It’s been a while since I did a food review on Inside Laura’s Head, and our recent weekend in Manchester provided me with a perfect opportunity for not one but two (Diecast MCR review coming soon!) We were in the city for Valentines weekend and for J to run a half marathon on the Sunday, so to facilitate the necessary pre race carb loading on Saturday evening we decided there was nothing better than Italian. We were staying in Salford Quays and wanted somewhere nearby, and J spotted L’Artigiano was close by and, most importantly, really well reviewed, so booked us a table for 7pm on Valentines day night.
Booking online was really quick and easy, although their website booking system was being a bit clunky and it turned out they didn’t have a 7pm table available. They did call us straight away, apologised and rebooked for 8 which was fine (and great customer service) so no problem there. I know things go wrong, and it’s how you deal with them that counts-they couldn’t have handled that any better.
We arrived a couple of minutes before 8 and our table was ready for us. I was handed a lovely red rose and wished a happy Valentines day (a great touch!) both of the people who served us were super friendly and we were given a big bottle of water for the table. Our order was taken quickly, but we were asked if we were ready and we weren’t rushed, they were just efficient. It was clear they’d happily give us more time if we needed it.
J went for a pint and I had a cocktail, an Italian Sunset, which has amaretto, grenadine and orange juice, and I really liked it. At £12, it wasn’t too badly priced either. For food, we shared a cheesy garlic bread, I went for a fillet steak, cooked medium rare with garlic butter, and J had Papardelle al Ragu di Salsiccicia, which had tuscan sausage and n’duja tomato sauce. My steak came with hand cut chips and we also ordered the sauteed wild spinach with lemon, garlic & extra virgin olive oil, to share between us.
The cheesy garlic bread was really tasty and large enough to share, one each would have been too much. My steak was cooked to perfection, I said it was the best steak I’ve ever had, and I stand by that statement. The chips were amazing and the spinach was really tasty too. J enjoyed his pasta, the quality was really good but the portion was a tad small, so we were glad we’d had the garlic bread starter. We were full after eating but made the mistake of looking at the dessert menu and chose to share a white chocolate panna cotta with raspberry coulis. It was incredible, and I’m so glad we caved and went for dessert!
Our only criticism of L’Artigiano was it took a while for us to be able to order our dessert, for it to come to us and for us to get the bill. However, it was a busy restaurant on Valentines night and ‘a while’ was about half an hour, not two hours, which is understandable.
The bill came to just under £100 which for a really good steak (£35) a starter, two mains, a pint, a cocktail and a dessert, felt very reasonable. I’d rate L’Artigiano as a solid 9.5 out of 10 and we would definitely go back.
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