After spending most of Saturday morning in the rain trying to get small white balls in to holes in the ground, I needed something to cheer myself up. As the skies cleared and the sun revealed itself again with far less aggression than last week, I dropped down the other side of the mountain in to Caerphilly town centre. Casa Mia had been on my radar for years, I have previously eaten at the rated Italian Volare, and the Wetherspoons The Malcolm Uphill so took this opportunity to down my next target.

Casa Mia is described as a Mediterranean restaurant and cocktail bar, found on a first floor premises just across from the statue of the town’s son, Tommy Cooper. Arriving about 12:30pm we were the first in and had the pick of the tables, obviously we took full advantage of the window seats which offer good views of the castle and the locals going about their business below, great place to people watch. The restaurant actually filled up quite a lot in the next hour, and with a lunch menu at £13.55 for 2 courses and £16.55 for 3 courses it’s not difficult to see why. Mon to Fri it’s £1 less for each deal.

The restaurant area is bright, airy and open plan, floor to ceiling windows letting in bags of light and stunning views, on the ceiling seem to be the kind of things you see in a recording studio to absorb sound and improve acoustics, possibly there for that purpose. Brightly painted walls separate the bar area from the wood paneled restaurant.

The menu covers most Mediterranean favourites and with a choice of 9 starters and 8 mains (plus 3 Welsh mains) it’s not overly busy, but offers enough variation to meet most palettes. As mentioned they are also a cocktail bar, so have an extensive menu as well as the addition of a Gin menu which has every modern day concoction of flavours you need your gin to contain.

Starters – We ordered Deep Fried Calamari with Garlic Mayo, and Crispy Deep Fried Halloumi with Tomato Chutney, yep we both went for deep fried, I’d been in the rain all morning, I was allowed. The Halloumi had a nice Golden colouring to it and hadn’t been fried to the point of becoming hard and stodgy, holding it’s shape like a Greek cheese chip. The dip which although says Tomato I could swear was caramalised onion, I may be wrong but either way it balanced the natural saltiness of the cheese nicely. The salad garnish was fresh and brought colour and texture to the dish.

The Calamari was reported as also being super tasty, being cooked perfectly, not rubbery, with a crispy batter. A dousing of lemon juice along with the garlic mayo again balanced the dish well.

For mains, it was Pan Fried Sea Bass in a garlic, lemon and white wine sauce and Penne Meatballs, beef meatballs in a seasoned tomato sauce.

4 good sized, well seasoned meatballs nestled themselves in to perfectly cooked pasta, all of it bathed in the rich tomato sauce which although not described, had a lovely heat running through it, the perfect amount. I was pleasantly suprised by how much I enjoyed this, tasted great, and the ration of pasta, sauce and meatballs was all spot on. The meatballs were perhaps a little dry but I am being picky here. A sprinkling of parmesan cheese and a whack of cracked black pepper forcing a wide smile of contentment across my face.

A good slab of garlic bread ( a side order) enabled me to mop up every last bit of that incredible sauce. The garlic bread itself had just the right amount of garlic, the bread neither soggy or burnt to a crisp, perfect.

The Sea Bass was seasoned well, flaky and cooked well, the garlic, lemon and white wine sauce pairing perfectly with the fish and wasn’t too heavy on the olive oil, a sprinkling of chive adding more flavour. The rice with it was perfectly cooked infused with Mediterranean veg and providing a whack of sunshine to the plate. You can have chips as an alternative but that would be the wrong choice, right?

So of course we went with the 3 course option, at these prices you’d be a fool not to, desserts are brought over on a serving slate so you can see them in all their 4D state. I like this, you know exactly what you are ordering, and from a restaurant point of view who is going to say no to dessert when they’re plonked right in front of the customers face? I know I didn’t.

Your choices are Tiramisu, Strawberry Cheesecake, Lemon Meringue Cheesecake, Waffle and a Jaffa Cake Sponge. We went with Tiramisu and Strawberry Cheesecake.

The desserts are bought in here, you’ll find that most places you eat, however this is where I encountered the only faux pax. Where I was expecting the usual indulgent layered richness of coffee soaked ladyfingers, mascarpone, rum and cocoa, what I actually got was a frozen dessert so hard I could barely put my spoon through it. I highlighted this to staff who were completely apologetic and replaced it for a Lemon Meringue Cheesecake and took it off the bill! Turns out my dessert had been taken from the tray that had been taken out to defrost for the evening.

The Lemon Meringue cheesecake was great, a lemon syrup topping as well as drizzled on the plate, oozed off every forkful, soft flavourful cream cheese and some lemon sponge and whipped cream on top. Garnished with some lovely vanilla ice cream in it’s own dish as to not spill across the plate as it melts, and some delicious raspberries, strawberry and cherries, positioned with thought and care, it’s the details people.

The Strawberry Cheesecake being served in the same way with the obvious replacement of Strawberry as garnish and syrup topping, and equally delicious.

The service is very good at Casa Mia, attentive without being over the top, friendly, polite and professional, check backs are made, plates are cleared in a timely manner and the food comes out in good time. Crockery, cutlery and glassware all perfectly clean and well presented, music at a good ambient volume, playing easy listening.

Staff can’t do enough for you here and went above and beyond with the dessert mishap, taking it off the bill was a goodwill gesture that they didn’t need to do as it was replaced, but these small gestures will always keep the customer happy and returning again and again.

With the all to depressing reality of the cost of living, rising inflation and everything else, at £15.55 for a 3 course lunch Mon to Fri you have to ask yourself can you afford NOT to eat here? I think you would be hard pressed to find this sort of cooking at this price in Cardiff.

Take a trip up and over the mountain and take advantage of this absolute steal of a lunch menu.

Details: Venue – Casa Mia 1, 4 – 6 The Twyn, Caerphilly CF83 1JL

Lunch Menu – Mon to Fri 12pm – 2:15pm

Sat 12pm – 3:30pm