Chelmsford

Wow what a lovely experience we all had by tasting each and every menu choice.

The portions as would be served from one of the menu choices was very satisfying and adequate.

Each was served at the right temperature and very well presented. We asked some questions relating to various dishes and was given good answers.

Overall a great evening for us, the food was great and we were made to feel very welcome.

Thank you .

The ambience was really welcoming and the staff knowledgeable and chaming

The breads particulary nice and also the Antipasti

Only drawback was the sage mashed potatoes which was very sagey and overpowering, the bream was delightful but hard work removing the many bones

The puddings could not be faulted particulary the Tiramisu and Pistachio ice cream -YUM

All together a very balanced and enjoyable menu and would certainly have again

We turn up late, need an extra seat, arrive with 3 (loud) teenage girls and a three-nager. It was going to be an interesting meal.

The staff were quite obviously very proud of the restaurant and every single peice of food served within it. We were made to feel very welcome from our first steps into the restaurant and that nothing would be too much trouble..

We sat down and immediately got on to ordering some drinks - I was treated to a discussion about all of the beers on offer, taking an age to finally come to a decision!

(Well, beer is important!)

Every single dish was beautifully presented and brilliantly introduced by the waiting staff; giving us a FULL explanation of what it was and how it was cooked. The selection of tasting menu was great - we all loved the variety and trying something completely new!

We left wearing enormous smiles and looking forward to our next visit - If Strada would like to make this a more regular promotion, I’ll be the first to sign up!

On the walk home, we had a MASSIVE discussion about the best dish of the evening. The end result was that we all had our favourites and none of us could agree on anything! So, in conclusion, Strada should be very proud of its food, its Chelmsford restaurant and above all else, its staff!

Loved your new menu! and we got to try a lot of it!

The Sea Bream - Orata al Forno - in particular stood out - lovely fish cooked just right, and delicately flavoured with the lemon and thyme.

The Saltimbocca Maiale too was great, a lovely crispy Parma Ham with moist pork fillet inside - yummm!

The Strozzapreti Pugliese was very spicy - we love spicy food so that suited us well and we really enjoyed it.

We’ve never had Italian flatbread before, but it was lovely and fluffy, and crispy on the edges

Everything was superb and to mention every dish would take a long time and a long review, but I would recommend everything on this menu that we tasted. It is freshly prepared, and you can taste that it is too, yet we still didn’t really wait long for the food to arrive - very impressive quality food, and it really does not seem or feel like a chain restaurant.

Thanks for a lovely meal, and great service from a very knowledgeable and attentive waiter.

My visit as a food reviewer started with a very knowledgeable waiter, who explained every dishes ingredients.

First, was served Castelvetrano olives, which were vibrant green in colour and we were told how they were made this colour and that the sweetness was derived from soaking in Lyle. They were delicious, as was the Schiacciatella aglio flatbread, which was flavoured with garlic and rosemary. Was hard pressed not to eat it all, but with much more to follow restrained myself.

Next up was antipasto. Parma ham, Napoli salami, speck mozzarella, tomatoes, bruschetta and tapenade. All were light and again delicious.

The mains were as follows Quattro Stagioni, Strozzapreti Pugliese, Risotto Zucca, Saltimbocca Maiale and Orata al forno

Translated pizza with four toppings, artichoke, luganica sausage, cotto ham and chestnut mushrooms. I am not a great pizza fan, as I find the base usually very filling. Not this time however, the base was thin and crisp and delicious, loved the sausage and the artichoke, mushroom were a bit bland and no room for the cotto ham.

Strozzapreti Pugliese was served with luganice sausage, pancetta and broccoli and a red chilli butter dressing. The chilli was just right in that it left just a tingle on the end of the tongue. However, the plate was cold and therefore the pasta was cold, which was a bit disappointing as the flavours were lovely.

Risotto Zucca, which is pumpkin, butternut squash, pancetta, spinach and pine nuts. Was my second favourite dish. It was earthy, hearty and comforting.

