We were staying in Luton overnight and booked Carriages based on reviews. The food was outstanding. Instead of a standard Italian meal, every little detail was superb. For example, the olives we had at the start were full of flavour and the portion was really generous. We both had pasta. The prawns in mine were packed with flavour and the sauce was delicious. My partner had pasta with beef ragu. It was a 'proper' sauce with tender beef. Big portions, fresh - no cheap pre made average flavours. A touch of fine dining without the fine dining prices. If we lived in Luton Carriages would be a regular haunt.
nick jackson
Excellent as
samantha pugh
Food: I picked this restaurant for lunch based on the website with amazing photos and menu options. On visiting today (Sunday) it seems the menu advertised is not available and a ‘Sunday lunch’ menu is the only one available. This has very limited options and was a disappointment because I had already planned what I wanted to eat. Three of the options were roast dinners so if you thought you were going to get something different and avoid the boring roast by picking an Italian restaurant you are mistaken!Starters we had truffle arancini - definitely reheated by refrying as the coating was hard and rice chewy, also a bit tasteless 3/10. Chicken liver pate-while nice was very average 7/10. Mains were lamb roast. Lamb was overcooked and a bit disappointing. Veg was average and bland. Roasties and Yorkies were very nice-6/10Parpadelle was very oily/greasy with undercooked parts. Asparagus pieces were nice, raw spinach added on top was a bit odd but I like spinach so not too bad. 5/10. Desserts were okay Tiramisu just tasted of cream, couldn’t taste coffee at all, pannacotta not very vanilla flavoured. Again quite average. Nothing to rave about. 6/10Service: staff are all very friendly and helpful. Food arrived super quick, almost too quick because it felt like they were rushing to get rid of you.Ambience: it’s a large restaurant, very plain decoration and only two other tables busy during our visit so lacked ambiance today. Might be better during a busy service.Overall: Despite a website with trendy fine dining photos and a write up of an experienced chef trained by Gino D’campo the whole lunch was very below average and disappointing. In fact if I was D’Campo I would be a little embarrassed my name was being used to promote this restaurant. Maybe we just came on a bad day but I could have made better pasta sauce and most definitely a better roast at home and I’m not a chef! Sorry guys, you were all very friendly but the food needs a big improvement and such a limited menu is also a shame xxxVegetarian options: Minimal options but there are options
Thomas Fields
Lovely food. Great atmosphere really enjoyed total
Alexa Gristina
Hosted my grandparents anniversary this weekend! Have to say such a great venue, food, service all beyond 5 star! A special thanks to Patrick for being ever so organised and making everything go so smoothly. Great atmosphere and nothing is too much of an ask. Will definitely be recommending to anyone who asks for a venue in Bedfordshire! All restaurants staff professional, warm polite too! Big compliments to chef!!!! Thank you!
Laura Ilie
Profesional and kind staff but too much noise.
Louise Bonfield
Attended a party here, food drink and staff all
Edith Reid - Harding
The food was delicious and the waitress was lovely. The restaurant was clean and spacious. The atmosphere was ok because it was Monday it wasn't crowded but overall it was a very nice place definitely will go back on a weekend.
