Bosco means forest/wood in Italian and as such it seems an odd name to choose for a small chain with town/city centre locations. Urban jungle, perhaps?

Despite the well documented travails of hospitality, there have been a number of new openings in Cardiff and Bosco is one of them. Originating in Bristol it has expanded to 5 location in the South West and South Wales, with Cardiff the latest. 

From what I have read it seems to have a pretty decent reputation, based on the Bristol original (Meat and One Veg seemed to rate it and he rarely pulls his punches), but expansion means the need for funds and the potential loading up of debt (VC funds all to often, which never seems to end well). Many a business has trodden the debt fuelled expansion path and all to often it has led to a spiral of cost cutting and penny pinching, resulting in quality going down the plug hole.

I was curious to seem what this latest bridge hopper was like and thought I would give it a try when I went into town in the early New Year to (it seems one of the few people) actually buy something rather than returning that/those unwanted gift(s). At the John Lewis till there were literally thousands of people (well at least 6) with bag loads of items/unwanted gifts to return (and one of them amazingly wasn’t Mrs. SF).

To be honest anywhere to flop down after trudging around town would have been welcome, even though they put us in a really quite uncomfortable window seat,

with Mrs. SF having to prop up a cushion to get any semblance of comfort (as I quietly cursed not going for a bar seat on booking).

If I recall correctly, it is in the old Kitchen Shop site (one of the few non wine/food shops I was happy to browse in) and that was a big old two floor unit. As a result it seems to have an awful lot of covers both upstairs and downstairs, which is kind of brave in the current hospitality apocalypse. I do feel the current vogue for adding “crisis” to everything (I didn’t sleep well last night becomes much more melodramatic if you say we are suffering an “insomnia crisis“) is not nearly hyperbole enough and we should move on to “apocalypse” to really frighten the bejesus out of people ever more (come on MSM do your “nudge, nudge” job better – actually hyperbole is probably warranted in terms of the dire straits hospitality finds itself in through no fault of its own).

Testimony to the place’s cavernous size is the fact that Mrs. SF went to the loo upstairs and is still not back 3 weeks later. I mean there can be no other explanation.

The menu follows a tried and trusted formula of Italian pizzeria/trattatoria

although with only 3 pasta dishes (and 1 risotto) it does seem to me to be a bit light for a trattoria, so more pizzeria with 10 of them.

Whilst I have heard the pizzas are good here, I didn’t want one and was initially drawn to the Roman mainstay, carbonara, which is one of Italy’s most bastardised dishes (here the ingredients did look pretty much on point), but decided on the Northern Italian classic of cotoletta Milanese (a chunkier riff on the, bit further north, schnitzel).

When it arrived it was very chunky indeed and I was worried that the pork would be a bit tough. It was actually quite tender,  well seasoned, with a nicely crisp coating.

Deep fried sage leaves and a good squeeze of lemon added nicely to the mix. If I am honest I didn’t read the menu properly and had assumed it came with no accompaniments and ordered with that in my mind (more on this later).

I do prefer my bread pork with the bone still on the chop (bone in always adds flavour) and a bit thinner, but it was nice enough.

When some spaghetti arrived I was initially a bit confused (not an unusual state of affairs to be honest) but it was actually a pretty good bowl of pasta.

The spaghetti was the right side of al dente, with a well flavoured (and not soupy) pomadora sauce and plenty of (grana padana) cheese.

Now this is not the place’s fault, but I have always viewed spaghetti with a bit of breaded meat to be a bit of an odd combo. Both of them are perfectly nice individually, but do they really sync together as one dish? I would say no (I am sure many would disagree) and I would have much preferred a green salad or some potatoes as the accompaniment to this dish.

As I hadn’t read the menu properly I did (unnecessarily) order potatoes (£5)

Nicely roasted, but very heavy on salt (even for me), these were a better accompaniment to the pork than the pasta Together, with the pasta they were way too much even for a piggy like me and this were thus an unnecessary (doubling up of carbs) accompaniment.

Mrs. SF ordered from the rather diminutive pasta selection, going for the mafaldine con ragu di manzu (£17).

Good dish this, which Mrs SF really enjoyed. The mafaldine pasta was well cooked (i.e. not over, but without too much of a bite), with a well flavoured beef rib ragu and a good whack of umami and saltiness provided by a generous portion of grana padana. Just right portion wise, I suffered a bit of food envy after I tasted it.

We, of course, over ordered with Mrs. SF wanting the aglio (with mozzarella, against my better judgment – not very Italian, but nor is garlic bread)

Good light crust on this, with plenty of garlic. My only complaint was it was a bit salty. I would say that was a theme of the meal, with the non pasta elements being a bit overseasoned for even my (salt fiend) tastes. Whoever was on pasta in the kitchen was much more judicious with the salt.

On the booze front it was nice to see most of the wines offered in glass, carafe/half bottle size (do like that format size for lunch) and bottle.

It is a not too bad selection of all Italian wines and I went for a carafe of barbera d’alba

Pleasantly fruity (plum and cherry), with good acidity, it worked well with both the pasta and the pork.

There is also a decent selection of non wine drinks (Mrs. SF insisted on mineral water, when I always think tap is fine).

Always nice to see the accursed lemoncello (why anyone drinks that filth is beyond me) not on an Italian restaurant menu. Interesting grappa offering, though, I thought.

The verdict

If I am honest I didn’t have that high a level of expectation in terms of this place, but I was pleasantly surprised with the quality of the food and booze offering. Probably not going to win any awards, but you could do a lot worse in town that is for sure.

Their lunch offer looks pretty good value

if the quality and quantity is carried across from the main menu.

Service was generally good, except regarding paying the bill. I do have a real bugbear about the seeming reluctance of places to give you a bill (thus allowing you to leave).

Now I don’t like being given the bum rush by way of the”We need the table back by …”, but equally when I want to leave, I do actually want to go. If you want to turn tables surely getting the bill to the table and paid, so the table is vacated, should be a priority. 

Here, we tried in vain to attract the waiting staff’s attention and thought  problem solved when eventually we did. We then waited again for what seemed like an age to actually get the bill and then again to be given the ability to pay it. I would say a good 15 minutes to get and pay the bill in all, which seems barmy when you think you are trying to give people money. It also caused us to miss our intended train back, which was a bit irritating as it gave Mrs. SF the option to go in yet another shop (an option she very rarely doesn’t take if given the opportunity)!!

Is it just me or are long waits to get the bill (and then to be given the means to pay it) a more widespread issue and getting worse or am I just an impatient git?

So, on balance, pretty positive and a decent option in town, but less salt and more promptness with the bill wouldn’t have gone amiss.  I would also try and avoid the uncomfortable window seats (oh and, unlike me, best to read the menu properly before ordering).

The details

Address: 14 High St, Cardiff CF10 1AX

Website: https://www.boscopizzeria.co.uk/pages/restaurants/cardiff