There's a new restaurant that's just opened in Carlton Place, Southampton, called Pulcinella, in a building previously occupied by Mustang Sally's. It's been completely refurbished by the new proprietor Mohammed Mansour in a style that would be the envy of some of the places in Oxford Street. We dined there the other night and inside it was spotlessly clean, with subdued lighting and a good vibe.
We were warmly welcomed by both Mohammed, who is hands-on front of house, and his young team who are smart and enthusiastic, and we sat by the window watching the world go by.
There are three dining areas at Pulcinella, with candle-lit tables on a polished floor away from the bar and seating capacity for seventy diners. The layout is ideal for parties and in the summer the rear courtyard will also be open for al-fresco dining.
The cuisine is modern Italian and I was pleasantly surprised with the prices. The starters are around £4 to £5, pastas and pizzas some £7 ish and the specialities range from £10 to £12. Anthea has a big thing about Bruschetta Napoletana and claims that you can never get the toasted ciabatta as firm as they manage to do in Tuscany without it being soggy after the tomatoes and olive oil are added. Pulcinella pass this test with flying colours and my antipasto of dried meats, artichokes and mixed salad was also equally good.
Anthea had Linguine Posillipo, pasta with crab, huge tiger prawns, garlic, chilli and fresh tomato to follow and I had pan fried chicken breast stuffed with mozzarella and wrapped in Parma ham. The food was wonderfully light, very Italian and a joy to eat. We finished up with a couple of desserts and gently coasted through with an Italian Merlot priced at £11.25, which I thought was a bit of a steal.
In fact, all the wines are reasonably priced and it's worth going in there after work just to have a drink at the bar. At lunchtimes they have the dinner a la carte menu in addition to specials, with a £5 meal ideal for the office worker in a hurry or the ladies who are engaged in energetic shopping in nearby Bedford Place.
Pulcinella is open from 11am to 11pm from Monday to Thursday and 11am to midnight on Friday and Saturday and I think it will be a huge success.

- Jonathan Lloyd. Compass magazine May 2005