Chris Lawrence
As a former fine dining chef, I would consider the food here to be reasonable comfort food, similar to most mid-range pubs, but with an Italian twist. We started with the antipasti and the burrata for starters. The burrata, served with tomatoes and pesto, was beautifully creamy, but could have been elevated with better quality tomatoes and some decent balsamic, ditching the underwhelming pesto altogether. Overall, enjoyable, however, as was the antipasti, which was a pleasant, but largely unspecial collection of cured meats, green olives and focaccia. Was the focaccia deep fried before serving? It tasted like it, but I'm going to pretend it wasn't! It was a long way from 'fügassa' though. For mains, we had the salmon and pork fillets. Both were overcooked, the pork far too much so. It tasted like it was cooked in the sauce rather than added last minute. The sauces were good though, in particular the plum sauce on the pork, which had a brown base and paired perfectly with the savouriness of the meat. The mashed celeriac with the salmon was fine, albeit a little watery, but the pomme purée served with the pork was awful. It was obviously blended, rather than pressed through a fine screen, and it tasted like wallpaper paste. Blending potatoes is a huge faux pas, next only to deep frying focaccia (I really hope I'm wrong about them doing that). While the starters were a little too large, the mains were a little lacking in size and left you wondering why some more sides (some veg perhaps?) weren't added. The desserts, however, were well sized, and they seemed like they were made in house. We had the chocolate cake and cannoli. Both were a little like how your grandmother would make them after looking them up in a cookbook: fine but not particularly interesting and quite forgetful. For example, the cannoli shell was quite thick and chewy, rather than delicately crispy, and stuffed with sweet ricotta. There was no contrast with aromatic candied orange, no floral sweetness of good honey, and no savouriness of chocolate pieces. The ice-cream accompanying the cake, on the other hand, was quite lovely. A very good heavy coffee flavoured gelato. The wine and beer was a similar experience to the rest of the meal. A locally sourced pale ale, which was unspecial in terms of characteristics, but refreshing, and a montepuliciano that was nicely fruity but a little young and in need of decanting and was overfilled in a wine glass far too small for its volume. Overall, a little too pricey (~£90) for the quality, but friendly staff and nice atmosphere elevated the experience.
Stephen C
Our first visit. We had to find a suitable venue for some Italian friends who were in the area for one night. They were pleasantly surprised with the quality of the food. We shall go again.
Nice restaurant in Luton, the food was very nice and the desserts amazing. The atmosphere can be improved and parking is really bad (only space for 4 cars), but I would still go back.Parking: Parking space for 4 cars, need to park in the street but it's not that easy to find space.
ann dally
Went for dinner was excellent really good service a shame it wasn't used
Kevin Clohessy
A superb 3 course Sunday lunch
CharlieA1996
I visited here yesterday evening with 20 friends, the services was outstanding - really attentive, really friendly and very smiley. The food was lovely too, gorgeous presentation and everything tasted lush. There were plenty of options to pick from too. The interior is quite a classic Italian feel to it and also good prices.
We were staying in Luton overnight and booked Carriages based on reviews. The food was outstanding. Instead of a standard Italian meal, every little detail was superb. For example, the olives we had at the start were full of flavour and the portion was really generous. We both had pasta. The prawns in mine were packed with flavour and the sauce was delicious. My partner had pasta with beef ragu. It was a 'proper' sauce with tender beef. Big portions, fresh - no cheap pre made average flavours. A touch of fine dining without the fine dining prices. If we lived in Luton Carriages would be a regular haunt.
Excellent as
Food: I picked this restaurant for lunch based on the website with amazing photos and menu options. On visiting today (Sunday) it seems the menu advertised is not available and a ‘Sunday lunch’ menu is the only one available. This has very limited options and was a disappointment because I had already planned what I wanted to eat. Three of the options were roast dinners so if you thought you were going to get something different and avoid the boring roast by picking an Italian restaurant you are mistaken!Starters we had truffle arancini - definitely reheated by refrying as the coating was hard and rice chewy, also a bit tasteless 3/10. Chicken liver pate-while nice was very average 7/10. Mains were lamb roast. Lamb was overcooked and a bit disappointing. Veg was average and bland. Roasties and Yorkies were very nice-6/10Parpadelle was very oily/greasy with undercooked parts. Asparagus pieces were nice, raw spinach added on top was a bit odd but I like spinach so not too bad. 5/10. Desserts were okay Tiramisu just tasted of cream, couldn’t taste coffee at all, pannacotta not very vanilla flavoured. Again quite average. Nothing to rave about. 6/10Service: staff are all very friendly and helpful. Food arrived super quick, almost too quick because it felt like they were rushing to get rid of you.Ambience: it’s a large restaurant, very plain decoration and only two other tables busy during our visit so lacked ambiance today. Might be better during a busy service.Overall: Despite a website with trendy fine dining photos and a write up of an experienced chef trained by Gino D’campo the whole lunch was very below average and disappointing. In fact if I was D’Campo I would be a little embarrassed my name was being used to promote this restaurant. Maybe we just came on a bad day but I could have made better pasta sauce and most definitely a better roast at home and I’m not a chef! Sorry guys, you were all very friendly but the food needs a big improvement and such a limited menu is also a shame xxxVegetarian options: Minimal options but there are options
Lovely food. Great atmosphere really enjoyed total
Hosted my grandparents anniversary this weekend! Have to say such a great venue, food, service all beyond 5 star! A special thanks to Patrick for being ever so organised and making everything go so smoothly. Great atmosphere and nothing is too much of an ask. Will definitely be recommending to anyone who asks for a venue in Bedfordshire! All restaurants staff professional, warm polite too! Big compliments to chef!!!! Thank you!
