Jamie's Italian, Reading

Eating out on Friday is a tradition for most, easing you into the weekend. 

It was Friday night and I really fancied pasta, what better than to head to Jamie's Italian. By the time I reached Jamie's I was ravenous and couldn't wait to eat.

It was a lively Friday night, the place was decorated with fresh pasta and hanging legs of ham, making the place look rustic.

I was too hungry that I was too busy eating the starters before I realised I didn't take a picture, but anyways, had the fried three cheese gnocchi and crispy tomato and mozzarella arancini.

Both were delicious, both were served with arrabbiata sauce, except the one served with the gnocchi was slightly sweeter, which I preferred as it was like sweet chilli sauce. 

There was a really long wait for mains. So long that you get beyond the point of hungry and no longer feel hungry anymore. We asked the waitress where our mains were to be told by the waitress that because it was a Friday night it was busy and that they were on their way. I should have order an additional starter or the bread selection to keep me going. 

When main finally appeared; crab spaghettini. When you watch Jamie on TV, he's constantly telling you to put the pasta in the sauce and that the sauce should coat the pasta, but mine was a little bit separate. It was missing, maybe a cup of the starchy pasta water he's telling us to put. I wasn't overly keen on this, the crab was there, it did have the sweet fresh taste of crab but it just didn't wow me. Looking at the menu, if you're looking for pasta, but say have an allergy to shellfish and don't eat pork for any religious reason, there's only 3 pasta dishes for you; one with rabbit the other two the vegetarian option.

What I did like were the drinks; blueberry & basil smash and the ginger mojito. Both fresh, light and zingy. 

I have no idea what was in the food but that night I was so thirsty!! The type of thirsty that I get when I've eaten a meal that has MSG in it. I'm sure Jamie's don't put MSG in their food but it must be something for me to constantly wake up throughout the night.  

Overall not wowed by the main but possibly in future a great place for drinks and snacks.