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It was 6.50pm on a Friday night when we walked into Salvo’s in Headingley.
Having visited this enduringly popular Italian eatery on a Saturday evening before, myself and my dining partner were hoping to avoid the long wait we’d faced last time.
Salvo’s has a non-booking policy – appositive or negative thing depending on your viewpoint. If you decide on the spur of the moment to go out, it’s great because it eliminates the nightmare of “where could we possibly get a table tonight?” But if you are going for a special occasion – as we had been last time – it can be stressful to wait.
The other downside is if you’re starving hungry when you arrive, as I usually am. In that case the only options are to go elsewhere or to wait in the bar, eyeing up other diners’ plates of food from afar and fixing them with the kind of stare last used as a child to get your turn on the swings.
At least that’s what I was planning to do.
Luckily, that wasn’t necessary because John and Gip Dammone, owners of Salvo’s, have helpfully provided a menu above the bar of things to nibble while you’re waiting.
Arriving before 7pm, we were – perhaps naively – surprised to see the restaurant packed. Not only that but the small bar was also fairly busy and the efficient maitre’d warned us the wait would be a “good thirty minutes”. Undeterred, we put our names down.
Drinks in hand – a lemonade (£1.05) and an Nastro Azzurro beer (£2.95) – the extensive menu was soon passed to us. It’s 30 years since Salvo’s was opened by John and Gip Dammone’s father Salvatore.
Last year the brothers expanded from the original restaurant at the end of a shopping parade in Headingley, opening their Salumeria – Italian delicatessen – two doors down.
To celebrate 30 years in business, the original Salvo’s has recently undergone a massive refurbishment. The walls now feature prints of photos from the Dammone family album. Tables are crammed closely together, though there is also a banquette-style seating with mirrors above so you can secretly sneak a look at dishes on neighbouring tables.
Our 30 minute wait was plenty of time to peruse the menu – although it was quite difficult to juggle it and a drink.
Like other Italian restaurants, Salvo’s offers pizza and pasta, but also a selection of fish and meat dishes and specials. Starters catching my eye included deep fried squid and king prawns with a caper mayo (£5.95), bruschetta d’altamura with Parma ham, buffalo mozzarella and rocket (£5.75), and traditional minestrone soup (£4.25).
On the mains we were tempted by melanzane alla parmigiano – aubergines baked with tomato sauce and mozzarella (£12.75) and pasta caslingha (Wheatfields) lasagne with Neapolitan sausage which sees 50p of every dish sold going to nearby Wheatfields hospice (£9.25).
Soon after we were seated, the efficient waitress came over. Having ordered we tucked into the breadsticks and soaked up the ambience. With diners packed in the chatter is loud, especially when there is a large and boisterous party nearby.
Perfect for a real Italian place, it may not be the first choice for a quiet, romantic dinner.
It didn’t take long for the starters to arrive. My companion had gone for the affetato misto, a selection of Italian cooked meats, grissini sticks, olives and rocket (£7.50). He was thrilled to discover the platter was big enough to warrant arriving on a bread board and tucked in enthusiastically.
I’d chosen a special, Scottish smoked salmon with fennel and tomato salad and Auruga caviar citronette (£5.90).
A mound of finely sliced fennel and carrot was intermingled with a generous helping of smoked salmon and dotted with caviar.
Drizzled over was a lovely balsamic dressing. It was a delicious, light but tasty start to the meal. The only problem was that I couldn’t find any tomato. Despite being temporarily distracted by a bit of red pepper, the tomato seemed to be absent.
This didn’t actually matter in the slightest, but it might to a bigger tomato fan than me.
Mains also arrived swiftly. We’d both opted for pizza, me the Kiev (£8.45) and my dining partner the Posillipo (£8.95).
Despite not normally being keen on unusual pizza toppings, mine was – as the name suggests – inspired by Chicken Kiev. It was a calzone, folded with tomato sauce on top. It looked mountainous and I certainly wasn’t disappointed.
As I cut into the soft dough a stream of gorgeous garlic butter flowed out. Inside it was packed with tasty chicken, ham and mozzarella. The flavours combined fantastically and I tucked in.
My companion’s was a conventional base topped with seafood and roast peppers which he declared to be “delicious”.
Even though I’d left a little pizza, I was determined not to miss out on desert.
A confirmed chocoholic, one option caught my eye – Malteser semi freddo (£4.50). I had to have it.
My partner chose my second choice, the caramelised lemon tart (£4.50). They both arrived promptly and looked amazing. My slices of frozen parfait were drizzled with chocolate sauce while the lemon tart was piled with fresh fruit.
The parfait tasted, unsurprisingly, like frozen maltesers complete with small bits of honeycomb. Delicious. And my companion polished off his lemon tart swiftly.
Following the feast we opted to get the bill and hand our table over to the eager faces now filling the bar.
The meal cost a reasonable £49, without service, Salvo’s isn’t the cheapest, nor is it the most expensive, and the quality and quantity more than justifies that price for tasty, high-quality, authentic Italian fare.
After 30 years on the Leeds restaurant scene, I can see why the city’s diners are still flocking to Salvo’s.
Star ratings
++++ (4)
++++ (4)
++++ (4)
+++ (3)
+++++ EXCELLENT ++++ VERY GOOD +++ GOOD ++ AVERAGE + POOR
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