Andy (26 May 2007)

Having seen the restaurant advertised on the internet site I was initially attracted to professional website, and the promise of customers soon becoming friends, however, after visiting the restaurant with my friends it was a different story. We were greeted by an over confident woman who turned out to be the manager, she appeared to put on a very false posh accent for some reason. She told us straight away that there would be a half hour wait for a table, which turned out to be an hour and a quarter. Two glasses of wine came to £9 which I thought too expensive for the area of Rothwell.

We were not offered a menu to browse through whilst waiting and on being seated were visited five times by the waitress in a short time for an order, on saying we had not chosen yet, she stood at the counter opposite and glared at us so uncomfortably I quickly chose a starter and a main, thinking it would arrive quickly as the pace seemed to have picked up since being seated, however we were waiting a further half hour for two salads and a garlic bread.

I have to say, compared to other Italian restaurants I have favoured in the past, this garlic bread was bland, dried up and boring. My friends had the salad and did say that was not bad.

I felt the waitresses were willing us to finish the course quickly, however, on clearing the table, the main courses seemed to take forever. I had a pasta dish with chicken and my friends had a spicy pasta and a pizza. I have to say I left over half of my dish which I rarely ever do and so did they. I live for Italian food, but found the food at Salute disappointing and tasteless. Because we were waiting so long for the food, we drank far more than we usually did when out for a meal, and I have to say that this seems to be a cunning ploy by the owner to relieve the customers of their pounds.

We skipped the pudding as we were quite bored with the restaurant by this time and so asked for the bill which arrived at lightening speed amazingly, but did not expect the 10% service charge which had naughtily been added on to the total of the bill. I thought it was cheeky and not so much optional as stated, we would have felt we were causing a scene asking for it taking off the bill. Once we had paid we did not get a thanks for visiting or a goodbye on leaving, which I find the norm from a restaurant owner, I think it’s polite and good for business too.

We won't be visiting again as we found the evening disappointing, drink too expensive, food average and the restaurant very overrated. Not recommended.

Jessica (18 April 2007)

I went for a birthday meal with my boyfriend and four friends. We were greeted by a waitress who was obviously new to the job or just did not know what she was doing; we were directed to a table that only sat four people! I then pointed this out and we were quickly directed to another table. The menu was extensive and quite impressive but did not live up to expectations. I had a salad to start which was very limp and bland (and also took 30 minutes to arrive). I order a goat’s cheese tart for main and it was absolutely appalling. A 10% service charge was also added to the bill! I will not be returning to an over rated, expensive restaurant!