Carluccio’s Cafe

Carluccio’s, I like you. You are basically okay by me and generally reliable. My dogs were barking after hours of exploring Cambridge, and I needed a coffee and a bit of cake. You provided me with both. But, why, Carluccios… why did you make me sit there for 20 minutes before anyone said a word to me? I kept making eye contact with an apathetic waitress who did her best to pretend I didn’t exist. Even if I wasn’t in her section, coudn’t she just smile and nod and say someone will be with you shortly? Just before I was ready to walk out, someone finally came to take my order, and after that service was, thankfully, fine. My coffee was so strong, it could have put hair on my chest, just as I prefer. The carrot cake was yum. Overall, it was okay, but why did you make me wait so long in a basically empty restaurant at 4pm?

Reliable chain with restaurants that are usually fairly spacious and reliably consistent.
Had the penne Giardiniera with small crispy spinach balls. OK but with too much raw garlic flavour on the courgettes and apart from the raw garlic taste, otherwise surprisingly bland. At least the portion sizes were reasonable.
The food is OK but never as good as I would expect from the appearance and Carluccio’s brand name. Prices are OK but. Not cheap but not too expensive.

I like this place. Good food decently priced in a nice clean environment. Their deli store is also pretty good. All in all, I think this is a good choice for Italian food ‘the UK way’.

Nice space and upon entering you are greeted by copious quantities of Italian treats.
Ok, so we only stopped in to pick up something quick to take home for a token dinner after eating way too much earlier in the day, but I had had high hopes for the pasta from such a well know restaurant, and sadly it was somewhat mediocre. It’s pretty rough when such a «fabulous» Italian restaurant serves up expensive take away pasta that is possibly not as good as something you could get much cheaper from Sainsbury’s.
:(

Once again, it is I… the trailblazing travelling Yank, getting another first review, by merely reviewing something not in London.
Carluccio’s is the best of average food served in an open, airy environment, with lots of light, facing out on a pretty square with a sculpture that my 3-​year-​old wanted to climb over. The pasta is fresh, but still manages to be quite non-​superior.
If you’ve ever read my other reviews, you know that my son has coeliac disease, and for us, this is the big draw for Carluccio’s, who will server gluten-​free (GF) penne with any of the pasta sauces on the menu. And for that, we will always love them, and go back.
But the sad part is that if it weren’t for that, we wouldn’t be overly inspired to return. The Ravioli is well advertised on the menu as «the traditional way Italians eat it» with butter and sage. Unfortunately, butter and sage can only be so interesting and aren’t worth £8. My wife and son had the GF penne with the pommodoro sauce, and the pesto respectively. The pommodoro was uninteresting and the pesto was sparse. I tasted a bit of the sauce on the gnocchi, and that was approaching more what I like in a sauce, with more flavor and a hint of garlic.
The brightest spot on the menu is the penne giardiniera, with fried spinach balls, which I find to be extremely fun! They are like little fried crispy spinachy bird nests, with the dish accented with red pepper. And the bruschetta is delicious, too (but it’s hard to mess up bruschetta!)
Service was friendly, helpful, and prompt, so full marks there, but for all that it promises, they just fall a bit short on the food side of things.
I’ll definitely be back, but we won’t be rushing there. For us, it’s just a great place to take our son with so many limitations on where we can eat in public, it’s nice to have a place that will do GF on demand.