| Ambiance: |  (2.5 / 5) |
| Service: | (2.5 / 5) |
| Value for money: | (2.5 / 5) |
| Pizza: | (3 / 5) |
Bologna is known as being home to some of Italy’s best food, so I was pretty excited about uncovering the delicious delights the city had to offer. As we were all hungry, we didn’t spend long seeking out a place so settled on Nicola’s Pizzeria, complete with wood fired oven and a special menu for only 10 euros.
The design of the restaurant seemed very Italian, slightly tacky with red paper table-clothed tables and cheap plastic menus. Also, they didn’t speak English so I had to rely on my newly found Italian. We started with a litre of the local red wine (Sangiovese) and a bottle of mineral water as Italian restaurants never give you tap water. A money-making ploy, I say. We decided to share a diavola pizza as our antipasti, topped with spicy salami and tomato. My mum and I ordered the two set menu options – fish and meat and Dad ordered the lasagne as it we’d read that Bologna serve the all-time best lasagne. Quite a claim hey?!
The Menu
Our pizza came within minutes along with the very drinkable red wine. On first impressions, it was a little too charred but it was generously topped with salami and tomato and looked yummy. On taste, as predicted it was a bit too crispy and the dough, despite claiming to be ‘Neapolitan’, didn’t taste anywhere near as good as what I’d had in Naples. However, as my family didn’t know much about the greatness of Neapolitan pizza, they were more than happy, although complained slightly about the soupy tomato sauce.
Diavala Pizza
It all went downhill from there. Mum and my ‘primo’ courses came – she was served almost tasteless ‘fish’ risotto, with tiny canned pieces of calamari and shrimps and my tomato tagliatelle was near enough cold. Even my little sister complained! Dad’s lasagne didn’t resemble what we’re used to at home, being a lot less tomato based and richer in meat and pasta, but ‘when in Italy’, embrace different things I guess. However, with a lot of parmesan and pepper, our food was a lot more eatable.
Primo – Pasta al ragu
Our ‘secondi’ was served next, both of which were slightly better than the primo. I was served slow cooked beef, complete with tripe (I believe) and green beans and Mum had some sort of fish. We finished our meal with espressos and paid up. Despite everything, with the exception of the wine and pizza being a little disappointing, it only ended up costing 80 euros and for 5 people and a lot of wine, that’s not bad.
Secondo – beef and tripe?!
Recommendation
If you’re going to Bologna with the intention to eat the best of their food, then don’t go to Nicolas and try somewhere else.
Extra Information:
Address: Piazza San Martino 9, Bologna, Italy (San Vitale)
Phone: 051 23 2502
NTK: Order the pizzas! Nicola’s has a wood fired oven so they do have a nice thin, light crust.