Profesional and kind staff but too much noise.
Attended a party here, food drink and staff all
The food was delicious and the waitress was lovely. The restaurant was clean and spacious. The atmosphere was ok because it was Monday it wasn't crowded but overall it was a very nice place definitely will go back on a weekend.
As a former fine dining chef, I would consider the food here to be reasonable comfort food, similar to most mid-range pubs, but with an Italian twist. We started with the antipasti and the burrata for starters. The burrata, served with tomatoes and pesto, was beautifully creamy, but could have been elevated with better quality tomatoes and some decent balsamic, ditching the underwhelming pesto altogether. Overall, enjoyable, however, as was the antipasti, which was a pleasant, but largely unspecial collection of cured meats, green olives and focaccia. Was the focaccia deep fried before serving? It tasted like it, but I'm going to pretend it wasn't! It was a long way from 'fügassa' though. For mains, we had the salmon and pork fillets. Both were overcooked, the pork far too much so. It tasted like it was cooked in the sauce rather than added last minute. The sauces were good though, in particular the plum sauce on the pork, which had a brown base and paired perfectly with the savouriness of the meat. The mashed celeriac with the salmon was fine, albeit a little watery, but the pomme purée served with the pork was awful. It was obviously blended, rather than pressed through a fine screen, and it tasted like wallpaper paste. Blending potatoes is a huge faux pas, next only to deep frying focaccia (I really hope I'm wrong about them doing that). While the starters were a little too large, the mains were a little lacking in size and left you wondering why some more sides (some veg perhaps?) weren't added. The desserts, however, were well sized, and they seemed like they were made in house. We had the chocolate cake and cannoli. Both were a little like how your grandmother would make them after looking them up in a cookbook: fine but not particularly interesting and quite forgetful. For example, the cannoli shell was quite thick and chewy, rather than delicately crispy, and stuffed with sweet ricotta. There was no contrast with aromatic candied orange, no floral sweetness of good honey, and no savouriness of chocolate pieces. The ice-cream accompanying the cake, on the other hand, was quite lovely. A very good heavy coffee flavoured gelato. The wine and beer was a similar experience to the rest of the meal. A locally sourced pale ale, which was unspecial in terms of characteristics, but refreshing, and a montepuliciano that was nicely fruity but a little young and in need of decanting and was overfilled in a wine glass far too small for its volume. Overall, a little too pricey (~£90) for the quality, but friendly staff and nice atmosphere elevated the experience.
Our first visit. We had to find a suitable venue for some Italian friends who were in the area for one night. They were pleasantly surprised with the quality of the food. We shall go again.
Restaurantji Recommends
Nice restaurant in Luton, the food was very nice and the desserts amazing. The atmosphere can be improved and parking is really bad (only space for 4 cars), but I would still go back.Parking: Parking space for 4 cars, need to park in the street but it's not that easy to find space.
Went for dinner was excellent really good service a shame it wasn't used
A superb 3 course Sunday lunch
I visited here yesterday evening with 20 friends, the services was outstanding - really attentive, really friendly and very smiley. The food was lovely too, gorgeous presentation and everything tasted lush. There were plenty of options to pick from too. The interior is quite a classic Italian feel to it and also good prices.
Enjoyed a great Sicilian night 7 courses & wine.