Nicolino's Italian Restaurant — Restaurant in Havant

We had not visited Nicolino's since before the Covid lockdown, so we were very much looking forward to enjoying their special Italian Christmas menu, even though the restaurant had since changed hands and we were not quite sure what to expect as the new proprietors are not Italian. On the food and service front, we were not disappointed; in fact, both were excellent! Nicolino's is not normally open at lunchtime, but during December it is. I had previously booked a table on the 'phone four five adults and a baby, but subsequently had to change to a week earlier for four adults and no baby. They were not at all perturbed by this and looked forward to welcoming us on the day. Our party duly arrived promptly at 12:30 but they didn't seem to have any record of our booking. Fortunately for us, the restaurant had quite a few empty tables, so that wasn't a problem but they told us that we couldn't have the Christmas menu as that had to be pre-ordered! After a lot of discussion, the chef was called and he agreed to do it anyway as long as we didn't mind the lack of spouts and roast potatoes. Since I was having the traditional Italian halibut, I wasn't at all put out, but others felt that their turkey or game wouldn't be the same. That all being said, all of us agreed that the food was wonderful and very generously proportioned! We ordered just a single bottle of Montepulciano (pricey, we thought, at nearly £24) as several of us were driving and altogether, including service charge, the bill came to just over £156, which we thought was excellent value for a hearty 3-course meal for four including wine and service. We would definitely recommend you try it, but do make sure that you have some written confirmation by booking online instead of by telephone! Happy...

1 star is generous! We expected some good Italian food when we went to Nicolino's given the average 4.7 rating and 700+ reviews but our experience was so far from this. We started with burrata which was very poor quality, served with that well known Italian condiment sweet chilli sauce and cold, undercooked new potatoes. We also had the porchetta which, although well seasoned, was incredibly tough as it was so overcooked and drowning in grease/honey. For mains we had two pizzas. Both had flavourless tomato base and congealed, bland "cheese". The prosciutto and mushroom was supermarket quality ham and raw mushroom in huge chunks. The diavolo pizza had chicken which I'm sure was microwaved, zero seasoning other than a few slices of chilli which added the only flavour. We also had burnt garlic bread and mozzarella, which was luminous yellow from the margarine that was used, and more bland, congealed cheese. Food was not cheap - we spent £55 for all this. Save yourself time, calories and money and avoid this place...

We came to this restaurant as a treat to celebrate my birthday. It was such a same as my pizza arrived not being the one I ordered and the drinks I wanted weren't available. The pizza was also cold and not nice at all. The portions were much smaller than they used to be and this restaurant was much worse than previous 5 star visits. The salad was missing from some one else's mains and pasta undercooked. Service was also very slow. The waiter was not well trained and unwilling to help us. He said "that would be very hard for me to find out" when asking about gluten free options. It was such a shame as previously this restaurant has been lovely but this time we left after very slow service and lack of pudding options which meant I left the restaurant having only had half a meal which I didn't even order. Others around us were also having to wait a long time and glances were being given across the room acknowledging the slow service and lack of a friendly...