Avellino Italian Restaurant — Restaurant in England

85/100%

SUMMARY: Very tasty, would definitely recommend and return. Family owned and run as per our waiter, all seemed homemade, all with ingredients from Italy as per waiter (who worked as chef also). Very good food but with some improvements possible.

Popped in on Fri evening with friend after walk in local area.

Shared 3 mains and 1 desert.

Coming from someone who likes their food, likes to cook and likes to critique/analyse.

Bass, prawns, mussels and potatoes in tomato sauce: 18£ but honestly struggled to fault. Every bit of seafood on the plate was cooked perfectly (not over/underdone), all had good flavour. Potatoes were beautifully cooked (sweet, slightly crispy) and tomato sauce deliciously especially with fresh lemon juice. ONE OF NICEST COOKED MEALS I HAVE HAD IN A WHILE. If Im nit picking/forced to give one criticism: maybe seasoning could have been more even on seafood? Some eg prawns/mussels quite bit more salty than others.

Meatballs and spaghetti: 12£ approx. Homemade. Very nice. Tomato sauce delicious. Pasta perfectly cooked. Meatballs were ok; similar to meatballs I have had in Spain/Italy and like those that I have made following traditional Italian recipes so think this is just the way they are traditionally made. Personally I would prefer them to have a bit more of a meaty taste, eg by crisping outside/not cooking them in sauce to get more meaty steak-y flavour.

Baked caneloni: still nice, homemade, but for us the least nice of the 3. There was just too much ricotta and too little tomato sauce (maybe 90% Ricotta, 10% tomato sauce for lots of it) meaning you just got mouth of ricotta flavour and not much else. Would be nicer with more tomato sauce and ? another flavour so not just another cheesy tomato recipe eg nutmeg?

Tiramisu: 6£ approx. Looked homemade. Again very tasty. Definitely don't think good to put shop-bought artificial tasting chocolate sauce all over the top of beautiful homemade desert though. Either make own sauce which would be delicious or leave out. Sauce tasted quite fake.

Nice staff also. Friendly and looked after us well. Good restaurant environment, 5/5 hygiene rating as per sticker on door and clean toilets.

Thank you. Will return if in area again.

SUMMARY: Very tasty, would definitely recommend and return. Family owned and run as per our waiter, all seemed homemade, all with ingredients from Italy as per waiter (who worked as chef also). Very good food but with some...

Vary rarely there's a place that does everything well. The Avellino team does. It's difficult if you have special dietary requirements, like allergies. I have an allergy and two intolerances & my Mrs has an intolerance and an allergy, we feel very comfortable eating here. I spoke with Loni, (apologies for incorrect spelling). He can advise against dishes containing allergens. The cutlery is clean. The glassware is clean and not chipped or cracked. The crockery is also immaculate. The tables are always clean. The draught's are properly chilled and don't taste like the lines haven't been cleaned in a long time. The front of house staff are always immaculately presented and service is of the highest quality. The cocktails are exquisite and if you fancy one but don't want alcohol, there is a mocktail menu also. They cater for veggie and gluten free. They have a lovely, large open space dining room. I dropped my fork, the cutlery is back end heavy. By the time I had picked it up he had come over with a replacement. It's almost silver service and Michelin cuisine but for a very reasonable price. The menu is a mixture of Italian and Greek influences. But the product is purely indulgent. Which brings me to, desert. If you can permit the calories the desert menu is a sweet tooth paradise. Excellent coffee. Most of my reviews are 1 star, I acknowledge I'm difficult to please and often heavily critical. This time, if there was a 6th star I would have...

Tonight was our third time in Avellino,. We specifically went out of our way to return to this restaurant on our way back to Yorkshire because we had enjoyed it previously. The first time a while ago was great, 2nd time was average but 3rd time it was a total disappointment. We are avid restaurant goers and never have been totally ignored like we were. We felt like we were totally invisible. After ordering a gin and tonic whilst we had to wait for a table standing by the door, the starters came too fast, but then nothing happened for over an hour while we sat there seeing costumers that arrived later us being served with starters and mains. We finished our bottle of wine while waiting and the waiter even took the empty bottle away and didn’t even bother to ask whether we wanted at least another drink or anything else. Finally we decided to ask the manager about our main courses and he went down to the kitchen and within 10’ produced raw sea bass and a soupy risotto with no fish in it at all and was expecting for us to eat it. When we brought to his attention the poor quality of the food, he offered to try again. However, it was nearly 10pm by then so we decided to leave disappointed and hungry after we paid for our starters and drinks. So disappointing when a restaurant over stretches itself and can’t cope so our Avellino’s experience is over and is...