Ballaro' - Burnley

We went for a family celebration. The starters of garlic pizzas were tomato sauce smothered in margarine. The mains varied in quality. Lamb shank was bland and barely warm, spaghetti with chicken was plain spaghetti covered in margarine with a soggy breaded chicken on top, chicken risotto was blandest I’ve ever had and again barely warm, lobster ravioli consisted of about 4 pieces. One person ordered the hanging chicken which we were told took half an hour to prepare. I think it actually took half an hour to defrost. I explained our concerns to the waiter and he reluctantly knocked the price of one meal off despite the fact as a table of 8 we hardly ate any of it. Would definitely not return.

Nice place to have a good time, eat delicious food

This is not a restaurant experience, more casual dining. The atmosphere was very much a casual experience due to the loud music, menu selection of burgers and hanging skewers.. The food was okay, but nothing to shout about... The service was also hit and miss, as waited over 10 mins for 1st drinks order, staff not confident with service, the final bill had been doubled, so not attention to detail to check what was given to us. Would we go back? No not for us...

This place clearly has a good local customer following and the restaurant has a friendly atmosphere and good vibe, people were having a good time and kids were welcomed. I was disappointed by the food however. The carbonara sauce was tasteless just cream, with a few hard bits of bacon and the sticky toffee pudding, whilst well presented, was reminiscent of a microwave pudding. If I came here again I would get pizza as they looked delicious and are cooked fresh in the pizza oven in the middle of the restaurant. I would also skip dessert!

Ordered classic bruschetta and dough sticks for starter, bruschetta came without any balsamic reduction on top, when asked, they said they had run out, but never mentioned it whilst placing the order. The dough sticks were cooked nice however the accompanying dips of ‘garlic butter’ turned out to be garlic margarine and the ‘tomato pizza sauce’ turned out to be literal ketchup, which ruined the entire starter. When this was brought up to a member of staff, the manager was notified however the items were not knocked off the final bill, the main course was lovely, no complaints apart from maybe too much sauce with the pasta dish, but that is being picky. Whilst the main was lovely, the lack of an attempt to rectify the starter problem left us with a bad taste in our mouth and I’m not sure we will visit again