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We'd been meaning to try La Scala at Millhouses for quite some time, so when a couple of old friends came to visit us and said they would like to try one of Sheffield's Italian restaurants, we knew where to head.

It's situated just off the busy main road and looks small and cosy from the outside. It was quite a surprise therefore, to discover that it's double the size we thought, thanks to extra seating on the lower ground floor.

The décor is classic Italian, but with a very cultivated feel about it, nothing cheap or tacky to put you off your food.

Being seated downstairs is quite hard to bear in some respects, as the kitchen is also down there and the delicious smells wafting through the restaurant do make it hard to concentrate on less important matters! Sorting out what to order wasn't easy either, they really do have quite a substantial choice on offer. The only fault we could find was that there don't seem to be any fish dishes on the main menu, although there were two on the specials board.

Being a group of four meant we could sample quite a few of the dishes, which is a bit of a bonus for this review. We started things off with the Fungi Scala, mushrooms in a cream and dolcelatte sauce and Pomodorri Tonno, which translates as tomato with a tuna stuffing. Both were very tasty, though the mushroom dish wasn't quite as special as we'd anticipated. Apologising for the messy eating in advance, our friends went for spare ribs and a garlic bread and both were pronounced quite delicious, especially the sauce on the ribs.

Main courses came after just the right interval, during which we'd polished off some wine and caught up on old times. The roast vegetable risotto was perfect and it was good to find identifiable chunks of roast vegetable in it. Similar verdicts were given on the two chicken dishes and the roast duck that the rest of our group had selected.

We were feeling a bit piggy, but not overly, so we shared puddings and the staff didn't baulk at providing two spoons with each pudding, another plus for relaxed eating out. The crepe came with a very generous portion of liqueur and we wouldn't recommend it if you're driving but both that and the ice cream were good to finish off on a sweet note.

We'd say it's a cut above the average Italian, but without being too overpriced either. Very pleasant surroundings, even downstairs but we would like to try an upstairs table next time, so I guess we'll just have to go back again soon.

November 2002

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