The Edge Magazine Chelmsford Fanzine

IMMO - Baddow Road

Written by Undercover Dining   
Saturday, 04 October 2008
Now this is one place I am really confused about, writes Faye Cullinane. It's owned by the same chain as Prezzo, but offers a far more intimate and upmarket feel. But if you didn't know it was owned by the Prezzo group, you’d probably think Immo was a one-off independent restaurant. From the outside it definitely looks as though it’s a family run affair, although don't be put off by the stuffed statue of the doddery old man at the window (I am not entirely sure what it’s relevance is as yet).


I booked a table on a Wednesday evening at 8pm and I have to say, I’m glad I did, for Immo was very busy for a midweek night. I was quite impressed. And it certainly had a buzzy atmosphere.

This restaurant deceptively goes quite a way back from the entrance. There is a bar area and comfy chairs at the front and outside there is a nice side terrace for those warm autumn evenings. (Yeah, right.)

Unfortunately, our table was situated at the front by the door and the bar area, and, personally, I thought it looked much more appealing towards the rear. Furthermore, the furnishing looks to be of a high standard and the décor is very warm and modern with low lighting.

For starters, I had field mushrooms with goat's cheese and Serrano ham, which was divine. Our friends had garlic bread and a mozzarella and tomato salad and were both pretty happy with their choices. It apparently wasn't quite the buffalo mozzarella standard of Strada, but nice enough all the same. My husband opted for the bruschetta, which once again he said was “nice”, although to me at least, it did look a little dry.

For our mains, we all tried something different. To be fair, the menu is so extensive that you are literally spoilt for choice. However, some dishes strike a very similar resemblance to Prezzo and one of Immo’s main features is their big pizza oven at the back of the restaurant in full view of their customers, which, once again, is a distinctly Prezzo-style feature. Unfortunately, I have to say that for a main course salad, my small bowl was mostly foccacia croutons. There was very little chicken, mainly pancetta and but a few uninspiring salad leaves. Lucky for me my starter was so filling.

One of our friends chose a calzone pizza, which he described as tasty, although I didn't think it looked as good as some I have seen. I am always mesmerised when people order calzone pizza as they look so massive until you break into them and let all of the air out. Our friend’s in particular looked more like a big, huge, bloated Cornish pasty.

Another of our friends chose the chicken pasta which once again I thought was very tasty (I had a nibble). However, yet another is a man who regularly chooses to complain about his food, even though he’s the kind of person who is happy to try anything. But this particular evening, he wasn’t. In fact, he wasn't happy from the very moment we sat down (I think the place reminded him of sitting in the old waiting area of the Garden Chinese restaurant that was formerly there way too much). When his pizza arrived, he said it tasted of nothing. Now, when I looked at some of the customer feedback about Immo on the web, most rated it at least 4-out-of-5....apart from one customer who rated it 1-out-of-5. Guess what he chose for his main course? Yes, you’ve got it. Pizza. What’s more, he even used the word bland to describe it too. Maybe Immo should take note of this. “Hey guys, your pizzas are letting you down, even though you make your ovens the centrepiece of your restaurant and claim to be an Italian eatery.”

The dessert list looked good, but was almost a mirror-image of Prezzo (I spotted the Honeycomb crunch cheesecake straight away) so we declined.

My verdict? Well, it's really difficult to say. I didn't mind Immo at all. I’d choose a different main course next time, but my starter was wonderful. But I wouldn’t go there with my husband again. Well, he’d flatly refuse anyway.

Immo must be doing well though, due to the fact that it was so very busy. However, that’s not necessarily the case at lunchtime, I understand. But it’s definitely better suited as an evening destination. I certainly haven't ruled Immo out for a future visit, although I do have other far more pressing venues to check out first.
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