Restaurant Review: Storico Pizza and Pasta

Alexandra Oliver

alex.gabsbitesizeblogs@gmail.com

Storico Pizza and Pasta

This will be my second restaurant review, I hope you find it informative!

I had heard good things about this restaurant, and, considering how long it has been open in this central town location (it opened December 2021), and, the fact I adore Italian food, I'm surprised it's taken me so long to visit it!

My first impression upon entering was that it felt like my favourite trattoria I visited twice while in Rome. It has a casual vibe, like you wouldn't have to get dressed up as you would a fancy restaurant, and seemed clean, warm and inviting.

The staff were immediately with us and showed us to our table. It was quite busy when we arrived for our 8pm booking yet the volume of chatter made for good background noise rather than being annoying and also didn't distract from the conversation we were having.

The drinks menu was as you would expect from a restaurant, some cheaper options, soft drinks, beers, wines, ciders, but there were some expensive wines to choose as well if you wanted. I opted for a pinot grigio blush, at £8.90 for a large glass, I felt that was about average for a glass of wine and when in an Italian restaurant I had to sample an Italian wine! (It was a delicious wine and paired beautifully- I thought anyway I'm not a wine connoisseur- with my food).

For starters we ordered the Napoli meatballs and the tomato bruschetta (there was an avocado bruschetta as well). I was pleasantly surprised to receive a good sized dish of mini meatballs, smothered in a delicious marinara sauce and topped with parmesan shavings and even happier when I was given flat bread from the wood fired pizza oven to dip into it! The meatballs were delicious little mouthfuls and the sauce was divine, rich in flavour yet light and well balanced.

The bruschetta was a mammoth portion; again, bread from the pizza oven topped with tomatoes and big parmesan shavings, olive oil, vinaigrette, balsamic and all served on a bed of rocket leaves. I was told it was also delicious!

For our mains I chose a pasta dish, and the thing I was really pleased with was that you could pick what kind of pasta you wanted, from linguini to pappardelle, you could customise your dish. I went for casarecce with my choice of Alla Norma con Burrata. This was a vegetarian dish, packed full of so much flavour it is actually hard to describe but wow! I love pasta dishes but the flavours in this bowl were amazing. Aubergines, olives, basil, a fresh tomato sauce, parmesan and my favourite, a big ball of Burrata which was cleverly served with a pipette of extra virgin olive oil to inject into the centre of the creamy cheese. When I sliced open the Burrata and it went over my hot pasta, my goodness, it was one of the tastiest things I have eaten. I highly recommend this dish!

The other main ordered was a wood fired pizza from their impressive pizza oven, topped with beef Ragu, caramelised onion, sliced chillies and mozzarella. This was beautifully thin, lovely and crispy and masterfully made. I tried a bite of this, and it was so tasty, the Ragu especially was so good I thought I must try this on my next visit as part of the pasta options.

Finally, the desserts. I had to order a tiramisu because I am a massive coffee fan and I can't go to an Italian restaurant and not compare the tiramisus! It was a good sized portion, served with amazingly creamy vanilla gelato. This is my only criticism of the whole meal, and it was just because I have never had a tiramisu served in this way so it didn't feel perhaps traditional, but it was topped with a few blueberries and on the side of the plate a strawberry slice and an orange slice, and then chocolate sauce drizzled over the top of it all. I think a tiramisu should be kept simple and the richness of the coffee and chocolate and mascarpone speaks for itself. The actual tiramisu was delicious, extremely

strong coffee flavour, the lady fingers were so drenched in coffee it was oozing out when I put my spoon through it, and the cocoa powder and mascarpone with it made the whole dessert feel very decadent. I avoided the blueberries and orange but did eat the strawberry and the gelato - I think the gelato, for a simple vanilla, was just beautiful.

The other dessert was a panna cotta, topped again with blueberries but also walnuts. This wasn't on the menu so if you have a nut allergy, I will say advise them of this at the start of your meal, the menu does say some dishes contain nuts, but I do think with the menu descriptions of the dishes, this should have been noted. The Panna Cotta itself was perfectly set with a slight wobble and very smooth and creamy, a nice light delight to end the meal!

All in all, I would very highly recommend this restaurant! For 3 courses each between 2 people and an alcoholic drink each, when the bill came out at £82, we were pleasantly surprised, expecting to pay over a £100 for such an amazing meal. Delicious and reasonably priced, I would give Storico a try if you never have, and I will certainly be going back some day!