Pomodoro e Mozzarella — Restaurant in Eastbourne

Certainly one of the best restaurants in Eastbourne.

We decided to spend the last weekend of the season in the Eastbourne area and we discovered this Italian jewel slightly inland from the main promenade of Eastbourne. In a period of the year when other locales think about batting down the hatches for the winter this place was chock full of people at all times for lunch, brunch and dinner… the reason? Everything is tasty, abundant, served with a smile and happiness, high quality and value for money. I wore my best southern Italian smile and went in without booking while the place seemed to have a million people inside… it is a big place but still it looked filled to the brim with at least 20 servers flying around the tables. The metre, a genuine old fashion guy from southern Italy, welcomed us and immediately found us a table in the main restaurant ( there are 3 massive sides including one downstairs) as if by magic. The menu is quite large with many dishes and deals to make anyone happy including vegans and people with allergies. As usual, We had one set menu, one a la carte and some bambino items for our little daughter. We were impressed by the genuine and wholesome way everything was prepared and flavoured. It reminded me of rural trattorie in the Tuscany countryside. There are numerous dishes which were truly worth having seconds and triples even. The melanzane for example or the squid rings all melted in your mouth and you cannot stop wanting more. Pizzas are a big part of the menu and are also very good, same great cooking skills but I, being a fanatic of wood fired ovens, cannot give full marks for a gas fired one, this is what they have but I must say they make the best of it. Pastas are also very tasty and abundant with even my wife and daughter extremely satisfied by them. The vast selection of antipasti,wines and beers, incredible gelato and cakes tops it all off. One slightly less positive note is the bread, any born and bred Italian will tell you that bread is a very important component of meals in italy but here it seems little effort has been put in choosing a proper, crusty, flavoursome, smooth one. If you ask, they bring you an English style soft short baguette which tastes like nothing, it is stringy and chewy. With France literally a stone’s throw it is “incroyable” to think they could not do better than that. Price wise we are a long way from London and it’s prices and still somehow we are not used to pay so little for so much, we went again the following day for lunch and either time we did not spend more than 55 quid for the 3 of us, including wine ( I was not driving yeeee!) birthday cake ( little one’s) and all full three courses. A wholesome and happy place to spend a few meals eating proper Italian food, highly...

We ate at this restaurant on Saturday night, the first night of Eastbourne’s international tennis tournament. The restaurant was extraordinarily busy and very noisy. They seemed surprised to see us when we arrived. We had booked but they never checked this; I don’t know whether they had a record of our reservation. Nevertheless they found us a table of four.

We all chose from the two-course set menu (£24.50), adding a large glass of wine. The wine and starters were delivered promptly but then we had a long wait of almost an hour before the mains; they didn’t arrive until after we had complained and we suspect we had been lost in the system. There were other tables who arrived after us and yet were served their mains before us.

After we had complained they did give us a round of complimentary drinks. The mains then arrived fairly quickly.

My starter was baked aubergine with tomato and cheese. It was heavy and filling; no one taste predominated. For my main, I had veal. The slices were slightly tough, mostly tasteless and served in an over-salted tomato and olive sauce. The accompanying vegetables were nicely al dente.

Then the bill arrived. After we had paid it we discovered that instead of four glasses of wine, we had been charged for three glasses and a bottle. There was a refund, with apologies.

Maybe they thought we were among the more than four million tourists who visit Eastbourne every year. But we’re local. We help to keep restaurants running through the winter months.

Next time we’ll choose somewhere else. Fortunately Eastbourne has a wide range of possibilities including several good Italian...

A decent spot for classic italian dishes with some authenticity. great value and suitable for families and larger groups. friendly staff with average to nice food. cant go wrong with their prices.

Food 3/5 - I had the 3 course meal with the bruschetta, carbonara, and tiramisu as my choices. Bruschetta was nice, especially with the mozzarella and balsamic vinegar. nice presentation too! Pasta was average. Menu doesn't state cream as part of the dish so there is some level of authenticity with the carbonara sauce. it was of a nice consistency, coating very generous portion of pasta. a really good value! however, it tasted predominantly of cream, not allowing the cheese to shine through. tiramisu was average. a great spot for when you're hungry for a huge lunch after tanning on the beach - all at a great price.

Service 5/5 - really friendly staff! they were attentive to my needs and were incredibly polite. props to them! food came out quickly, although i was the sole diner at the time. excellent job guys.

Interior 4/5 - a bright, cheery spot. definitely child friendly too. suitable for larger groups too.

Covid Measures 4/5 - really good, with dividers between tables. staff wore face masks but pulled them down...