We have always found that both food and service to be exemplary on our visits to Carluccio’s Restaurant in Bluewater Kent, so my wife and I were pleased to find that one has opened just down the road in Tunbridge Wells.

We decided to visit for Sunday Lunch on September 21st 2003 only a week after it had opened, perhaps, on reflection, a bit too soon. Carluccio’s does regional Italian food, and they have a deli section where one can buy many of the ingredients used in the restaurant. It’s possible to have a simple single dish and a drink for under £10 or a full 3 course meal for twice that, plus drinks and tip. We placed our order for food and drinks (two fresh lemonades). Unfortunately it took 10 minutes for them to decide that my wife’s the ravioli was “not ready yet”. She had to choose something else. I never saw anyone get the ravioli, so perhaps “not ready yet” is restaurant speak for “none was delivered”. I started with Sardines and my wife with Antipasto di Verdure, comprising green beans, olives, peppers, oven roasted tomatoes. Both were near perfect and very tasty. Next I had steak with rosemary potatoes and red wine sauce, and my wife’s second choice was a Calzone Imbottito a sort of folded pastry thing full of roasted vegetables and cheese, very inexpensive and very filling. My steak was full of flavour and came as two separate pieces. Unfortunately much of the second piece was so tough I had to leave most of it. I’ve had steak at Carluccios before and it was perfect, so we’ll put this down to bad luck. Lastly I had ice cream and my wife a pana cotta, both were fine. We would have liked a coffee, but did not have the patience to wait around. If we had never been to the branch in Bluewater we would have been quite happy, but, and don’t get me wrong, the food was fine and the service, OK, in fact much better than most, it’s just that Bluewater was so much better. Individual staff did their best, but there was no co-ordination and service was quite slow. The final bill revealed (once the “not ready yet” Ravioli had been removed) that we could have had a set price Sunday Lunch for very little more at the Hotel du Vin and Bistro. With competition like that Carluccio’s need to sharpen its act, I’m sure it will. For a simple, no fuss meal of authentic Italian food, I’d recommend it. Top Cat