the food was gorgeous and I accept that you need to try a place more than once before you write it off so I may try it again through the week and report back on whether I come back out with a headache and grumpy face again!!!

Just got back from a meal out (on work’s behalf) and it was absolutely delicious. I’m so full, but the three double espressos have kept me perky: D
I had delectable mussels, then tender, velvety fillet steak (you have to order veg/​chips etc as side orders — that’s how you know it’s posh), then blackcurrant sorbet. And half a zabaglione. Then the espressos. And some champagne. And house red. Ooooh it was so tasty. If I could afford to eat here off my own steam, I would. Starters are between £5.00 and £8.50, mains go up to £22.50 and puddings are around the £5.00 to £7.00 mark or something.
I think the bill came to about a grand for 18 of us, including drinks. Worth every penny. Of my work’s money. Nomnom.
PS I liked the spinny doors. And the service was ace. One of our waiters had very cool specs and was super nice to me after I mentioned them.

From its black marble and glass exterior to the floors, the tables and even the waiting staff, everything about Piccolino is super slick and super shiny. However, despite good first impressions, it seems to be a restaurant a little confused about what it wants to be. When I visited, the numerous staff on duty seemed to lurch between couldn’t care less nonchalance and in your face overenthusiastic, without any happy middle ground, and this odd contrast seemed to be reflected in a fairly puzzling menu where cheap, bog standard pizzas are offered alongside high-​end dishes like sea bass fillets and veal costing upwards of £16. Even the mid-​range items seem confused; my goat’s cheese ravioli seemed reasonably priced at £9.75, but while perfectly pleasant the portions were tiny, and the money I would have had to spend on a side dish to make it a filling main meal would have bulked the price up to about £13, which the dish was definitely not worth. Piccolino feels to me like half of it wants to be a cheap and reliable Italian chain like Prezzo or Pizza Express, while the other half is fighting to be recognised as a serious restaurant that justifies high prices. The food we did have was tasty, and the ingredients obviously of a good quality, but I think Piccolino would be an altogether better restaurant if it just worked out exactly what it wanted to be.

This is not a pizza hut experience at all! Piccolino offers a friendly Italian atmosphere and gorgeous traditional Italian menu that almost transports you to Italy when dining!
What I love about eating at Piccolino is the chic décor without feeling like the venue it too overly formal! A true taste of Italy in every sense of the phrase is offered here.
The menu is varied with something for everyone. Don’t like an ingredient? The Italian chefs will cook it how you want it.
If you do decide to eat here you have to try the traditional garlic bread which unlike the greasy rolls you get in the supermarket is a crisp, beautiful flat bread which is just divine as a starter. All the mains (Secondi) are just as tasty. The chefs make a mean mushroom risotto if you aren’t a pizza fan!
If you are eating at Piccolino you must get a desert, and it must be Tirimusu… very, very, very tasty and only £2.95.
The prices are expensive. For a drink, starter, main and desert you are looking at around £18 a head. If you want to treat yourself however this is a perfect treat. Sit by the window and watch the hustle and bustle of the city, while you sit in your classy surroundings, sipping on Italian red wine. Lovely!

This restaurant was actually very nice. The layout and décor is very slick and manages to be modern, comfortable and romantic. It’s obviously a very popular restaurant and was very busy when I visited. The food was reasonably good — I ordered chicken with gnochi whilst my byfriend opted for steak — the chicken was passable, but the steak was nicely cooked. The reason I have given Piccalino’s such a low score is really the customer service. The waiting staff were snooty — possibly because my boyfriend was wearing jeans as we’d decided to eat out on the spur of the moment, but it was not a posh restaurant. They also charged us for the bread they brought before we ordered and added an additional service charge. I wouldn’t have objected to this had the service been good, but given our mediocre treatment, I felt it was outrageous, particularly as the food and alcohol was already very expensive. For service and value, there are better restaurants in Leeds.

Walking into the restaurant i was a little put off by the annoying revolving doors, but to be honest that’s being as pedantic as possible, because there’s not much else to criticise here.
The service was good and prompt, all the waiters and waitresses being most polite. Plus the manager was strutting around like a real matador which was quite entertaining. He was obviously proud of his restaurant. Being an Italian restaurant the menu was typically centred around pizza, pasta and risotto, which was just the mood i was in. We ordered some goat cheese stuffed mushrooms on a bed of brushetta for starters which were niiiiiiiiiiiiiiiice, then i ordered the seafood risotto and she ordered a chicken pizza. I think i won the mains. The risotto was really creamy and full of mussels, king prawns and squid. Her pizza, to me, looked a little bare. There were about 6 strips of chicken on and nowhere near enough cheese and too much crust. It tasted okay but i was expecting more.
Then we topped everything off with cheesecake and blueberries, which you can’t really go wrong with. We devoured that in about 45 seconds. The weird couple next to us who had ordered exactly the same dishes as us all night were astounded.
The bill came to about £41 quid with service charge included, which i was quite happy to pay. The place was busy, even from the earlyish time we were in there, which was the main reason we went in to be honest. So as in Manchester it must be a popular venue.

Good value italian restaurant. Went for my work hen do with around 25 people. The menu was faxed through to us prior to the evening and our choices made before we arrived. The food was all ready for us, with no problems and exactly as ordered. The service was excellent, even for such a big group of us and the 10% service charge was well worth it.
The only down side was the sitting times, we had to be done and dusted by 9pm for the next sitting to be fed, which did rather rush us along a bit — probably why the service was so efficient! I’m not sure if this happens on any day other than Fri/​Sat though so probably not always an issue.

Had a very nice late, leisurely lunch after a hard morning’s shopping here, taking advantage of their deal which if I remember correctly was £10 for a main course and glass of wine (or similar). Food was very nice — standard Italian (chain) fair — think Zizzis, ASK, Pizza Express etc.
Liked the décor — light and airy, fresh flowers, open kitchen etc.
Service was a bit slow and unattentive, but it was very busy.

I’m not a huge fan of Italian food so only go to Italian restaurants now and again but I’m always happy to try something new.
I wasn’t greatly impressed with this place. It was very busy and is the noisiest restaurant I have ever been in!
There was a large group of us but we really had to shout to speak to each other to be heard.
There were plenty of staff on who were not particularly friendly and the service was not slow given the amount of people in but when the main course arrived we had to wait over 5 minutes for the spuds to arrive and about the same for the veg by which time the main course was getting cold!
The veg etc are served at extras and so appear on seperate dishes. For £22 I thought the steak might come with a bit more than one sliced mushroom and 2 slices of tomato, no its an extra £3 for the spuds and £3 for some green beans!
There certainly appeared to be no signs of the so called ‘credit crunch’ in here or in Leeds generally. For a Thursday night the city was rocking!
For somewhere as expensive as this you expect a certain level of service. The staff were shouting at each other in front of us in both English and Italian and plates were passed from one to another as they argued about who had ordered what. When we tried to help we were just ignored or scowled at!
One good thing was they did serve bitter. I do enjoy wines but if you’re going on to a pub afterwards it’s nice not to have to mix your drinks.
All said and done the food was tasty but I hate leaving a restaurant still feeling hungry.