Two years ago hubby and I got married at the roker hotel in Sunderland, so we decided to have a meal in one of the restaurants there for our anniversary while my parents looked after EmJ (not going to lie, I text and rang my mam a few times to check how EmJ was!). Last year we went to the Italian Farmhouse restaurant and really enjoyed it so we wanted to go there again this year and make it a bit of a tradition.
I didn't get any pictures of the food or the decor as every time I went to take a picture I was getting dirty looks off the woman on the table next to us and I am a very shy person so I didn't dare!
We made a reservation for 7pm, when we got there we were given a table for 2 in between two other tables despite there being loads of free tables that weren't quite so claustrophobic. The tables were really close together to the point where the woman on the next table kept staring at me and blatantly listening to our conversation which made me feel uncomfortable!
The design of the restaurant is quite nice, it has a lot of brickwork on the walls which gives it a bit of a rustic feel, and it has bags of pasta and bread as decoration and garlic and salami hanging from the ceilings above the windows which actually makes it look better surprisingly. The lights have big paper shades around them which makes the atmosphere a bit more romantic as the lights seem dimmer and there are candles on every table. The only thing that was out of place was the signs on the bathroom doors which I took a picture of because they were more rock or biker club based than Italian! There are quotes on the walls which I love as they are inspirational quotes which made me smile! Again didn't really fit with the Italian theme but didn't look out of place if that makes sense.
Hubby got a pint of lager and as I'm breastfeeding I got diet coke, which took about 20 minutes to come!which meant that our order didn't get taken until about 25 minutes after we got there which was a little annoying as the last time we went it was taken more quickly and I was very hungry. We decided to get a starter and hubby got meatballs and I got bruscetta as I usually love it. I don't know whether the bruscetta I have had before has been made incorrectly, or whether it was made incorrectly there but I didn't like it at all. The bread was soggy and cold (it might be meant to be cold it just happens that whenever I have had it before the bread has been a bit crunchy and it's usually warm ), and there was way too much basil so I ended up leaving most of it. Hubby loved his starter though and I must admit his was really nice although the sauce genuinely tasted like dolmio sauce! The starter took ages to come, and the table to the left of us had their main and dessert before we got our starter and the table to the right of us had their starter and main before we got our starter!! Both myself and hubby were starving by the time the starter came which made it all the worse when I didn't like mine!!
For main hubby got a pizza with three types of cheese on it with spicy beef and I got spaghetti carbonara as it is one of my favourite meals and it was lovely when I had it last time. Unfortunately hubby didn't like his pizza, we don't think the board it came on had been wiped properly as his pizza tasted of washing up liquid and the beef wasn't spicy and had loads of fat on it! He left most of his so I offered to share mine with him but it had mushrooms in it so he wouldn't! Mine was quite nice although the sauce was a bit too liquidy, and the ham was mostly fat so I ended up picking the ham out! They also covered it in black pepper and as I don't like the taste of pepper I ended up leaving a lot of mine too. The main took about 40 minutes to come which again was disappointing!!
As we both had left a lot of our food so far we decided we wanted dessert to try and fill us up a bit. Hubby got ice cream and chose chocolate, raspberry pavlova and passionfruit. He left the raspberry pavlova scoop but he really enjoyed the other two flavours and I haven't seen him so happy in ages! The passionfruit scoop was a bit like having sorbet which was good as it helped to get the taste of his pizza out of his mouth. I got chocolate calzone which was calzone with Nutella inside of it and vanilla ice cream on the side. Although my calzone was burnt I still really enjoyed it as I absolutely love Nutella!! The dessert was definitely the best part of the meal and I loved it so much!! again, we had to wait ages for our dessert to come out, and hubby was beginning to get annoyed with the service! I had finished my drink with my main and I didn't get the chance to get another one because the waiter wouldn't come over to the table even when we tried to get their attention so I ended up being quite thirsty and having to get a drink as soon as I got home!
The fastest part of the night was when we had to pay, the waiter couldn't have been any faster if he tried! Although this was good because it meant we could get out of there quicker, it was slightly annoying that they made us wait for the food but couldn't wait for us to pay and leave even though it was practically empty!
Overall we were in there for 3 hours and genuinely spent about half an hour eating and 2 and a half hours waiting! There was another group of people came in about half an hour after us that had finished all 3 courses before we even had our main! I don't know whether our waiter was just really busy or really slow but the service should have been more consistent rather than some people having to wait ages and some getting their food practically straightaway!
Overall I would give a 4 out of 10 for service, and a 4 out of 10 for the food and that's just because I adored the dessert so much. I don't think we will be going back there again which is a shame as we loved it last time but the chef was different I think. I know hubby wouldn't recommend it to anyone and after this time I don't think I would either! I think the only really good thing about it is that it is opposite the beach which is my favourite place in the world and makes me feel at home even though I don't live there anymore.
Have you been there?What did you think of it?
Xxx
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