Marco's New York Italian, Sheffield

Celebrated chef Marco Pierre White, the English chef from Leeds, has a chain of successful restaurants across the country and one of the newest restaurants in Sheffield has been a huge success since it opened.

The menu has recently changed whilst still maintaining some of the old favourites - the new autumn menu has some tempting additions such as Pollo Alla Valdostana, The Italian Burger and Classic Spaghetti Napoletana.

For a Tuesday night the restaurant was very busy with a mix of couples, business men (the restaurant is underneath the Hilton Hotel) and younger and older diners. It was comforting to hear fellow Yorkshireman, John Newman playing whilst we entered the restaurant. That is not to say the music is too loud, it provides an atmospheric background to the experience, as you would expect it ranges from Frank Sinatra, Italian singer Eros Ramazotti to James Morrison.

I chose the American Style Nachos which comes under the "While You Wait" section of the new menu, whilst my partner chose the New Orleans Crab Cakes as a starter. Whilst the crab cakes were delicious my partner thought that they could have been presented in a smaller dish as the cakes tended to look smaller than they actually were. I opted not to have my Nachos served with the chillies as I thought they would be too hot. It was a personal touch when one of the waiters came over to ask me if I had any allergies to chillies as some of them could still be served in my dish.

It is this attention to detail that sets the restaurant apart from others: nothing seems to be too much trouble. The staff all engaged with the diners and all appeared to enjoy working there. It all ran smoothly and effortlessly and it was like being served in a 5 star hotel restaurant.

Another new addition to the menu is the Philly Steak Pizza which was served on a very tasty base. If I chose this again though I would leave off the caramelised onion as it tended to overshadow at times the other ingredients; however it was still a fantastic pizza. A filling and tasty main course.

My partner described her Seared Seabream with Caponata as "excellent".

The dessert menu appeared quite tempting. I went for the Knickerbocker Glory Sundae, a classic dessert that I would certainly highly recommend. My partner went for the New York based cheesecake without the blueberry compote, which still looked scrumptious.

American coffee rounded off a perfect meal in a friendly, warm and welcoming atmosphere. It felt like you had been to a "proper" restaurant and the evening had been a grand event.

www.marcossheffield.com
Telephone: 0114 399 0990