Carmelo's, Pudsey

This is an Italian restaurant on Richardshaw Lane, Pudsey which I believe has recently opened. Not only was it Friday, it was pay day, so off we went with G and V for a nice dinner.

It’s a fairly small place that used to be the The Last Viceroy Indian Restaurant. Plenty of customers already in when we got there around 8pm. Customers came and went, not packed out, but not dead either. The menu is typical Italian - pizza, pasta and some meat dishes. There is also a specials board. Reasonable prices, with pizza or pasta dishes coming in around £7-8.

I skipped the starter, but the company had barbecue spare ribs and garlic mushrooms. Good flavour for the mushrooms. The ribs had a “secret” special barbecue sauce, which we believe included aniseed (beware if you hate the stuff, like me!).

Main courses included sea bass for G (good), Napolitano pizza for A (anchovies, capers and olives), chicken with a cream sauce for V, and I had linguine with chicken, mushrooms, sundried tomatoes and a cream sauce – very tasty. Garlic tomato pizza bread ordered as a side with the main dishes was excellent.

Wine with the dinner was pinot grigio (the old staple). Very good at around £15 a bottle.

The service, in particular, is excellent – staff are very friendly and like a joke with the customers.

A slight “held hostage” moment at the end of the meal, waiting for the bill. I am just very impatient and after a meal, I like to get out pronto (usually for a cigarette!). In addition, A likes to stand up and have a stretch!!! We have been known to get up and pay at the bar or till when we have been kept waiting for the bill in restaurants. Not the case here, though. A short wait and then off to the pub over the road for an end of night whiskey.