"Since Rosso opened it's doors, there's been a lot of talk and buzz about it, especially since it's joint owned by Rio Ferdinand, and Manchester loves places with celeb names attached to them these days. Their website mentions the names of a few celebs who have eaten there, and talks about having 'one of the best selections of wine to be seen in any restaurant', traits which for me, usually scream 'pretentious' straight off the bat. Despite this, even I was keen on trying this one, what with the United connection and all, so we rang a week in advance to book, asking for a table at 8pm, since United vs Bolton kicked off at 5:30. Unfortunately, Rosso operate a policy of having 5pm, 7pm and 9pm services only. We chose the 7pm one, since 9pm was full, at which point we were rather curtly advised that our table had to be vacated by 9pm.

Before arrival, we knew what to expect of the dining room, as it's been used for various restaurants over recent years including Rio's business partners ill-fated Karims, and the space is still as stunning as ever. It's definitely a winner when it comes to visual effect, and without question, one of the best looking dining rooms in town, with a pretty large bar area too.

The greeting was friendly and efficient, by a very glam Italian lady, and we were quickly escorted to our table, which was sat at the back of the impressive dining area. Tables were sat a little too close to each other for our liking however, with only about 8 inches separating them. As 7pm arrived, the room filled with people attending their timeslot, and it wasn't long before the dining area was rammed. We were pleased to see that on the whole, whilst there were a few WAG wannabes, the customer base was fairly mixed. Soon after sitting down, we did notice a few of the staff who had previously worked at family favourite Italian in Bury. One of these faces actually took our order, so we caught up, and it seems that Rosso actually hired 3 waiters, the Head Chef and the manager from Toto Ristorante in Bury. Since Toto was always a solid relaxed local favourite of our's when living in Bury, we began to feel very pleased, and it started to make sense as to why, according to locals, Toto had gone a little downhill lately. Interestingly, a lot of their old dishes appeared on the Rosso menu.

Anyway, we fancied trying a few items off the menu, all varying in style to get a good idea of things, so went for starters of a classic Fritto Misto (£7.95) and Four Cheese Stuffed Pepper (£6.50), along with a side of Foccacia topped with tomato and garlic (£4.25). My Fritto Misto was big, but relatively disappointing, as it was quite underseasoned, and a little greasy. Also, the fish fillet contained a lot of very small bones. It tasted OK though. My partner's stuffed pepper was a little under-ripe and slightly bitter. The cheese was fine though. Perhaps a red pepper would be a better choice than green, both as a nod to the restaurant name and also to add a little sweetness? The foccacia was very nice however, with a great base and tangy tomato topping. At no point did anybody ask if our starters were OK though.

For mains, my 'better half' went for the Lamb Shank with mash and root veg (£13.50), since this was always her favourite at Toto, and I went for the Osso Buco with saffron rissoto (£16.95). They took around 30 mins after the starters to arrive, but this was OK as we were enjoying our bottle of wine, which was a 2009 Salice Salentino (£21.95). It was perfectly OK, but didn't warrant its price tag. Im no expert on Italian wines but suspect that you could pick it up for £5 at Majestic, which is a touch high in terms of markup. Anyway, my partner's lamb was OK but a little overseasoned, the accompaniment of mash was quite lumpy, and it was sloppily presented too. They really need to loose the sprig of rosemary they put in the bone, as it doesn t add to presentation at all. My Occo Buco was much nicer, although I didn't pick up much saffron in the risotto, in neither colour or flavour. The piece of meat was well cooked and plentiful. It fell apart, as you would expect, and the marrowbone was very tasty too. Again, nobody checked on us during the mains.

The bill for a total of 6 dishes, wine and water came to £85.64, which is reasonable to be fair, and pretty much what you would pay elsewhere for a similar quality meal in the city. However, this includes a compulsory 10% service charge, which for me, wasn't warranted on this occasion. Whilst the staff were friendly and chatty, they were pretty inattentive during the meal, despite there being loads of them buzzing about, perhaps too many at times. Also I find compulsory service charges are very annoying in non-fine dining eateries.

We left feeling a little disappointed by the overall experience, simply because it acts so much grander than it actually is, and as far as the food goes, it fell short of its little indirectly-related cousin in Walshaw near Bury. Decent yet unremarkable and reasonably priced food in glam and slightly pretentious surroundings. I've never really understood pretentious places when, as at Rosso, you can get 3 courses for £20. Having a £12,000 methuselah of Dom Perignon on the menu doesn't make somewhere a top eatery. I have no idea how their website can claim Rosso have the best wine list around? 20 choices of Champagne compared to about 40 of wine? It's just not balanced but then this is no doubt their intention? Everyone feels special with a bit of fizz but how many people have a real interest in good wine and food?

Anyway, cutting to the chase, Rosso is what it is; a decent eatery, with a big budget set aside for great décor and a large Champagne fridge, rather than investing in a world class chef and selling the best produce. All fine yet very average across the board, unless you're impressed by seeing somebody semi-famous whilst eating.

Despite its shortcomings, I suspect that Rosso will be a success to be honest. Everybody likes pizza/pasta, and as I say, it is very affordable, decent quality, and set in a lovely dining room, so its got all the components to be a local favourite.

Food 2.5/5 ~ Value 3.5/5 ~ Decor 4/5 ~ Service 2.5/5 ~ Overall 3/5 " - Chris Handley, Salford ~ TRUSTED REVIEWER ~ 28/3/10 (visited on a Saturday evening)