Eat Out In Durham | Foods reviews for places to eat in County Durham Restaurants for Italian, Mexican, Fine Cuisine, Chinese, Indian and Japanese, eating out in durham

I love La Spaghettata!

It's great if you want a cheap and cheerful meal that tastes nice! The vegetarian lasagna is lovely and the garlic bread with tomato is fab! There's a help yourself salad bar too. (my favourite part of the meal is getting my bowl of salad with the lovely dressing!)

If you are going for something to eat before a good night out, then La Spaghettata is the place to go, provided you go early, the queue can get ridiculous. Once you're in, your food comes quickly, so you can guarantee you're out in time for a good night out on the town.

If you're going for a quiet meal with someone special, then perhaps this isn't the place to go, as it can get very busy and noisy.

All in all, I love it there!

Rating - 4 out of 5

If you're looking for a cheap (arguably microwaved), pseudo-Italian eatery, La Spaghettata is for you. Obviously subjective, but for me 'eating out' should be a chilled-out, mellow and personal experience. At La Spaghettata, you are treated to an extremely limited menu of anglo-italian food (confusingly enough, food cooked by Italians to cater for the common British perception of what Italian food is supposed to taste like), a MILE long queue - yes it is popular, but cheap stodge so what do you expect.

There's a 'get em in, feed em + get em out' mentality %u2026 cramped dining area and my pet-hate %u2026 FROZEN INGREDIENTS!!! I'm not being overly unkind by describing it as 'a school dining room where you have to pay' %u2026 cheap food, limited menu, plenty of punters - profit is inevitable and seems to have gone to the owner's head %u2026 this is NOT Italian food %u2026 go to Bistro Italiano (Sicilian joint on Claypath) if that's what you're after and La Spaghettata if you're after a heated ready-meal.

Rating 1 out of 5

I was looking for a quick bite to eat and decided to try Pizza Express in Durham, a rather large chain of restaurants, up and down the country, boasting over 300 across the UK. It was lunch time and it was quite busy with say 10 tables filled.

When me and my partner first entered the restaurant there was no-one to greet us, and we got the feeling that everyone was looking at us, this was a shame as it does make you feel quite uncomfterable. A chirpy young lady soon showed us to our seats, a stupidly small table which was no bigger than 3 foot wide. The waitress took our orders and brought and poured our drinks, she was pleasant and very helpful, as the thing with Italian restaurants a lot of the menu's are in, you guessed it Italian!

While waiting something caught my eye and that was I was able to see the chef at the far end of the restaurant, I like the idea of seeing my food prepared in-front of me and noticed the chef always washed his hands after handling anything, which was impressive and reassuring. I find when you wait for a meal you notice a lot more than when you first enter a establishment, it might just be me, but uncleaned window sills and left overs of food under the table doesn't do it for me, the cutterly I used although custom produced for Pizza Express could have been cleaner.

I had ordered Tortellini which was presented uniquely in a metal dish and with a spoon, most of the dish had been sprinkled with a very light cheese and created a thin layer over the top of the pasta rather than the paste being filled with cheese, the dish was excellent but not the best Tortellini I had eaten, the serving was plentiful and I could not finish the entire meal. But a great dish and the presentation was excellent!

The dining experience let Pizza Express down and felt that the restaurant was very dull and mundane, I accept that it's trying to appeal to a mature audience but it did not give of the feel of an Italian restaurant nor 'roman' which is their current advertisement. Decorated in white and marble tables it wasn't my cup of tea, I believe atmosphere in a restaurant is important, especially for a good dining experience and even on a busy Monday lunch time, there was non, despite the influx of students.

Rating 2 out of 5