Address: Whalley Road, Great Harwood.

Phone number: 01254 885071

Lancashire Telegraph review by Kimberley Hall from October 8, 2011.

A work night out took us to Checco’s for a midweek treat.

I ordered a glass of wine while waiting for the others to arrive and found it a little pricey at £4-4.50 for a small glass.

Later I shared a bottle which was better value at £18 for a decent Chianti.

The menu has all the classics you’d expect — a varied choice of starters and mains, and a tempting specials board.

Having heard good things about the garlic bread, I skipped the starters to share one.

There was no problem with having it half cheese, half tomato.

At £3.25-4.95 they are a bargain split between two.

Others went for avocado and prawn salad which came on a dinner plate and looked like a main course, and potted shrimps (£7.95), ‘expensive but very nice indeed’ according to the gaffer.

Pizzas and pasta graced the table for mains; I opted for the salami pizza with extra red chillies and another in the group had risotto marinara which she said was lovely.

Apart from one pasta dish that was sent back as it wasn’t hot enough, none of the mains were around for long.

The pasta came back a few minutes later and looked like it had been done from scratch.

My end of the table bucked the clean plates trend by taking doggie bags home, which the staff were happy to sort.

We skipped the coffees and desserts and being the easy going bunch we are, decided to split the bill.

We each paid about £20, which included a couple of drinks too.

Lancashire Telegraph review by Caroline Dutton from June 18, 2008.

CHECCO'S is home to the world's finest garlic bread, according to my boyfriend's sister and brother-in-law, who eat there often.

So we had high expectations when we finally got round to visiting ourselves on a rare free Saturday night.

Unfortunately lots of others had had that same idea too and so when we turned up at around 7.30pm the car park was already over-flowing and we had to wait an hour for a table.

Thankfully the waiting area was nicely kitted out with squishy leather chairs and we sank back, with a large glass of wine, enjoying the hustle and bustle and people-watching.

The garlic bread was indeed delicious, I don't know about the best in the world, but to be fair we were so hungry we wolfed it down too quickly to properly savour the flavour.

For the main course I chose the steak au poivre with chips and mushrooms, which was cooked to perfection, a real melt-in-the-mouth experience and my plate was wiped clean.

My boyfriend went for the monkfish and prawn penne from the specials board, which was declared a success (even if he did concede mine was nicer).

We rounded it off with strawberries and ice cream to share - although we were told we couldn't have the neopolitan mix we wanted because you're only allowed one scoop, which was a bit disappointing.

What's great about Checco's is the authentic Italian feel to the place.

With its low ceilings, red and white check tablecloths and crammed-together tables, not to mention the thick Italian accent of the maitre'd, you feel like you've left Great Harwood behind and entered a little corner of Italy the moment you walk through the door.

With two glasses of wine the bill came to £42.

Overall a great little restaurant for those who love Italian food - but don't go starving hungry on a Saturday night because you're likely to have a wait on your hands.

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