Monte Cristo - The Review

Less · 30-10-2003, 22:36

Monte Cristo - Pizzeria Ristorante.
125 Henry St. Church, Accrington BB5 4EP
(01254)238400

I like food, I hate cooking, so, when I was invited out for a meal at the Monte Cristo  PIZZERIA RISTORANTE by my son Roy & his Lady friend Nastya I jumped at the chance.  However I soon found that there was an ulterior motive & this is it.
 "While we are here Dad what if we did a review of this place for the accy web site?".  I was at the time just taking my first bite into our starter which we decided to share (an excellent FOCACCIA PICANTE (this is  a garlic pizza bread topped with spicy salami, tomato & chilli, Roy interrupts at this point of my writing to remind me that it was with EXTRA chilli!) it did however make an excellent starter though it would have been better shared by two rather than three, (thus leading me to the conclusion I was the gooseberry).
 Well, if we are going to do a review of  this place it would be best to start at the moment we first arrived, as it happens we were booked in for six o'clock on the 30th of October only 2 days after their long awaited opening.  We were given a friendly welcome by All the members of staff that we saw & were shown to a table of our choice (no doubt a privilege  that would not be available during busier times), immediately we were put at our ease by the pleasant enquiries of the waiter wishing to know if we will take advantage of the bar during the time we are choosing our meals.
 We immediately took up this offer & after three rounds during which time although being attentive we were never hurried & we had finally decided on the starter, which has been mentioned above.  In the background a variety of music was being played & it changed from light classical to instrumental versions of recent pop songs (pleasant enough if one likes eating in a lift).
 I suppose the décor of the place aught to be mentioned at this point & I have to say that although there was nothing that inspired any original thought the atmosphere gave a pleasant, light & friendly feeling.  ("Nice picture on the wall", says Roy, "but it will be better when they fill the eyes in.&quot

.

The Main Course.
 To be fair to the restaurant & also because if you put us in a bag & shook us up from now to doomsday we wouldnt agree on anything we decided to have a different  meal each.  I wasnt paying so therefore I had BISTECCA DOLCELATE (official description Sirloin Steak with blue cheese in a cream sauce), my description "what a bloody good meal!".
 Roy had, PIZZA CALZONE (folded pizza with cheese, tomato, ham, salami & mushroom).  It was difficult to get a comment from him at the time as nature takes over when he is eating & for safety's sake we pretended he was with some-one else.  
 Nastya took advantage of the situation by ordering something that she couldnt have at home due to the fact that Roy cant stand fish & had  HALIBUT STEAK (Served on a bed of  spinach with garlic & white wine sauce). Which served with vegetables as against French Fries (sorry, I mean chips). Not a scrap left on her plate.

FINAL COURSES
Nastya & myself, we were full satisfied, content. But old piggy had chocolate fudge-cake with ice cream, then because it had alcohol, I joined Roy in a Gaelic Coffee to finish the Evening.

 During the course of our meal the place became quite busy, but it could be witnessed that every-one was treated to the same quality of attention as when we first walked in.

IN CONCLUSION
 As I have already stated I do not like Cooking but I do like eating I would not have any problem with the thought of going back to this Restaurant & working my way through the Menu.

P.S. as this is a review & not an advert I have not mentioned the prices of the meals we had, I found them to be reasonable (I didn't pay the bill Roy did!).

Roy · 03-11-2003, 19:07

If anyone else goes to this restaurant please post comments here.

Also, if anyone else wants to write a restaurant review please do! It would be nice to have a review of every restaurant in Accy!!

honeymonster · 03-12-2003, 11:51

i went last week and had a very nice evening there i would diffinetly go again

Tealeaf · 03-12-2003, 12:49

Hello Honeymonster & welcome to the AccyWeb....

What does "diffinetly" mean? Is this a new culinary term used by restaurant critics?

I hope to have a visit to "Monty's" sometime over Christmas. Any recommendations from the menu?

honeymonster · 12-12-2003, 19:37

were is monty's and yes diffinetly is anew term ???

Rocky · 20-01-2004, 21:37

I had the seafood pasta dish, "marinania or something"! Basically it was 2 prawns, 1 mussel, and a bucketful of gritty cockles. To top it all, the pasta was undercooked. I had heartburn for the rest of the night.
What a pitty, I was really looking forward to it opening.

asfc babe · 20-03-2004, 21:17

cool, so is it as good/better than francos. I just love francos and have never found a better Italian. I might have a try

ab

lindsay ormerod · 26-03-2004, 09:21

I have been once;quite a big party of us went.The staff were great and the food was very enjoyable;the biggest suprise was how reasonably priced it was;even with a couple of bottles of house wine thrown in!Would definately go again.

