LITTLE Venice Italian-style restaurant, run by the same team for the past five years and sporting an extensive menu, compares more than favourably with the chain-operated competition.

Located in the city centre with parking close by, this restaurant is popular with families, the owners being happy to cater for the younger generation while also meeting the demands of their parents.

With additional dining space on the first floor, it is also a popular party venue. When we visited three parties – including two hen nights – were being catered for.

With the main restaurant busy and about 50 people dining upstairs, the staff could have been excused had they seemed under pressure. Not a bit of it. Both the chefs and those waiting on tables were working their socks off, but the service was prompt, polite and unflustered.

The menu, which is shortly to have more dishes added, includes 11 starters, 21 pizzas, three traditional folded pizzas, 16 pastas – of which five are oven-baked – four varieties of risotto and six salads.

In addition there are four house specialities, including a rich Tuscan lamb stew, a choice of nine desserts priced at £3.55 each and an Italian cheese board at £4.95. I started with a delicious carpaccio of smoked salmon, dressed with lemon and served with sour cream and chives (£3.75), while my companion took the king prawns, pan fried in olive oil and garlic with just a hint of lemon (£3.95).

The nine-inch thin-crust pizzas are extremely popular, but on this occasion we both opted for pasta dishes. All sauces are home-made and freshly prepared to order. My £8.45 penne marinara was a revelation, boasting a generous mixture of squid, nicely-sized prawns, crab, mussels, peppers and olives and cooked in a deliciously creamy parsley sauce. It was also available in a tomato sauce. My companion opted for an equally delicious tagliatelle verde, with spinach, leek and basil in a cream and cheese sauce (£5.85).

Both had been freshly prepared and arrived hot – but not scalding – on plates showing no sign of the red-hot temperature present when a pre-prepared dish has been microwaved.

My companion finished with a tasty dish of ice-cream drenched in her favourite liqueur, while I ordered the cheese board, which came with slices of ciabatta and chutney, and sampled an interesting drink involving espresso coffee and ice cream.

Add a litre of mineral water and two large glasses of Pinot Grigio Trentino and the bill came to a very reasonable £44.

HOW IT RATE

Little Venice, St Nicholas Street, Worcester.

Telephone: 0800 026 0721

Food ****

Value for money *****

Ambience ****

Service *****

JOHN ABBS