Captain Nino - A Tasteem Review

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I was thinking I haven’t submitted a Hive account@tasteem review for a while, and then what do I see, a ‘My favourite dessert’ contest announcement.

So now I have something to review but it’s not quite as straightforward as that.

Last Saturday Hive account@bingbabe announced that she was hungry (an ever-recurring subject) and that she would like some takeaway Italian food.

Having got tired of the local haunts I tracked down Captain Nemo's in Padiham, Lancashire.

This is the takeaway part of the restaurrant, Mamma Mia Crossroads.

'It all happens behind these doors'

Great reviews on TripAdvisor, sit in and takeaway too. But this is not a dessert review you say? Not yet but read on.

What I noticed about their takeaway menu were the prices. Everything was so cheap, and yet the reviews were good. Had I found a gem?

We ordered Spaghetti Bolognaise x 2, Garlic Pizza with Cheese, Italian Chicken with herbs, Chips and Garlic Mushrooms. I called, placed the order and went to collect the food.

It was dark when I arrived at the rambling house that was part restaurant and part take away. Entering the building I spotted some cakes.

Cakes and Italian takeaway don’t seem synonymous to me, but I was thinking, ‘those look nice’.

The bill for the food was around £23 which I still find astonishing considering the amount we ordered.

Impulsively I ordered a Lemon Drizzle Cheesecake and a Chocolate Fudge Cake as I know Hive account@dismayedworld loves this.

It was £2 each for the cakes and considering the size of the slab, especially the Chocolate Fudge Cake, I thought this cheap.

As with the food, everything was packed in plastic containers. They offered to give me cream with the cakes, but this may have made them a little sloppy and so I declined.

Being cheap is all very well but if the food is like eating cardboard then it's not much good.

Without being too negative, the chicken was dry as a bone but very large and meaty, maybe some gravy or sauce would have helped but I left a large portion of it.

I received the reports from Hive account@bingbabe that the Spaghetti Bolognaise was a little watery but she consumed most of it; there was no report from Hive account@dismayedworld.

The Garlic Pizza with Cheese looked appetising but did not taste as good as it looked. We did finish it though it took two days for it to disappear.

The Mushrooms did not taste like mushrooms at all. Maybe they had used a taste extractor? The chips were well, just chips.

This review is for the desserts but i have included the savouries snaps anyway.

We did eat most of the savouries even the though the quality was average at best, and so the cakes were left until the next day and placed in the fridge.

If you think I’m being negative, it does get better. The cakes were great!

I can't personally speak for the Chocolate Fudge Cake as it mysteriously vanished the next day, likely down Hive account@dismayedworld's throat at a very good guess. A shame as I did want to try it.

The Lemon Drizzle Cheesecake was something else. Sometimes cheesecake can be quite sickly but not with this one.