Rialto Restaurant
The name Rialto comes from the Rialto bridge which you see on the mural inside the restaurant. I looked up Rialto in Wikipedia and learned that it means river high, or the high bank, the riverside where the market was set up, linked by a bridge, one of four across the river, and an icon of Venice. It's a covered bridge and the rental helped pay for the upkeep of the bridge. We used to have a covered bridge in London. Another well-known covered bridge in Italy is the one in Florence with jewellery shops. This is a conversation starter if you're with an old or new friend in the restaurant and looking for a general topic before you move into the more confidential conversation.
Despite the echoing flooring and wood tables you could not hear the conversation of others nor be overheard because of the background music. That was good.
I started with a glass of prosecco, the Italian sparkling wine, which resembles a dry Champagne. Prosecco seems to appear more often on menus nowadays that the sweeter Asti Spumante.
Outside, a board had displayed a lunch time offer competing with other local restaurants but we were given the main menu. I wasn't bothered because I was looking for something different from pizza and pasta and opted for the chicken with vegetables. I like a piece of solid meat. the spinach and carrots were okay. Casa Mia on a good day, and Fellini in the old days, used to do chicken and freshly cooked vegetables better.
Yes, it was only lunch time, but almost £12 for a lunch you expect something good, more than you'd get for the usual loss leader of £6 and under, which means most restaurants are breaking even so they are employed and getting free lunch, making money only on the drinks and keeping the place busy, occupying the waiting staff, reminding you the customer to come back in the evening.
I tried my companion's spaghetti carbonara, which is made with egg yolk and ham. Could not believe how astonishingly good it was. So good I might have that instead if I ever go back.
Our smiling waitress was from Poland, a town which was previously called Breslaw. In fact four different smiley people served us or asked if everything was all right so service was a good point. I didn't complain about anything because nothing was so wrong that I wanted it changed. But I was glad when I was given a comment form and asked to fill it in. I told them that the chicken was rubbery and I'd have preferred saute potatoes to boiled. Not boring old boiled like school dinners. I like potatoes with a crisp outside, chaps, saute or roast. If I must have something better for a calorie conscious diet I'd opt for baked in their jackets potatoes or mashed potatoes. (I do hate it when menus say mash (verb) potatoes instead of mashed (adjective).
At dessert time once again my companion chose well and I had the duff dessert and wished I'd ordered the other one. I opted for cheesecake and as I'd suspected the biscuit base was good, the fresh-ish raspberries on top were tasty, but the cheesecake itself looked like toothpaste and did not taste at all like cheese. I prefer the New York style baked
cheesecake you get in Starbucks and similar coffee shops. However, the banoffee (banana+toffee) pie tasted of banana and was wonderful. On my previous visit I'd tried the lemon ice cream and loved it. The single espresso with hot milk was so so.
What do other places do to make coffee a real treat? Caffe Fellini seems to serve coffee with cream and better brown sugar. Lump brown sugar always looks delightful as well as tasting great.
I also told them I'd have preferred chocolate to rock hard mint. (I won't eat caramels nor rock hard sweets and overcooked food since breaking a tooth and having a delicate filling which has already been replaced twice.)
If I go back I'll either opt for the dishes I know are great or try something new. I give five stars to a restaurant where every dish is a delight. Four stars means some are great, some not. Nothing was actually wrong but I save five stars for the ooh ah places where everything looks and tastes delightful.
Hawtreys in Ruislip, and in Hatch End in the evening sometimes Hatchets and Caffe Fellini can hit the ooh ah spot. Maybe Rialto will, too. They are only a few feet away from Hatchet's which has the plaque to Mrs Beeton, the cookery writer who pioneered the recipe starting with the ingredients.
So Rialto - yes, I'll go back. They are conveniently open all day 11 am to 11 pm. If you wish to go, the address is: Rialto Restaurant, 451 Uxbridge Road, Hatch End, Pinner, Middlesex HA5 4JR, tel: 020 8421 5550 /0352.
their other branches are in Fulham and Dorking and their website is www.caferialto.net or www.cafe-rialto.co.uk
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