Il Gusto — Restaurant in England

We came here as a group of ten for my leaving do and wow… all I can say is i’m most definitely impressed!

To start, the place itself is great. Spacious, clean, well maintained. It’s aesthetically pleasing and the minute you walk in you feel comfortable. The staff are friendly, attentive, and happy to help. The minute they noticed we were hot, they were quick to turn to air conditioning on— that’s how observant they were.

They got us started with drinks and starters— most of us had wine which was tasty and crisp. Our starters were well presented and just enough for ten of us. Olives were tasty and fresh— the bread alongside with the olive oil and balsamic vinegar was warm and delicious. Finally, the garlic bread we ordered was the perfect amount of garlic and cheese without it being too greasy or heavy.

We all had pasta which each and everyone of us was very happy about. The portions were perfect— not too much but not too little either. I felt full but not uncomfortable which I prefer— and there was no food wasted. I had a mushroom risotto which was rich, fresh and the risotto was cooked perfectly. Sometimes when I order the dish in other places it’s either not quite cooked properly or it’s over cooked. This was just right.

A lot of people had seafood and they had mentioned how tasty and fresh it was too.

Then finally, most of us had desserts. My tiramisu was absolutely divine. The perfect amount of sponge and the delicious creamy filling— a bonus is that the coffee wasn’t too overwhelming so you still got to taste the chocolate too.

Overall, it was a fabulous experience and we definitely...

My partner and I are on holiday for our anniversary, and thought we would give the local Italian a try.

The service team were polite and welcoming, but made the choice to sit us right next to 3 large parties; where the other half of the restaurant was empty. The table was quite close to the party of 5 adjacent, so their bags and coats were flapping in our face as they sat down. Luckily, we were in-between courses :D

There were a few service issues - fluctuations in music volume and a rouge Parma ham wrapper (not part of our meal) came stuck onto the underside of one of our plates.

The food was quite Anglicised - large portions, with an English course setup. The portion sizes definitely wouldn't allow a classic italian course experience! I had breaded mushrooms as a starter, which were not fresh (I'm assuming frozen). The mushrooms were high in moisture content and fell apart when cut. The 'Milano' pizza, was for the main, which was average. Too much mozzarella, not enough goats cheese; covered in a carpet of rocket. The caramelized onion was lovely though! My partner had the risotto, which was really good (although it could have fed both of us!). The desert was lovely.

Overall I'm pleased we went, but did not feel like a tip could have been offered - I ended up asking for the 10% service charge to be removed...

This by no means is a review on the waiters and waitresses. The staff was AMAZING, polite, attentive and kind.

But.

If you’re going to run an “Italian” restaurant you need more than waiters with lovely Italian accents.

The menu is large with many options. I got the sea bass which was lovely.

We started with the calamari .. which had no more than 8 pieces. It was more salad than anything … not a very good plate to share. The calamari was very bland and desperately needed the “spicy mayo”

I know you have to appeal to the masses and the majority of the clientele is English but.. using fake parmigiano (the spelling is wrong on the menu) and using CREAM in a carbonara ??? This isn’t Italian. It’s white-washed Italian.

I was hoping for an authentic experience- not dumbed down dishes to appeal to societies take on Italian food.

And yes, maybe “I should have gone to Italy for authentic Italian” .. but if that’s the case then don’t call yourself an Italian restaurant.

The food is fine. Nothing to write home about. The staff is so lovely! Don’t pick this place if you’re looking for a taste of Italy.

Dear owner: in response to your response, what I’m getting at is- do better. I ordered calamari not a side salad. There’s literally only 8 pieces on the plate. It’s all about the...