It becomes clear within moments of walking in the door at Carluccio's that this will probably not be the best lunchtime experience I will ever have.
Situated in the bright, breezy surroundings of The Green, the eatery has a few customers seated when my friend and I arrive, but is hardly bustling.
So that makes it all the more unfortunate when we are both left standing around for at least a minute, trying vainly to get the attention of staff who will take us to our seats.
Even the girl at the Cappucino machine doesn't seem to be paying us a lot of attention. Eventually a waitress, while attending to someone else at another table, catches our glance and asks us to grab a seat.
How unfortunate that we are left waiting again for another couple of minutes for a menu to be brought to us. If this was a busy restaurant, I could let it slide. But it's not.
Eventually, we get our menus and peruse the selection of goods. Starters are between three and five pound and the main courses go for around £8 to £12. I order some focaccia with olive oil for dipping and penne with tomato sauce and sausage for my main.
The focaccia arrives soon after and, gratifyingly, it's huge. But there's too much salt sprinkled on top and eating it soon becomes a formality rather than a pleasure.
Given that there's already healthy amounts of sea salt provided on the table, I'm not sure why the restaurant felt the need to put even more on the bread.
My main course arrives, seemingly minutes after I ordered it. I am instantly suspicious at how quickly it could arrive in as much time as it takes to serve a Big Mac and fries.
I was promised sausage, but what I have instead is a generic mince meat sauce that tastes okay, but is distinctly underwhelming. I eat all of it because I'm hungry, but I could do better at home, and for a lot less than £7.25.
My friend eats her Tiramisu but is less than impressed with it.
On the plus side, the staff are all friendly and pleasant, but I have had more fulfilling lunches with sushi from boots. Three simple words; must try harder.
