THE OLD FRIZZLE - the Rustic Chic Oxymoron

The Wimbledon Theatre rises gloriously on one of the many intersections on Wimbledon Broadway. A fine building oddly built on an irregular street corner but nevertheless a source of charisma for this modest urban conglomerate. Opposite the crossroad, another venue sits strategically on a street corner and its building faces both the main and side stree. Location has been home to different chains and independent food & drink joints fading in and out; and now the Old Frizzle has taken up the challenge with its bright white decor and large window panes - almost a house of glass!

At first sight the Old Frizzle appears to be your usual independent gastropub. From the moment you step in, you are likely to fall into discussions of idiosyncrasy with your fellow diners. The place is very rustic, with that saloon-ey flare of by gone era. Old chairs and sofas with no consistent style or colour. Early 20th century lamps above the wooden bar. Even an old large analogue radio with speakers that could potentiall pick up both BBC and Moscow radio stations. It is an old pub then. Your eyes then move the well laid out cutlery and napkin on most tables. and the general orderly tidyiness of tables and chairs can only suggest dining tables and restaurants. So it is a restaurant. Not quite...and I think the discussion can carry on in a loop. Place was empty for lunch on a Thursday but we know in the evenings seems to be packed. Is perhaps the place more populare for drinks? Yet, the layout is not a spacious as a pub for stand-up drinking or informal table gathering. It is more inclined to a restaurant and sit-down meal. Ok - let not get stuck in a loop again!

Staff was kind enough to provide water and glasses as we sat down, without us having to ask - quite rare in our Wimbledon Eatery adventures so far. Bottle and glasses were simple and retro; the same applied to the the menu style: dull grey sheets of papers on a clipboard with a font resembling the end of XIX century. The flare of old fashioned seemed to be everywhere and we agreed it worked well. Unfortunately, once we ordered, the food delivery took longer than expected in what was almost an empty restaurant!

The menu was not all in one page and you had to flick through a few sheets. The lunch menu offer was not entirely appealing as both choice and cost did not seem to show better value than having a main or a starter from the menu à la carte. Most of us opted to choose from the latter. In general, almost all items looked pricey or at least they appeared to be for items you did not expect to be. The halloumi, green beans, olvies and asparagus salad was apparently almost 10% more expensive than the burgers!

Still disappointed so far? To be honest, we all enjoyed the meals that came to our table - proper pub grub. Apart from slight underseasoning and slight imperfections, we were impressed with the chips, the battered cod, the cumberland sausages. Both salad and burgers could have done with a bit more of salt; and the potato mash felt crumbly rather than creamy. The desserts, however, were an ultimate winner with probably the fluffiest Eton Mess or the smoothest Chocolate Brownie we ever tried so far - and which we recommend! Shame dessert prices turned out to be as expensive as the lunch menu offer. Again, the clash between price and what is on offer fail to make the place and the food justice. We indeed ate well but would you come here that often?

Our verdict is as follows:

Quality of Food        3.80
Hygiene                     4.00
Value for Money      2.80
Speed of Service       2.60
Quality of Service    4.20
Ambience & décor   4.80

The Old Frizzle gets an overall rating of 73.2%

CASA NOSTRA - The Silent Italian

At the heart of Wimbledon Broadway, where the cars rush through the tiring looping system, low buildings sit tight next to each other in a quick row of successive glass windows. Plenty of shops and lack of signs popping out on the sign to advertise. No wonder the large glass facade of Casa Nostra does go unnoticed. Or perhaps it is down to the fairly simple colours that decorate what is meant to be a modern approach to the Italian restaurant stereotype.

The inside of the place is a large warehouse, and even though it could show off a wooden fire oven, it is too far from the entrance, hidden at the bottom of the wall-less, one-roomed restaurant. The majority of space is taken by chairs and tables, rows and rows of them, and the emptiness is rather daunting when you walk in, especially on a Friday lunch. We did pass this place at night on several occasions and it seems the number of clients still does not vary. The interior as well goes the opposite way if you think of the loud and colourful Italian restaurants you may be used to. It is rather minimalistic, based on green tones, wooden furniture and Andy Warhol-like canvas. Among the emptiness, you feel something is missing. Music is at an adequate level but still atmosphere fades easily into oblivion as soon as chattering takes over or someone drops their cutlery.

Waiting staff ration was proportioned to the number of customers and were polite and helpful enough (some are actually Italians!). However, they looked rather nervous when serving drinks with some unexpected and unnatural acrobatics. Also, the level of friendliness or the extent of waiting was limited to order, serve and pay, with little joy or just checking our food was ok after serving. On the other hand, speed of service was almost impeccable.

Food choice was average, with the usual pasta and pizza dishes accompanies with meat, fish and salad options. There is a special lunch menu although it only offered an extensive variety of pasta and pizza options, if not all of those present on the standard menu, and just 3 options each for meat & fish and for salads. It definitely builds up on the stereotype that all Italians are all carb lovers.

Food itself was average too, and rather insipid. Still decent and edible but not amazing. The 'Penne al Marinaio' had seafood but you could not taste the chilli. The 'Risotto Pollo e Funghi' had very little chicken. If we really need to be picky, the "Pasta alla Carbonara" had mushrooms which is a new twist on the standard recipe seen in Italian restaurants. The dishes looked ok; perhaps flavour and seasoning could have gone up a notch, or they could have given some flare to it all. Surprisingly, one option on the Coffees list did stand out when choosing over desserts. The "Mamma Mia", which is  vanilla ice cream drowned in espresso coffee, is actually an item in the Italian bar/restaurant tradition that is a rarely found in most Italian restaurants across London (unless you ask for it off the menu).

When it comes to pay for the bill, you could almost expect the waiter to give you money back. The prices (both on lunch and standard menu) are quite affordable and you could easily spend less than £10 for your meal. As the value for money did hit the spot, you can then see where you may lose quality for the sake of quick, cheap and cheerful. Definitely an experience that will be stuck in our wallets but not our hearts and minds.

Our verdict is as follows:

Quality of Food        3.00
Hygiene                     3.33
Value for Money      4.00
Speed of Service       4.00
Quality of Service    2.33
Ambience & décor   1.67

Casa Nostra gets an overall rating of 63.1%