Prezzo - Victoria Square - Belfast

I tend to think poorly of all chain restaurants. They often lack of charm and authenticity and the food is rarely fabulous. Nevertheless, when it’s Friday night past 8pm and that you spontaneously decide to eat out, there are not that many options left. That’s why after several failed attempts to be squeezed in between bookings at one of the restaurants on my “must try” list, I had to face the annoying reality and book a table at the Italian chain “Prezzo”.

Well, I have to admit that I was happily surprised by the design of the place. It is all very modern and trendy looking with great lightings and fancy furniture. There is also an open plan kitchen, which I love because you get to see the chefs in action and also somehow a guarantee that nobody is going to spit in your pasta.

The menu was extensive and rather appealing as well as the wine list. So far so good, we ordered the garlic pizza bread and calamari to share as a starter. We certainly didn’t have to wait long but we both expected something better. The calamari were sad small chewy rings, probably just out of the freezer and the pizza bread despite a nice touch of caramelised balsamic onions was quite bland. It was too much in quantity and not enough in flavors.

For the main course, we both fancied the chicken and asparagus risotto, which seemed like a reasonably safe option: you can rarely go wrong with Parmesan cheese and asparagus…

You know how risotto when not well executed can get a bit stodgy and sticky? Well, this one was perfect. The texture was lovely, the asparagus giving a crunchy boost to the dish and the chicken was really tender. I only regret the slight lack of seasoning but the freshly grated Parmesan kind of made up for it.

After that positive note, I couldn’t resist trying their intriguing milk chocolate fudge cake wondering if it would really change the flavours of this favourite classic of mine. The cake in itself was beautiful with delicate layers of moist dark chocolate sponge and delicious smooth milk chocolate ganache. I was shocked though, by the addition of a horrendous syrupy bottled chocolate sauce that came across the lovely flavours of the cake. Fortunately, there was not too much of it on the plate.

This was not my best restaurant experience in Belfast but it still made me soften a bit about chains. They certainly are not all bad and Prezzo does offer beautiful surroundings and good value for money.