Jamie's Italian, Leeds

On a pleasant bank holiday evening, me and the Other Half decided to go somewhere new for a meal, we had a couple of ideas in mind but being a bank holiday they were shut. After wandering round town pondering our options we noticed that Jamie's Italian was open and lacked the usual epic queue outside so we thought we might as well give it ago. I had read some quite negative reviews about the place but went in with an open mind anyway.
On arrival we were told there would be about a twenty minute wait and were invited to the bar to wait, we ordered a 500ml cafare of wine each at just under £10 per carafe, I thought this was reasonable value considering the wine prices of some places.
After a short while we were shown to our seat and greeted by our very friendly waitress who informed us that certain items such as the burger had sold out (this was 8 o clock) fortunately these were not dishes we planned on ordering. We ordered the Meat Antipasti plank for two consisting of; Meats - fennel salami, pistachio mortadella, Schiacciata piccante, Cheese - buffalo mozzarella and pecorino. Pickles - green chillies, gata olives and green capers and a crunchy salad of shaved root veg with chili, mint and lemon.The starter was quite impressive served on an plank of wood balanced on two tins of Italian tomatoes, the meats were very good especially combined with the creaminess of the mozzarella and the tang of the lemon and mint salad.

Antipasti Plank

 For our mains we ordered the parpadelle meatballs and the mushroom panzerotti. There was quite a wait between the starter and the main but the waitress apologised for our wait and promised our food would arrive shortly which it did. Each dish was made with fresh pasta but I wasn't especially convinced by my choice (meatballs). I was expecting a rich tomato dish or a very herby dish and received neither, the meatballs were nothing special either, however the mushroom dish was very flavoursome and I wished I had ordered that dish. (as an avid meat eater its a rare occasion when I wish that I had ordered a veggie option instead of a meat option). We declined a dessert and I opted to sample their coffee, I was given the option of hot or cold milk with my americano, ( i like my coffee black but it is nice to be given this temperature option if i didn't) the coffee was strong and well made and a good end to the meal.

Parpadelle Meatballs

The final bill came to around the £35 mark (minus the wine) which we thought was good value considering the name above the door.

I would recommend a visit to this place but I wouldn't recommend the meatball pasta dish, try it for yourself but go early because I have walked past this place many a time at around half 7 - 8 and witnessed a very large queue out of the door due to their 'no reservations' policy.

Jamie's Italian Website
35 Park Row,
Leeds,
West Yorkshire
LS1 5JL
0113 322 5400