Gusto Knutsford- Eating Out

I had not seen my best friend properly for a while, so I decided to book a table at our favourite restaurant, Gusto in Knutsford, an Italian chain that have a lot of restaurants in the North West and also a couple dotted around Great Britain. I have been to Gusto a few times and I have never been disappointed, however, there were a few grumbles about my last trip.

When we got there, it was quite busy, but nothing on what it is usually like, probably because it was a Sunday and a few days before NYE. We sat down at the bar, I got my usual starting drink, a Watermelon Iced Tea (a twist on the classic Long Island Iced Tea) whilst Abbie got a coke (she was driving). The presentation of the cocktails are always great and they are the perfect way to kick the night off.

 We arrived at around 7:20pm and our table was booked for 7:30pm. However, we had finished our drinks during our 20-30 minute wait for a table. We also noticed that people walking in after us were being seated first. They may have had tables booked earlier than ours, who knows, but it was slightly annoying. 

When we sat down, we got served straight away. I ordered the Focaccia and a glass of Prosecco and Abbie ordered her usual, the Garlic Dough Petals and a water. They came quite quickly, however, again, I did notice people who had been seated after us getting their food first. This may also have been because they ordered simpler food, I don't know, but it seemed odd as this didn't usually happen.

After eating our starters, our plates were cleared, and we waited for our main course. The table next to us, who were seated after us, again got their meals first even though there were more of them than there were at our table. Oh well. We both ordered the Gusto Burger cooked medium. When the burger came, it was not medium which was a shame. It was as if our order was forgotten about as it was well done, no pink in sight. However, it tasted great and it was hot, unlike the man's pizza at the table next to ours, again, none of my business. (At this point I had forgotten to take pictures, apologies.)

Our plates were taken and we were then given the dessert menu. I ordered another cocktail (a Passion Fruit Mojito, another twist on a classic), however they were out of passion fruit to garnish the drink. I told the waitress that it was okay but she insisted that they would make me something special to make up for it. I wasn't going to complain at that. She came back with my drink that had passion fruit syrup in but was garnished with strawberries. It was the best drink I had ever had from Gusto. The bar staff really knew how to compliment the flavour of the passion fruit and it was lovely.

Our desserts came quite quickly. I had ordered the Mascarpone and Nutella Calzone with pistachio Ice Cream and Abbie order two scoops of Pistachio Ice Cream and a scoop of Vanilla. Mine came warm as it should with none if the ice cream melted, so it has been plated up and bought to us immediately which I really liked. As per usual, the dessert was delicious.

We paid the bill (always reasonably priced and perfect for students like Abbie and myself), left a tip and drove home. Looking back, the atmosphere was lovely that night. The waiting staff do come over and check that the meal is okay, however, they do not hover like I have experienced in other places. I was slightly disappointed with the food as I know the standards are higher than what we got on our visit, however, it is not enough to stop me visiting Gusto again in the future.