Sara · 26-03-2004, 20:33

Went to Franco's last sunday, wouldn't go back. The food was good but the service was shocking. Have been to Monte Cristo's quite a few times, and have always been made welcome. Haven't had any complaints so far.

lindsay ormerod · 26-03-2004, 21:54

Would have to agree,I worked at Franco's many years ago and he is a hard task master,but things slip and last time I went I wasn't massively impressed.The food is still good but service is appalling;try Monte Cristo or Papa Luigis.Am off to one of them this sunday;watch this space!

Sara · 27-03-2004, 10:58

Also like Checco's, but for some reason they always seem to burn the base of the garlic bread. But worth a try.

asfc babe · 27-03-2004, 16:37

thats interesting. I have never had any problems at francos. Never had to wait long at all. Mind you my mum does know the owners!

ab

Perran · 03-05-2004, 22:22

Been to Francos lots of times and found that the later you go the quicker you get a table. Busy time is around 7-8.30. After that it quietens down. Must admit that I have been more than a little disappointed the last few times i have been, especially with some of the pasta dishes looking and tasting like something i could have rustled up in my own kitchen in 10 mins flat but costing 4 times as much! Definately think Franco is resting on his reputation but with new competition opening he needs to pull his finger out a little.

As for Monte Cristo its next on my list to visit so watch this space.....

cashman · 21-07-2007, 23:35

Quote:

Originally Posted by Perran

Been to Francos lots of times and found that the later you go the quicker you get a table. Busy time is around 7-8.30. After that it quietens down. Must admit that I have been more than a little disappointed the last few times i have been, especially with some of the pasta dishes looking and tasting like something i could have rustled up in my own kitchen in 10 mins flat but costing 4 times as much! Definately think Franco is resting on his reputation but with new competition opening he needs to pull his finger out a little.

As for Monte Cristo its next on my list to visit so watch this space.....

its been 3 years how often do you go out for a meal?

minnarory · 30-03-2011, 00:11

We visited Monte Christos this evening for a joint birthday party. I had not visited before and was not sure what to expect. When we arrived I was impressed by the decor and looked forward to some nice food and a good evening.
The service was ok, although I found it a little off putting to order starters and mains separately, particularly when the main order was taken just as the starters had arrived. Also, the starters and mains seemed to come in dribs and drabs with some of the party having to wait whilst others had received their food and were eating. However, it was a large party so this was understandable.
The starters were ok, I ordered the Anti Pasto Monte Christo and my partner ordered the homemade pate and bread. I think I received the Greek Anti Pasto, but was happy enough with what I was served. The pate my partner ate was not homemade, we have eaten the same one from ASDA on several occasions. On my platter was a cheese I had not had before, I was curious about what it was as I would like to try it again so I asked the waitress to tell me more about it. She didn't know what it was, but did ask the chef for me. However, the reply came back that the chef also didn't know what it was, it just came as part of a pack of cheese! Perhaps I have been watching too many cookery/restaurant programmes, but I would've thought someone would know what diners were being served???
The mains came and two of the party had ordered the risotto. However, what they received was not a risotto. Risotto is a rice dish made with Arborio rice, which is short grained and sticky, and from my own experience quite hard to get right! What was served was a rice dish made with Indian Basmati rice, which is long grained and usually dry and served with curry! One of the party complained to the serving staff, very politely about this, the complaint was met with complete surprise and to be fair was not handled very well. At first, after some insistence, the rice was taken back to the chef, it was bizarrely returned by the waiter and we were told that this is how risotto was meant to be served. Of course, we knew that it was not, so the point was laboured. Eventually, the chef came out and told us that this was how he served risotto. Again the point was made that it was not, therefore, risotto! Again, after some embarrassment we were offered an exchange, by this time many of the party were nearly through their food and the point was made (by me sticking my oar in!) that the offended member of the party should not have to pay for the replacement. After some bartering it was agreed a free drink was in order and the issue was settled. Later on the chef reappeared and made light of the situation which we all appreciated, but it seemed too little too late.
Some ordered desserts, one of which being a banana split. When it arrived the banana had a huge black bit smiling at us from the dish, perhaps acceptable at home, but when you are paying for food in a restaurant it is not what you expect, but to be honest, by this point none of us were left with much appetite to complain further.
When all is said and done, the food was very cheap and to be fair, many aspects of the service were good. However, you get what you pay for. The food was bland, lacked the herby, olive oily and garlicky tastiness of real Italian food, indeed, there was very little that was Italian about the risotto - which should be a classic Italian dish.
I don't think I will be going again due to the poor quality of the food and the poor handling of the complaint that was made at the time. Really, the customer is always right, particularly in this kind of business. I wonder what Gordon Ramsey would make of it? I would certainly like to watch that episode of Kitchen Nightmares!