Louise writes:
A couple of weekends ago the whole Ford family tested out My Pasta Bar at Lakeside’s newly renovated third floor food court, The Eatery. As a family we love to eat out but would normally choose a cafe or restaurant so I was a little concerned that lunch in a shopping centre’s food court on a Saturday afternoon might be somewhat hellish. I have to say, I was pleasantly surprised.
Although the Eatery was busy, it was quite nicely spaced so you didn’t feel too crowded when eating, the tables were clean, it was all very nicely designed and it wasn’t too loud – all much better than expected. The kids desperately wanted to eat in one of their rather futuristic looking pods but these were snapped up pretty quickly so unfortunately for them they had to settle with a normal table! The area features more than 20 restaurants (though I do use that term loosely), including Five Guys, Tortilla, Harpers British Classics, Wasabi, Patisserie Valerie, Thai Express and Nando’s as well as existing tenants such as Ed’s Easy Diner, Taco Bell and Pizza Express.
My Pasta Bar is the new range of fast, casual pasta bars, “serving authentic Italian cuisine to the diner on the move” from Gino D’Acampo. There was a bigger selection than expected with paninis, pasta dishes, salads and pizzas as well as a good range of deserts. I chose penne arrabbiata, one of my favourite dishes and it wasn’t bad – to be perfectly honest it was nothing special (not spicy enough for me) but it was significantly better than what I would have expected from a food court. My husband and toddler son had carbonara, which that both enjoyed, especially little Dexter who loves a bit of pasta. The older two kids had pizza which they both wolfed down, and was very nice – lovely and cheesy! We all enjoyed our desserts too, though my tiramisu could have been a little bigger!
The main thing I was impressed with though was how friendly and helpful the staff were – they were all really keen to help and very polite, which made the whole experience a pleasant one.
For more information about Lakeside’s many eating establishments, take a look at their website
