A Review of Pasco’s Italian! - HEY Magazine

As a family, we’ve have been eating at Pasco’s Italian Restaurant in Cottingham since we moved to the village in 2012 and have always loved it. Great food and great service.

It’s always nice to see local, family-owned businesses doing well, and Pasco’s is no exception! Due to their hard work and determination combined with a strong local reputation for food that is prepared and cooked fresh by their chefs for customers to enjoy, with great service.

During the pandemic and lockdowns, while the restaurant at St Andrews Quay was being refurbished, the team at Pasco’s Cottingham were busy diversifying their business in order to be able to continue serving food to customers in Hull & East Riding during lockdown, providing vital services such as using their supply chain to to source essential items when some of the supermarkets were struggling for stock, in addition to selling fresh vegetables, fruit and staple foods, and offering a takeaway service. When some restrictions were lifted, Pasco’s supported local customers with the ‘Eat out to help out’ scheme.

So, we were delighted to be invited to visit their 2nd restaurant that opened recently on St Andrews Quay Retail Park, Hull, in the building that was formerly Frankie & Benny’s Restaurant. We visited on a Saturday afternoon, late January, and our first impression was the availability and accessibility of free car parking.

We arrived at 3pm and after walking through the large glass doors, we received a warm and friendly welcome inside at the front desk. At a quick first glance, the restaurant seemed

familiar from its days as a Frankie & Benny’s however, the seats and tables are probably the only remaining features. The whole restaurant was clean, fresh and has been tastefully refurbished with a simple, classy, and elegant finish using cool and calming tones.

Our drinks were ordered and arrived at the table in less than 15 minutes. The soft drinks were refreshing, served with lemon or lime, and ice. I had a pint of Budweiser draught that was crisp and cold – lovely!

We had a choice of the afternoon menus or the evening menu’s because it was 3pm in the afternoon but they weren’t caught up on this, we could choose whichever we wanted. Both menus were comprehensive and varied, catering for all types of food preferences, including gluten-free, vegetarian and vegan. For the main courses, there’s a large menu with plenty of choices.

For our starters, my wife and 2 boys shared a garlic bread that was made fresh, served at just the right temperature and was delicious. I had the Homemade, Italian-Style Pâté, served with Garnish & Toasted Ciabatta Bread which was delightful. My eldest son is an SEN child with autism and, as a result, has quite a limited diet and sensory issues. He found the environment comfortable with no issues. He likes breadsticks but not the sides served with them, when he asked, the staff were friendly, and helpful and they brought him a selection of different flavoured breadsticks for him to try, unaware of his autism and SEN needs.

Throughout the meal we found the service to be exceptional, staff were always passing by, checking-in to make sure everything was okay for us (but not too often) and onhand to get extra drinks. We did wonder if it was just us receiving this level of service (being asked to visit for this review) but as we looked around the restaurant, this seemed to be the norm. We saw the same service being offered to all customers, nothing was too much trouble and everyone seemed just as pleased as we were, exchanging smiles, laughs and pleasant banter during their meal, with a couple of instances of singing ‘Happy Birthday’ and joining in the celebrations for other guests thrown-in too…

For our main courses, my sons chose to share a Margherita Pizza made with Tomato and Mozzarella Cheese which they thoroughly enjoyed and polished off leaving a clean plate. My wife had the Burger served with Salad and Chips. It’s

worth noting that the salad is prepared fresh in the kitchen and includes Peppers. My wife is severely allergic to Peppers, and we stated this when ordering her meal, and this wasn’t problem at all. Our waiter took this as seriously as it is and ensured that her salad was prepared totally separate to any areas of possible cross-contamination with Peppers. I had the Spaghetti Carbonara which is Spaghetti cooked with Cured Bacon, Cream, Egg Yolk & Parmesan Cheese. All of the main courses served were hot, fresh, tasty and of generous proportions.

Of course, we tried to save some room for desert – it would be rude not too! My youngest son was eager to try the Syrup Sponge and had the option for it to be served with Custard, Ice Cream or Fresh Crème which, naturally, he ordered with Ice Cream like most 13-year-old boys would. He really enjoyed it despite just not quite managing to finish it due to the generous portion sizes. My eldest son opted for the Mint Choc Gelato, which was so tasty that, when he couldn’t finish it due to being full, he was kindly offered a sealed container for him to take home what was left, which he thoroughly enjoyed finishing off as a treat on Sunday afternoon. My wife enjoyed a cup of tea and we enjoyed trying the White Choc Profiteroles too.

Our visit lasted 1hr 45 minutes in total which worked out perfectly in terms of timings for food and drink servings, with enough time (but not too long) between courses to enjoy a chat and let the previous course settle

Being brutally honest, we’ve been to other restaurants where we’ve paid more money for food that wasn’t a patch on Pasco’s and certainly doesn’t get anywhere near the exceptional service we experienced. We would describe Pasco’s as a high quality, customer-focused restaurant, offering great value, All the staff seemed happy, resulting in a pleasant environment where nothing is too much trouble.

We would recommend Pasco’s Italian, at either St Andrews Quay or Cottingham, as an excellent family-friendly restaurant.