The Italian Connection — Restaurant in England

A couple of us from work went here for lunch. They don't do a huge range at lunchtime - mainly toasted sandwiches and the like - but they did do Spaghetti Bolognese, which is what we both went for. It's available as a starter for £4.95 or as a main course for £7.95. We were assured that the starter portion is generous so we went for that. It was sufficient and tasty and served by a woman with a very vivacious, friendly personality.

Overall a good discovery. It would be interesting to see what it's like in the evening. Certainly, the specials board is very full for evening meals. The atmosphere is one of a cafe more than a restaurant but it's quite sizeable. They also do bread with balsamic and olive oil (the bread is not heated) which comes with bread sticks. The salt and pepper was served in a tray and looked like sea salt and ground pepper. I didn't have any but noted that no spoon was provide for these, nor the sugar. Still, based on this one lunchtime experience I would say this place is well...

I was hugely disappointed with my dining experience at The Italian Connection. Firstly to my dismay, I found a hair in my starter! If there’s anything I hate more than anything, it’s this and what annoyed me even more is that server looked so puzzled as to where it might have come from that I almost felt accused of planting it myself. Suffice to say I don’t have long, blonde hair!

Last but not least I’d asked for some extra bread to accompany my main meal; they then charged me over £3 for a few small pieces! To be honest, at this point, I was fuming! They didn’t deduct anything as a goodwill gesture so in my eyes they failed to make things right.

I seriously question the hygiene of this place hence therefore, I’ll not be returning nor shall I recommend this restaurant in the future. All in all a very expensive and...

The Italian Connection is as near as it gets to perfection ( and I am a fussy so and so) but what’s truly remarkable is that Adel & Peter have been at this level for over 22 years! Forget the formulaic shinny glamour of the glitzy high street branded restaurants with their revolving chefs and pre bought head office menus, The Italian connection are serving top quality food by an excellent chef ( Peter) in an easy, irrelevant and totally enjoyable “front room” atmosphere beautifully orchestrated by Adel, who is like a laughing swan. I’ve always left their restaurant feeling I’ve had fun and terrific food. I don’t know of any other restaurant I can say that about over 22 years. They have the magic formula. Bravo Adel & Peter, I take my hat off...