Bollicini, Chester

Despite auguring well with a lovely setting and a friendly waitress our first shock came with the seemingly frustrating menu - designed to look like a magazine it overwhelmed us and much of the food did not appear to be authentic Italian. I ordered scallops followed by duck. I thought the scallops were tasteless and overcooked. The duck was served with an orange sauce (Italian?) which to put it nicely had a thick gloopy texture - my 5 year old niece described it as looking like a green bogey. Astonishingly for duck I found the meat to be rather bland, a real achievement! Others in our party had similar experiences, the best meal was a steak as these are hard to ruin, my brother was faced with a plate of meat which hinted at being lamb but tasted much like chewy protein.

I thought the food at Bollicini did not taste as good as it sounded on the menu. I ordered the muscles in white wine and tomato with crusty bread. The muscles were ok, a bit on the small side, but I've had much better in other local restaurants. The crusty bread was a tiny, thin slice of what looked liked french bread. and not the crusty italian bread I was expecting.The sauce might have been tasty, but we had no way of eating it as here was no spoon provided. The second course of seabass with clams was a let down. The seabass was overcooked, but clams were tiny ,not worth putting on the plate and seemed almost like an after thought.. The vegetables were bland and tasteless. I had also ordered a side salad which was also bland, boring and came without dressing. My partner and I don't normally order a third course but we were both so hungry after this disappointing meal that we ordered another course or we knew we'd be visiting a chip shop on the way home! I ordered cheese and biscuits. My partner ordered a chocolate souffle, which, although he said tasted very nice he said was more like a chocolate fondant and not a souffle.

I was really looking forward to a visit to this restaurant based on what I had seen on the menu. However, I felt it was an expensive meal and a very disappointing evening. I have paid less at other local restaurants, but have received a much better meal. I would not recommend Bollicini's to my friends.