Ravello Ristorante Lanchester — Restaurant in England

Pleasant enough evening last week at this neighborhood restaurant, but after our 4th visit in a year or so, I’m not sure if I’d return. Decor nice, lively atmosphere, midweek when even just half full. Not sure if I’m choosing badly from menu, but I find the food average and the service slightly disinterested. Greeted with a bit of a forced smile and ‘have you booked?’ No warm welcome or ‘good evening’ Garlic bread very nice, mussel starter consisted of tiny (frozen?) overcooked mussels with an abundance of broken shells in bowl and huge slices of partially raw onion in a thick cream. The seafood linguine described as a selection of ‘fish and seafood’ contained zero fish that I could see, it did have the same over cooked mussels in plenty, with pasta in a slightly watery, oily sauce with one prawn and two bits of extremely tough squid along with tomato & chilli. Pizzas that other diners ate seemed decent. Wine was good too. Really want to love it but sadly just always feel rather underwhelmed by the food and service style that is efficient but gives a vibe of ‘get you through the meal, get your bill and get you out’ with no warm interaction to speak of. Bit of a...

Lovely set up. Very welcoming and courteous staff. This was our first visit, a surprise for me as I have coeliac disease. My husband isn't a big eater at the time we visited, late lunch, he had the goats cheese bruschetta, I had Bolognese and our son had a margarita pizza. We were all very impressed with our food, that's saying something as we are all very particular about our food!

Prices as you'd expect for food for and drinks these days.

Only reason I haven't give it five stars is because it was quite quiet when we were there. If the standards remain the same when it's really busy, it will deserve five stars and more!

We were sat inside and although we were rather underdressed for the setting, you weren't made to feel so.

Seating was available outside and nextdoor is now a cafe offering lighter bites, so the business can cater to both. When I looked at the café menu I didn't notice gluten free options but that's not to say there weren't any as I didn't ask the question.

No idea about bathroom facilities as I...

Latest Update: November '23 - the quality of food and service remains outstanding, and blessed to have such a wonderful restaurant on the doorstep. Tonight's meal of fresh grilled squid followed by Halibut with Spinach was exceptional, and staff were amazing as always.

Update July'23 - another fabulous meal for us both, service remains exceptional as us the food. Scallops, with Chirizo and spinach starters then seafood risotto and ribeye on the bone, both cooked to perfection. We'll never tire of coming here whilst this the owners and staff are here!

Updated February 2023 - this lovely family friendly restaurant remains a firm favourite and the food is, as ever, amazing, with lovely fresh fish regularly on the specials board . The staff are absolutely wonderful and there is a wide range of wines to suit every taste and budget, including the recent addition of a fabulous organic wine.

Love this restaurant - food always great, lovely atmosphere and fantastic staff. Tonight we really enjoyed our...