I FIRST tried Casa A Roma at the end of August, when I met for a catch-up with a friend over lunch. It was such a lovely lunch that I wondered what an evening visit from the à la carte would be like, so returned on Thursday night with my daughter to try it.

Casa A Roma, at 132 Queen Street, Whitehaven, is an Italian restaurant that offers “mouth-watering home made Italian cuisine in a relaxed and happy atmosphere”. And they are not wrong.

My daughter and I enjoyed nibbles, starter, main and dessert and were delighted with the food quality and customer experience, at prices that are not going to break the bank.

I had the pleasure of experiencing Casa’s marinated olives on my previous visit, so suggested we shared this dish. The olives came with garlic, onion and roasted peppers, served with bread and balsamic olive oil. My daughter considers herself to be a balsamic connoisseur and was very impressed with the flavour.

For starters I chose Funghi Al Aglio – creamy garlic mushrooms, topped with melted mozzarella and thoughtfully served with bread. This was essential to mop up the delicious sauce with, as leaving it there would have caused me sleepless nights.

I may be a vegetarian, but my daughter likes to choose the best of both worlds and opted for the calamari fritter for her starter. This deep-fried squid is served with a lemon wedge and aioli dip. She said the dish was so good she even wanted to eat the salad, which is a first.

From the artisan pizza list, where there is a variety of bases available, she selected a standard 10in hand-rolled base and Pizza Al Pollo, which has a garlic butter, tomato sauce, chicken, mixed peppers and mozzarella topping.

Daughter doesn’t like peppers so I asked if she could have olives instead and manager Okan was wonderfully accommodating. Actually this was also the case in August, when I asked if they could omit the ham and bacon from my spaghetti carbonara.

I selected Olio E Pepperoncino – garlic, chilli and olive oil tossed in spaghetti, which was astonishingly full-flavoured. I love anything with a chilli taste and this not only had the chilli kick but there was also a wonderful smoked flavour.

By now we had both consumed sufficient quantities. But for the sake of research for this review we forced ourselves to chose from the dessert menu.

I had Sundae Della Casa, which had warm pieces of chocolate brownie and crushed meringues with Lakes vanilla ice-cream, chocolate sauce, whipped cream and wafers. It was mouthwatering and I regret I had to leave an inch in the bottom of the glass, as I really could not manage another morsel.

My daughter tried the Eton Mess Sundae and said it was similar to her gran’s version – now that’s praise indeed. It came with vanilla ice-cream, summer berries and meringue topped with cream and wafers.

Service was fast, efficient and friendly and the team worked fluidly together.

The restaurant are allergy aware and offer gluten- free, vegan and kids’ menus. I thoroughly recommend this restaurant and would give them 4.5 out of 5 stars.

LYNNE WILD