Menu ****

Quality of Food ****

Atmosphere ****

Service **

Children's Menu N/A

Vegetarian Dishes **

Disabled Access ****

Value for Money ****

PAPA Luigi's was formerly called La Cappella. Its name change, however, left myself and two friends well and truly flummoxed as we drove along the narrow roads of Horwich in a desperate search for the restaurant.

We knew we were in the right area -- the smell of Italian food in the air was unmistakable.

But all we could see was a lovely little Italian restaurant called Papa Luigi's which looked so appealing I made a mental note to give it a try in the near future.

Fortunately the added strain on my memory was not needed. For a passer-by told me it had changed its name and within five minutes our hungry trio was sitting around a finely decorated table.

Papa Luigi's is a little gem for the motorist. Car parking is simple with ample space at the front of the establishment.

And it is just as fine for the diner.

The restaurant is tastefully decorated and, judging from the large number of people packed into its spacious dining area, popular too.

The menu is also impressive. Diners can choose from pasta dishes including lasagne, spaghetti bolognese, tortellini, cannelloni and tagliatelle, each mouth-wateringly described.

They can also pore through the vast range of meat, chicken, rice or pancake dishes. Or if all else fails pick a pizza.

But first things first, we wanted a starter and the menu was again full to bursting with chicken liver, fried squid, seafood and prawn cocktail being the more "exotic" choices.

I went for Melone Exotico (£3.25), and my two friends chose minestrone soup (£2.30) and garlic bread (£2.10).

Now, the melon was little more than you would expect a melon to be. It was fresh and juicy and came amid a delicious, fruity accompanying sauce.

The garlic bread, on the other hand, was less impressive and was a touch on the buttery side which dribbled on to the fingers and -- in some cases -- down the side of the mouth.

That could not be said for the minestrone soup, however, which was less watery and more vegetably (if there is such a word!) And when a soup is supposed to be vegetable-based I guess there can be no cause for complaint.

There can be a gripe about the length of time we had to wait between courses, though.

There was a gap of 40 minutes between our drinks arriving and the starters being served. We had to wait 30 minutes for the main course and roughly the same for the dessert.

Even if the restaurant was full, you would expect to be served a little quicker. We had arrived at 7.30pm and did not leave until 10.40pm. Had we been planning something after our meal, we would have been forced to cancel it.

Luckily the food was pretty much worth that wait. My spaghetti carbonara (£5.75) was delicious, a lovely blend of bacon, egg and cream cooked to perfection.

Similarly, my friend's crespelle di pollo (£6.15) -- a pancake filled with chicken in a cream sauce -- was equally mind-blowingly tasty.

However, the pizza mafiosa (£5.95) -- tomato, mozarella, spicy Italian sausage, onions and chilles -- was so hot my friend could only manage to eat half.

Thankfully her pain was relieved by a fruit of the forest gateaux (£2.95) with a couple of lumps of ice cream.

My other friend chose a delicious looking tiramisu (£3.25) which she said was also delicious. Yet I was so full after eating my mint gateau (£2.95) I could not bring myself to try any of it.

A long wait later and we had the final bill -- an agreeable £37.85.

The meals were washed down with a pint of lager (£2.20), a coke (£1) and a blackcurrant drink (free).

And while it may have started early and ended relatively late, it was nonetheless a wonderful tastebud experience.