My husband and I visited Giardino's to celebrate our wedding anniversary recently. This was our first time so we did not know what to expect. I had booked a table just in case it was busy, but luckily it wasn't. We were guided through the bar, down a few steps to the restaurant area and shown to our table. They gave us the menus and sufficient time to decide what we wanted. The room was large, square and spacious with plenty of tables, and there were windows and patio doors across one side of the room that opened up onto a patio area with a few picnic tables and a small pergola sheltering a large family-sized picnic table.

I was getting a little uncomfortably warm in the room, so I politely asked if they could open one of the doors. The waiter wasn't sure, but went to ask other staff. Soon enough, two staff members came into the room and started moving the tables about that were set up next to the doors. They opened one of the doors and put a stand outside with a message asking the public not to come in that way, but to enter through the main door. I was very grateful that they were willing to go to all that trouble for me and I thanked them.

We ordered drinks, our starters and our main courses, and it didn't take too long for them to arrive. My husband ordered a low alcohol cider and I had a Pinot Grigio white wine. We both chose the same starter....baked ravioli in breadcrumbs with a garlic dip, which we both thought was delicious! For the main course my husband chose lasagne (one of his favourite meals) and I chose a carbonara. I like to choose things that I don't usually have at home.

When the meals were brought through they looked a good size, with slices of garlic bread on the side, they smelt great and were nice and hot.

The waitress brought some grated parmesan cheese at my request, and we both added a nice amount to our meals.

We tucked in...and wow..I was amazed at how tasty and creamy it was!! I absolutely loved it. My husband enjoyed his too!!

Because we had arrived at 4pm and it was quiet, we were able to chat with no difficulty, which was nice. As we neared the end of our main courses, a few other people started arriving and took their seats but there were still plenty of empty tables and it didn't get very loud at all.

We both ordered sticky toffee pudding with toffee sauce for dessert, and yet again we were pleasantly surprised. Not too much and really tasty!! We had a lovely experience at Giardino's, and the staff who served us were very friendly and obliging.

It would have been nice to see some Italian decor in the restaurant room and to hear some soft Italian music in the background to make our experience feel more authentic. Other than that, our evening was excellent; the food was fantastic, the prices were reasonable, and the environment was relaxing. We will definitely be back! 😀