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%