Food: Rodizio Rico Osteria, Birmingham

Style: Buffet   Location: The Cube, Birmingham city centre  

Cost: ££ (Around £25 for unlimited pizza and pasta plus a bellini, cheaper at lunch)

The Venue

Rodizio Rico in The Cube has been a popular spot since it opened some years ago. You pay £25 for unlimited salad and side dishes, plus the fresh meat which is carved at your table. The space next door was a burger restaurant for a while (which I rather liked) but the owners of Rodizio Rico have now sensibly taken over and extended the all you can eat premise to include pizza.

It's a lovely small restaurant with an open kitchen, a fun swirled floor and wood and brick details on the walls.

Simply enter through the Osteria door, be shown to your table and order drinks from your server. Trays of fresh pizza and huge bowls of pasta are brought round at regular intervals but you can also pop up to the counter to help yourself to antipasti.

Drinks

I wasn't able to see a full drinks menu on the night, but I did have a couple of bellinis and caiprinas. Perfectly pleasant drinks but I would have liked to have washed my pizza down with an Aperol Spritz. Wine, beers and spirits are available. I'd be going for a bottle of prosecco to share.

Food

'All you can eat' isn't my favourite concept. I'd generally rather just pay £10 for something to be cooked fresh for me rather than £12 to eat everything in the world.

Pizza, however, does lend itself  well to this style of eating. The chefs keep cooking fresh pizza and pasta, and the staff bring it round to your table so you can keep eating without having to load your plate up.



Pizzas were thin, with just-crispy-enough bases and a variety of toppings- cured meats, veg and so on.



I'm not usually a huge fan of pasta but I enjoyed the tomato and vodka sauce with penne and some lovely fresh seafood spaghetti.

My favourite section was the anitpasti- think olives, bread, cheese, cured meats, salad and other bits and bobs.

All the food I tried was very fresh and well made, not what you may be expecting when you hear 'all you can eat'.

Worth it?

It all depends on your appetite. This would be a dream for some people. I don't believe I'd be able to get through enough food to warrant £14, while other people would get way more than their money's worth. Equally, if I came along with others, the quality of the food would allow me to be happy with the smaller amount I ate.

Find at:

Rodizio Rico Osteria, The Cube, Birmingham

Food and drink were complimentary for review purposes

Photos are my own