Riva Blu Italian Restaurant & Bar, Hull — Restaurant in England

Visited Piccolono for the first time on a busy Friday night with a good friend who I dine with regularly for a girls night out. Venue is not changed much since rebranded from Gino de Campos...but the same company owns Piccolino and Ginos...so I guess similar food ...just a different name on the menu. Arrived slightly early for our 7.30pm reservation so we agreed to have a drink in the bar whilst our table was ready...as the restaurant was full and we could see the waiting staff were run off their feet. So we sat at a table near the bar and I went to order a couple of cocktails. Long story short, waited 10 minutes to be noticed by the 4 staff rushing round making drinks for the restaurant tables, ordered our drinks, then waited another 10 minutes watching the guy who took our order continue to make drinks for other tables, whilst asked twice by other bar staff if i was actually being served (!) eventually received drinks.. in the smallest thimbles of cocktail glasses I've ever seen! And paid over £20 for the insult... We sat at the bar table until 8.10pm and watched numerous other diners arrive and be seated until we finally managed to catch a rushing waitress to ask about our reservation, who looked surprised and told us our table was ready. The main waiter who took our order for our table was pretty good (polite and professional) but the food service from the kitchens was slow between courses and we seemed to get a variety of other staff randomly pouring our wine and bringing food during the night. Food is OK, but expensive and mediocre quality.. I had burrata cheese with pesto to start (all ice cold and the pesto had little flavour) followed by a chilli king prawn linguini (4 prawns!). My friend had calamari followed by a pizza, (which was probably the tastiest food received) and we ordered courgette fries as a side ...which were very oily which overpowered the flavour. The atmosphere in the Piccolinos (unsurprisingly) is the same as Ginos..lively, slightly noisy due to the open kitchen and large open restaurant, so if you want quiet romantic Italian date night, I would give this a swerve. We reduced the full 10% service charge (£9) ...added to the bill automatically and the waitress did apologise but at this point we were one if the last 4 or more tables still dining and after the kitchen lights being repeatedly turned off ..felt the staff were keen to close.. Piccolinos is busy because it's on Kingswood...captive audience, nice restaurant venue and no real nearby competition.... Would we return?...unlikely as the food and drinks were unmemorable and expensive for what they were, but really slow service is the big put off, as it is an impersonal noisy production line, due to the number of tables and staff trying to deliver the large volume of food and drinks out...

What a find! We were staying at the nearby Premier Inn and were looking for somewhere close by to eat. Our expectation was that it would be just somewhere to sate our hunger and nothing more. How wrong we were as we had an amazing experience.

It started with a very warm and engaging welcome by Daniela who despite being busy took the time to talk to us. We particularly appreciated that she chatted through one of our menu choices to ensure we understood what we planned to order.

The menu choice was excellent with both the usual favourites and some more unusual options. My husband really enjoyed his Margherita pizza which was as it should be - a thin base letting the freshness and simplicity of the topping stand out. My risotto al tartufo was particularly flavoursome, beautifully served in a very pretty bowl and with just a hint of”bite” to the rice. I was keen to try the roasted turnip tops as a side as this was new to me and I was so glad I did. They were absolutely delicious.

There was a real vibe to the place and all the staff we encountered were so upbeat and friendly but also efficient. We loved the energy and passion they showed when delivering birthday greetings at several tables through the evening. However it was Daniela’s engagement and some of the insights she shared about her part of an Italy which made our...

What a wonderful dinning experience! I had dinner here with my friends and I have to say it’s one of the best I’ve had in a while.

-Service: The staff were friendly, polite and professional. We made our reservations online and called in to confirm with the restaurant. We arrived on time and were shown to our table almost immediately, staff offered to take our coats too (made us feel fancy😁). They sang me a birthday song as it was my birthday.🥳

-Food: The food was great! We didn’t have starters as we opted to go for drinks first and then to mains. The food was reasonably priced and our orders were taken quickly and arrived on time. We requested adjustments to our meals and they were made. We didn’t have to spend a lot of time going through the menu before deciding. Food was so good we forgot to take good pictures.

-Pricing: We spent about £150 for three (for four drinks, three mains, two sides as well as the takeout box my friend ordered). We ended up paying £120 after our deposit was deducted.

-Atmosphere: Cool and calm ambiance, not too noisy despite the sitting areas being close to the kitchen. We visited on Mother’s Day, so we expected that it’ll be busy there.

In all, we had a lovely time there and will definitely be...