La Tavernetta Italian Restaurant — Restaurant in Southampton

First off, I'm Italian. I don't normally go to Italian restaurants abroad, as the comparison is inevitable. However, I happened to find myself with a few friends at La Tavernetta last night. I already knew the head chef, as she used to work in another great restaurant in Southampton, so my expectations were high. I have to say: all the food that was brought to our table was nothing short of delicious, and I know that because we all shared most of the dishes. But it's not just about the food: the atmosphere was great, and the service was friendly, quick and extremely professional. The Fritto Misto and the Fried Calamari were tasty and fried to perfection, the sirloin steak (ordered by the only Englishman in the party) was, according to him, the best he's ever had, and all the pasta was cooked "al dente" and properly salted, two things that Italian restaurants abroad for some reason can never get right. Mussels were fresh and the duck was juicy and tender. Excellent choice of Italian wines and great homemade desserts. Prices are also very reasonable, I'm SO looking forward to going back there, even for a simple...

The staff are absolutely brilliant and made us feel very welcome and special! We thoroughly enjoyed ourselves! The food was very good and the only reason I'm giving it 4 stars rather than 5 was because the menu was a little misleading. I had lobster ravioli (which were stuffed full of lobster and very good) and the menu said something like served with olive oil, cherry tomatoes and lemon zest, so I was expecting a very light dressing to showcase the delicious lobster ravioli, however it came in a heavy tomato sauce - which itself was very tasty, but masked the flavour of the ravioli. I know I'm being picky, but everything else was just so perfect that I was a little disappointed with the dish. I mean, the olives were so yummy that we ordered a second bowl of them! And the desserts - oh my goodness! They were delicious! I am fairly sure they were homemade and the only tiramisu I've ever had that was better is the one I make myself! Apparently the profiteroles were fantastic as well - I wouldn't know because they were not shared!! We will DEFINITELY be going back and I strongly encourage you to sample La...

We had a party of ten and were seated upstairs for a 13:00 lunch. We arrived early but the staff were lovely and accommodated us. We had starters which arrived without and delay, I had mushrooms in sauce which were lovely. The meals completely varied from risotto, oysters to steak and all came out together. The food was cooked perfectly, everyone enjoyed their meals. The desserts were equally scrumptious. Our waiter was fantastic, really nice chap and great service. The meal was for a birthday and at the end of the meal they brought us all a complimentary drink, they noticed I was only drinking soft drinks so I had a mocktail, which I thought was a nice touch and good attention to detail. The only tiny comment is that it's not ideal for children, we had our nine year old and although they offer children's portions, it isn't a children's menu, especially for "picky eaters" but that's on us on not them. Great restaurant with a lovely ambience, beautifully decorated and the toilets were super clean. Highly...