Chianti Restaurant & Pizzeria — Restaurant in England

I visited Chianti for my birthday on Saturday 22 June 2019 at 7.30pm, a weekend during term time. I was with fourteen people. This was probably my fifth or sixth visit to this restaurant.

I parked in the restaurant car park, which has a small number of spaces. The car park is right outside the restaurant. There is also on-street parking outside the restaurant and there is a large free Tesco car park on the opposite side of the road, just a short walk away.

Upon arrival I was greeted by a member of staff at reception who was friendly and welcoming. I had pre-booked a table as there were a large number in our party - I was shown straight to my table. The restaurant is a good size with plenty of tables. I booked my table over the phone about a week in advance, which was very simple to do - I received a confirmation call ahead of my booking to check everything was still going ahead and everything went very smoothly with the booking process.

The restaurant comprises of a good sized main dining area with a bar and toilets. I was well looked after by the team, who visited the table often enough to look after our needs and were always on hand if I needed anything.

I enjoyed garlic bread for my starter and a pizza for my main course. The food arrived hot, was well presented and tasted good.

The restaurant toilets were clean and tidy.

What I particularly liked about my visit was the atmosphere - the restaurant is bright, clean and well presented and the staff are very friendly and helpful. I enjoyed my visit to Chianti and will definitely come again.

For ease of access I give Chianti 5 out of 5. It is easy to find the restaurant using Google Maps - parking and getting to the restaurant is simple.

For food quality I give Chianti 5 out of 5. The food was well presented, the right temperature and tasted good. There was a good selection of food and I found something that appealed to me easily.

For visitor experience I give Chianti 5 out of 5. All of the team were friendly and welcoming and I had no issues - we got everything we expected in good time and enjoyed the experience.

For their facilities I give Chianti 5 out of 5. The toilets were in a very good condition, as you would expect.

For value for money I give Chianti 5 out of 5. I paid a reasonable amount for very good quality food in good surroundings, certainly in line with other similar restaurants that I have visited.

Overall I give Chianti 5 out of 5 - I really enjoyed my visit and will definitely come and...

Ok, get a cuppa, it's a long one. The good stuff first. Nice atmosphere, mostly actual Italian staff, reasonably priced, clean loos (one became unusable during service and it was quickly locked up and marked as such). Generally clean and the service was rapid. Those that had the Mussels said the sauce was very good and drained their plates. The aparagus starter was great too, lots of staff. Now for the "debatable". We all had pizza for main. For me, I found it disappointing, seemed to be oven baked (not at pizza oven temps) the base was too heavy and the toppings a bit too generous (but nice quality). Others at the table enjoyed them like this. They seemed to me to be the kind that is cooked in a steel dish. I prefer a thinner base and maybe a lighter topping. Each to their own. I ate it all, so it clearly wasn't that bad huh. The menu was like stepping back to the early 80's or late 70's. I quite like that, not trying too hard, just old style Italian restaurant fare. But if you're looking for fancy adaptations, this isn't it. Now the "not so good". There were some young ladies in the service team and I got the impression that the head waiter was pushing them to keep attending to the tables and I think this led to the service feeling rushed. For instance, right from the off we hadn't even pulled our chairs out to sit down and the young waitress was asking what we'd like to drink. We said give us a minute and she did. About a minute. Drinks ordered and she asked what we'd like to eat, we said we needed a few mins. A minute later another young lady appeared and asked if we were ready to order, we politely said no and she went away. 3rd attempt and we were ready. The food all came in reasonable time and was good or great (depending on your preferences re pizza). But better that way than waiting for ages but I think head waiter needs to stop pushing for "fast" and teach his youngsters how to read the table. I'll happily go back but next time, steer clear of the pizza and see if the other mains are...

I recently ordered a takeaway from Chianti Italian Restaurant, and I was extremely disappointed with the quality of the food. The squid rings (calamari) were pale, undercooked, rubbery, and completely unappetizing. The Spaghetti Carbonara was just as bad—made with stale-tasting pasta and processed bacon bits. At £14.50 for the dish, I expected far better than something that resembled a cheap ready meal from Tesco. Using box pasta and mixing in toppings from pizzas is unacceptable.

My partner's meal, the Penne con Vegetali, was no better. It was just box pasta with chopped pizza vegetables, despite being advertised as containing asparagus and artichoke. There were only a few flakes of artichoke and some tiny green stems that might have been asparagus. We spent £80 in total on this takeaway, but the quality was shockingly poor. Unfortunately, Chianti failed to deliver on all fronts, and I would not recommend this...