Saltimbocca Maiale. This was pork fillet as opposed to the usual veal with crispy Parma ham and sage butter sauce served with mashed potato and green beans. Was a bit concerned that the pork would be dry, but in fact is was tender, moist and went so well with the sauce..

Orata al forno. Whole sea bream pan roasted with lemon and thyme served a green salad and roasted new potatoes. This was my favourite dish. The fish was very well cooked and the potatoes were wonderful. I asked for a plate so that I could remove the head as my friend doesn’t like to see the head on a plate. Instead the waiter whisked the dish away and moments later returned it with the head removed.

Desserts Affogato – Iced nougat semi-freddo served with a shot of espresso. Bland without, but add the coffee and wow, it was brought alive.

Bunet Piemontese – Almost a chocolate mousse served with hazelnuts, crushed amoretti biscuits and amaretto liqueur. Wonderfully rich and chocolately.

Pistachio gelato – pistachio ice-cream, exactly that, not my favourite.

I really enjoyed the food and this experience as did my guest. Have been coming to Strada for some time and with this new menu will continue to do so. Can I have another go please?

Really enjoyed our meal, good service, good size meals & good quality.

A particular favourite from our meal was the antipasto for starter, when I’ve had this in other restaurants there has never quite been enough but there was plenty & the meat & mozzarella was fantastic, also the olive tapenade to accompany it was something different, rather tasty!

Also really impressed with the fish main course at Strada, sea bream - I wasn’t expecting to be blown away by it as I’m not always a huge fish lover but I have to say they have converted me! it was really well cooked and tasted really lovely. No complaints about the other main courses all very nice!

The desserts we had were out of this world, Affogato was to die for & my parter loved the Pistachio Gelato.

All in all a fab experience with great food, we will definitely be going back in the near future!

Our first visit to this restaurant, certainly not our last. I found the experience totally unique.

Stepping in from the cold in to a warm inviting atmosphere. My party and I were shown to our table and the tasting menu was comprehensively explained to us, mouthwateringly so! Each course was well spaced to allow time for us to enjoy it and also to take a breath before the next one would come along, no pressure throughout.

The food was served hot, beautifully presented. I was especially impressed with the quality napkins and sparkling cutlery, replaced carefully at each course.

Of the menu a first for my family initally came the Castelvetrano olives. 3 of 4 immensely enjoyed these, they were as fresh as if plucked straight from the tree, light and slightly peppery. The Aglio flabreads and Antipasto were given a 4 out of 4 thumbs up all round, again a first for the family with the olive tapenade which offered a wonderful backdrop to the pomodoro and buffalo mozzarella.

The main courses were split into 2 servings the first 3 pasta, risotto and pizza immensely enjoyed, especially the Luagnica sausage , a real surprise being non greasy and full of punch. The fresh artichoke on the quattro pizza was luscious and offered and lovely alternative flavour to the pizza complimented the luganica very well with its earthy flavour.

The second main courses were ‘grown up’ treats and the al dente green beans in both dishes offered a degree of crunch that really brought the dishes alive. The green salad with the sea bream was gorgeous. Perhaps a fillet may be easier for customers to handle however the stuffed belly permeates the flesh so I can understand the reason why it is served whole. The Pork fillet in parma ham was crisp yet moist, the mash offered a smooth backdrop.

Dessert, well, HEAVEN. Of the three the group favoured the Affogato although the Bunet Piemontese came a very close second.

So my review 10/10 for the food. 10/10 for the service. The staff were attentive and greatly informed about the food. The venue- clean, decor inviting and spacious, toilets, clean and well maintained. Access( am disabled) perfect!.

Would I like to do this again…yes!!! thank you so much xxxxx

We arrived on a freezing cold evening at 7.30. The restaurant was already really busy and the atmosphere was buzzing. We were escorted to a comfortable upstairs table and our server Edward introduced himself. A friendly, animated and knowledgeable young man Edward was quickly providing information on drinks, as he also did with the food on our taster menu as it was served.

One minor blip was that the Merlot we wanted was unavailable, we choze a Montepulciano Abruzzo instead and were very happy with that.

