La Casa Vecchia

70-72 The Pantiles, Royal Tunbridge Wells
Kent TN2 5TW 01892 544700

On one of those rare summer days when the sun has actually bothered to shine, is there a lovelier way to while away the hours by having a long, lazy lunch on the Pantiles? And long and lazy it may be if you go to La Casa Vecchia, as it took them at least ten minutes to notice we'd sat down, and we were the only customers!
Still, the service once it came was pleasant enough, and you really can't go wrong with a big glass of quaffable house white and an okay bowl of pasta. It may have been even better if we'd received our jug of water, but we bizarrely had to wait til pudding to receive that. Still, at that point we were in forgiving moods, as my carbonara was really tasty and full of lovely salty bacon, and the wife was pleased with the generous portions of seafood in her spaghetti fruit de mer.
Then, unfortunately, we decided to go for the pudding menu, and more specifically, the options containing ice cream. The waitress enthusiastically approved of my choice of spagnola, but then, maybe she liked to crunch on unpleasant shards of ice when she eats ice cream. My wife's gelato affogato came with the espresso already poured over it, so all that arrived at the table was a mass of cold, coffee flavoured soup, rather than a pleasurable hit of hot, black, bitter coffee running into cold sweet ice cream, which is surely the point of this concoction.
So we by all means do recommend a lunchtime visit, making sure that it's your day off and not your lunch hour, but no matter how much you enjoy the main course, do not, I repeat, do NOT be tempted to have pudding. Just go to the newsagent's and get an ice lolly instead. And don't sit outside on a windy day, as we spent most of the meal holding the parasol in place!

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Comments

[James]

Haven't been to the Cassa Vecchia for a couple of years ago - were completely put off when we went last... service was slow (as you seem to have had), and the food was average at best. It's a shame because it's a great location and could be a great little restaurant...