Amici — Restaurant in Shanklin

We booked to eat here for our last night on the island following a short break away. After reading the reviews we had high hopes, and with Italian being our favourite cuisine we were looking forward to a delicious meal. Unfortunately we left quite dissapointed.

Between us for mains we ordered a ravioli dish, a carbonara, a mushroom tagliatelle, some dough balls and a margarita pizza. The pizza was a good size but average in terms of flavour but it did have a lovley texture as was nice and thin but not too crispy, the pasta dishes were all tasty enough but very small portions and we have had far better tasting food in other, less expensive, restaurants. The dough balls were really nice and obviously hand made which was a nice touch.

We then ordered puddings which is were things went really downhill, they were chocolate fudge cake, a chocolate orange cake and tiramisu. The kids say the chocolate fudge cake was the 'same as normal' and looked like it was a pretty standard choc fudge cake, all OK there. The chocolate orange cake was nice, but full of lemon curd which is a bit odd considering it was supposed to be orange flavoured and then the tiramisu was just disgusting. I've had tiramisu in lots and lots of amazing restaurants, it's my favourite desert and I've never left it uneaten until now. It was served in a glass tumbler and aside from the thin top layer of whipped cream it was just a glass full of murky flavourless watery mush. Possibly the worst thing that's ever been served to me in any restaurant and ruined the whole meal for me.

The service wasn't anything memorable with staff not seeming to know the menu well and fairly inexperienced. The restaurant itself needs a bit of a refresh, it looks quite tired inside, the tables were sticky and the menu holders were really tatty with bits flaking away when you touched them. The food and drinks are overpriced for the quality and quantity recieved.

Overall this was a fairly dissapointing meal out and we would net reccomend or return to this restaurant. I'm giving it 2 stars purely because the main course dishes tasted nice but that's the only positive I can really...

So this was our third visit to Amici, the first being absolutely terrible but it was just after lockdown and we accredited it to that.

We gave them a second try and it was better, though my other half was still very underwhelmed I actually thought the mussels and swordfish were well cooked.

Excited for our third visit to prove that the first visit was a one off, we ordered their most expensive item, the fillet steak for £25 along with myself getting their rump of lamb, following starters.

Unfortunately all of the food was incredibly bland, the veg clearly microwaved, the lamb had huge chunks of unrendered fat and the steak was tasteless and a very strange texture and consistency inside, very stringy and appeared frozen, not like a fillet steak at all!

I decided to question quietly and politely whether the steak was in fact frozen and the young lady said she would ask the chef (never a good sign)

What followed was the same waitress bringing a big hunk of raw meat out to our table in busy dining room to prove us wrong I suppose, though the steak was clearly a completely different size and appeared to a proper fillet, whereas the one we received was thin and long, almost like a rump.

Of course embarrassed that this had happened in front of everyone I told her it was fine.

On the third visit I am unsure what to think other than knowing we will never try again, whether it be poor quality ingredients or just incompetent chefs, we are unable to tell.

Though the island is not known for its worldly restaurants, this is still a disappointing experience due to the fabulous smells and front of house smiles not being accompanied by well cooked, well seasoned food.

The staff are polite and attentive. Just feel it could be a...

We visited Amici restaurant on a Sunday night around 8.30pm. We had not booked a table but they were able to seat us straight away. Amici had been thoroughly recommended by our Air B&B host.

Both my partner and myself do not eat meat and whilst we prefer to follow more of a Vegan based diet on occasion we may select Vegetarian if Menu options are not available.

We selected a Garlic bread and some Fries to share as a Starter. The Garlic bread was huge and filled a large plate and was very tasty.

Amici did not offer any Vegan options, however they were able to serve a vegetable laden hot chilli Pizza without cheese at my request which was truly delicious. My partner chose a Pasta with hot chilli's which she thoroughly enjoyed. The portion size was very generous and she had some boxed up to take away.

The staff were exceptionally friendly, polite and chatty. I believe our server was called Summer, very helpful with a lovely personality that enhanced our overall dining experience.

I have rated Amici as FOUR Stars as the lack of a single Vegan option being my reason. Overall a FIVE Star rating is worthy but it would be a welcome addition to see Vegan selections on the Menu.

I would however, absolutely recommend a...