The food came out hot and beautifully presented. We did not have to wait long between courses and all four of us agreed that we were really impressed with the presentation and service (even though it was somewhat contrived as we were known to be doing a review) particularly for a very busy Friday evening that coincided with payday for lots of people.

The food - The olives were big juicy and sweet and liked by the member of our team who would not normally touch an olive. The mixed antipasto and flatbreads were tremendous, obviously containing really fresh and high quality produce. The mozzarella had a wonderful soft fresh consistency, the bruschetta was juicy and tasty, the cured meats to die for and the flatbreads utterly delicious. An excellent start to our meal!

Starters were followed by pasta, pizza and risotto. The pizza had a thin, crispy base with lots of topping in each section, all very tasty. The strozapretti pugliese absolutely delicious with really garlicky, meaty sausage and the biggest surprise of all was the risotto zucca, my friend said she would definitely order this as her main dish and was very reluctant to share it, I was surprised to find that it was very tasty as I usually avoid squash and pumpkin at any cost. The combination of textures and flavours made the dish a real winner, it even looked attractive when served, quite difficult for a risotto.

The orato al forno and saltimbocca maiale were served next. With both dishes the accompaniments were perfect, creamy delicious mash and crispy fresh green beans with one and a really delicious bean and rocket salad with the other. The fish was delicious, but at this point in the proceedings the bones rather prevented full enjoyment of the dish and we may well have enjoyed a fillet, albeit smaller, more. The pork was slightly overcooked and had become a bit chewy, although the flavour was good, maybe a more robust sauce would have saved the day here.

Following a complimentary limoncello - thanks very much,- cheers and happy Christmas!- desserts were served.

The pistachio gelato was smooth as silk and very easy on the palate, the affogato was enormous and lucky for everyone else was more than I could manage, so they had some and agreed that it was gorgeous. The bunet peimontese almost caused an uprising! I had a taste and agreed that for a chocolate dish it was very nice, I never order the chocolate, however, my three companions almost fought over the plate. I’m sure if my friend had been at home she would have licked the plate clean, and the didn’t stop going on about how wonderful it was all the way home. At which point she said “Forget the risotto, I would like to go there and order three of those chocolate desserts”

Overall, we had a really lovely evening, would definitely return and have absolutely no hesitation in singing the praises of this restaurant and it’s staff. The main courses were a little disappointing in comparison to the utter brilliance of the pizza, pasta and risotto, not to mention the legendary dessert. With very best regards Sally Lea

We went along at 1pm to Strada at Chelmsford.

We were greeted and shown to our table straight away, and were given a large table as we would be sharing dishes. The manager (I presume) explained that the menu was large and suggested we split the mains into pizza pasta and risotto, as a separate course. We thought this was a good idea and gladly accepted this.

The starters were great. My all time favourite of Strada is the garlic and rosemary bread, which has on occasions disappointed me in the past as it can be overdone sometimes. On this occasion it was perfect – not too crispy and no burnt edges – this disappeared among the party of 4 very quickly.

The selection of antipasti was delicious – the only minor criticism was that the tomato and basil could have done with a lot more fresh basil as you could barely taste this. Olives were fresh and had a lovely mild flavour.

The pizza looked and tasted great – we all thought the artichoke section was different but scrumptious. The least favourite part was the sausage slices – but these still went!

The sausage pasta dish was well received by two of the party but the others thought it was a little too spicy – but I think that is personal taste!

Fish – superb. Moist, and easier and less messy to eat than I had thought. The balsamic dressing on the spinach was superb and complimented the dish beautifully.

The pork, although nice, we all thought was disappointing. Visually the dish looked unappetizing and boring, and as I say although nice, there was too much buttery sauce swimming around the plate – a little too rich.

Desserts were all wonderful – the firm favourite being the pistachio ice cream – really creamy and full of flavour!

The staff were attentive throughout the meal, but not overly so at all.

All in all, it was a lovely slow paced lunch and we all went home having enjoyed the meal thoroughly. Next time I visit I will definitely be having the fish again. It was so well cooked and my favourite part of the meal.

Thanks for the opportunity to try out the new dishes on offer.