La Tavola Italian Eatery — Restaurant in Adur

We had a meal for two, 'date night' at 'La Tavola' last night. When we arrived, we were greeted in a friendly manner by the Italian waitress; she took us through the bustling restaurant to our table. It was a busy Saturday night, and the atmosphere was great - buzzing, happy, and a true authentic italian style. We were given a good amount of time to read over the drinks menu - not too long - but not rushed. Our waitress knew the cocktails that were available for the evening. They aren't listed on the menu as they are 'drinks specials'. We chose an Espresso Martini and Cosmopolitan to start the evening whilst we chose our food. The menu is full of classic / typical Italian choices, and they offer a fair range of vegan and vegetarian options, gluten free choice could be better. We opted for the garlic mushrooms and capresse salad for starters and vegano La Tavola pizza for main. The Mushrooms were 5*, they were in a very tasty creamy, garlicky, white wine and parsly sauce. The quantity was perfect for a starter, and it was presented nicely. The Capresse salad was also delicious. The amount of mozzarella, tomato, and basil was well balanced and very tasty. Presentation had been carefully arranged around the plate in a typical Italian style. Our waitress noticed quickly when we had finished and cleared our plates away. We ordered some wine that was promptly brought to the table, offering for us to taste before fully pouring. The waitress was friendly and engaged in a conversation about the restaurant and its background and about the menu. This, we felt, showed very good service, given how busy the restaurant was; she didn't make us feel rushed or that she was too busy for conversation. Our pizzas arrived, and the slight adjustments to the order had been carried out so that our pizza was perfect and as ordered. The pizza was delicious, quite moist, and better / easier to eat with a knife and fork, so if you prefer your pizza less moist- I would suggest this is expressed when ordering. For dessert, we opted for the vegan cheescake- a very tasty, creamy vanilla cheesecake with a crunchy biscuit base. A real treat. Overall, the whole evening was a very pleasant evening, we left happy, full and satisfied. The service was brilliant, the food was delicious and the atmosphere was buzzing. The only criticism would be the cushioned bench seats we sat on were damaged. Probably from cleaning, I imagine. It would be very inexpensive to cover this temporarily until it is fixed properly and it was a shame to have it like this for customers. There were also a couple of missing ceiling panels. These small issues impacting the overall classic and modern aesthetics of the restaurant.

Other reviews stated about dogs being welcome- I'm not sure this is the case, there were no dogs. To be honest, I don't think it is suited for dogs being a cosy, busy restaurant with no outdoor seating. There is no wheelchair access unfortunately, you have a small flight of stairs to enter the restaurant.

We would definitely recommend, La Tavola, a small hidden gem...

Firstly welcoming polite attentive staff, can’t fault them. The food was disappointing unfortunately. The Vegetarian Calzone was meant to be full of roasted vegetables, mine came 80% full of courgette, barely any other vegetables. Cheese also was a bit sparse which made the whole thing a bit bland. My partner ordered the Spaghetti Marinara, which if you look on the Tavola website gallery comes packed with seafood, the photo has 4 king prawns and lots of mussels and squid. When it arrived it had 1 king prawn. On the menu it’s says served with King Prawns (so plural with a “s”), so asked for more which was duly brought out we got 2 more…….but then we were informed that “chef says 1 prawn is a full portion” which was a bit awkward. It says King Prawns, not 1 king prawn on the menu so it was a bit patronising to be made to feel like we were asking for freebie extras. The dish we were served looked in no way like their own photo. It looked sad with its single prawn. Starters were good, deserts were good shame about the mains. Also extremely noisy restaurant, music is loud which makes people talk louder so very hard to have a conversation. Used to be better appears to be less ingredients but still the same price...

I booked a table for my Husbands birthday because I'd heard great reviews and we are local. On arrival it was busy and our table wasn't ready so we were seated at the bar. We sat there for 10min waiting and wasn't even offered a drink while we waited. Eventually a table was cleaned for us which were two little tables joined together which was fine as we were a party of three adults. Whilst looking at the menu, the waitress approached us and told me to move. She took one of the tables and sat all three of us on a tiny table for two. We sat there completely astonished and cramed on this tiny table waiting to be served. After my husband complained we were offered another table which needed to be cleaned.We sat there and we waited and we waited and nothing. I felt completely embarrassed especially with the other customers looking at me. Eventually we left, it was a completely dreadful experience which is such a shame. I wouldn't recommend this restaurant simply because the customer service is so poor. We always try and support our local businesses especially...