Piccolino Clarence Street Manchester - 14th January 2015

I had high hopes of Piccolino's as the week before our visit, I had emailed to ask if they could cater for my vegan diet and I received a reply to say it was no problem and included a copy of their vegan menu which I blogged about previously.   We arrived and were shown to the bar for a drink by the Manager and then shown through to a nice table for two in the corner and given menus, it seemed maybe they had forgotten about my vegan requirements, so it was a good job I had printed off and taken my copy of the vegan menu.   I asked our waiter if the pasta on the vegan menu was eggfree but he had no idea and said he would have to ask chef.   We placed our order, mine being a spinach, avocado and mushroom salad and penne alla Norma (I had to ask the waiter again about the pasta and was told it was okay) and seasonal greens cooked with oil.   Both the dishes are on the menu and to make them vegan the pancetta on the salad and the ricotta cheese on the pasta is removed, but yet they charge the same price, which I find a bit cheeky.   The salad was okay, nothing to shout home about but what do you expect for £6.95!!

The pasta dish arrived and was covered in cheese, so our waiter took it back to the kitchen alongwith my husbands main course to keep it warm whilst a new dish was made.   Once this arrived so did my seasonal greens, whereupon the Manager asked if I would like cheese on my pasta!!   I'm afraid the pasta was undercooked and the sauce was bland, bland, bland, a shame as I have had the same dish in Italy and its fantastic with a delicious aubergine sauce, but not at Piccolino and at £10 not a cheap dish either.   My husband was suitably un-impressed with his meal and said it too was bland and underseasoned.   We decided not to bother with anything else and asked for the bill and I told our waiter I was not impressed with the food and he tried to blame it on the fact I had chosen the wrong dishes!   If a restaurant offers a special menu like vegan then the staff really should be well informed as to the diet in question, so maybe more training is required.  In the meantime this is one restaurant I will not be revisiting when back in Manchester.