Angelo's Restaurant & Cocktails Bar — Restaurant in Sunderland

What an amazing surprise! It's not hidden, but it certainly isn't in a frequently trafficked area. And what a shame for anyone who doesn't take the time to discover this charming and wonderful Italian restaurant.

I just happened to be walking by and the next thing I know the lovely co-owner has taken my name (with the "Italian spelling") and signed me up for 7pm. Good thing too because when I arrived, the front entrance was crowded. Of course it was with all of the 16 year olds that inhabit this city. Honestly, if your not between the ages of 12 to 17 or 58 to 79 Sunderland is not the place for you. Weird!

Anyway I digress... The waiter was a bit over the top with the "born in Sicily" persona, but it was fun seeing him correct all of my mispronunciations. As if... His wine recommendation was spot on and I never got the sense that he wasn't genuinely enjoying himself. Always a contagious affectation in the restaurant business. Bless him!

The food was fantastic. My appertizer of mozzarella wrapped in prosciutto was delicious. And when paired with the garlic accoutrement it was incredibly satisfying. And my god! The entree... Lamb shank and mashed potatoes. Just heavenly! I was told that it was cooked for 48 hours and the way it just fell apart at the most delicate of encouragement from my fork confirmed that perhaps 48hours was an understatement.

This is why I love dining out. Despite all of the pressure from the chains (I just read that 5 Guys Burgers was opening a jillion more stores... Yayyyyy!) they are places like Angelo's still available for us to be seduced into experiencing a truly memorable meal. And why are we working so hard for our money if not to be pampered by an over the top waiter and a genius chef.

Absolutely...

I decided to join my sister and friends for a pre-booked bottomless brunch. They had paid £10 deposit but me going was a last minute thing after work. I explained I didn't want food and I'd just buy drinks on a separate bill from the others as i wasn't hungry. This was refused and I was told as I was sitting on a table were others had paid for bottomless, then I would have to do the same. Again I explained that I wasn't hungry, didn't want anything to eat and just wanted my bill to be completely separate. I also commented that its also a bar , surely I could just order drinks and not be forced to buy food I didn't want. They said they couldn't do it as in the past other people had stolen drinks and food from the table. I assured them I wasn't there to do that and as it was empty other than two other people, they could check as Im not in the habit of stealing. Again I was refused and told i would have to order food to sit with the others. I eventually did to take home for my husband rather than leave or sit in the bar area alone. Mussels and calamari. They apparently tasted lovely but they came in what I can only describe as a child size portion. As i went to pay , as per usual they tried to charge me £46 . The bottomless is £40 . So i pointed this out . So for £40 I got , four glasses of prosecco and two child size portions of food . Not bottomless at all. Every time we go we get overcharged. My sister , partner and their friends usually go Christmas day. And lots through the year . They always get overcharged too . It was the last straw and none of us will...

Having recently moved back to the area, I was looking to try some decent Italian food. We had tickets to an event in Sunniside and so I checked out the website for Angelos. After seeing how they described their ingredients with pride, I just had to try.

We both had pasta, I had the one with fennel sausage and my husband had carbonara. We had some bread and olives too. We had a delicious bottle of Soave with it. My pasta was perfectly al dente, the sauce creamy and the sausage was delicious, full of flavour and popping with aniseed. My husbands carbonara was full of flavour. Creamy and rich with guanciali.

We followed with tiramisu. Again delicious. Quite firm. I loved the white chocolate but probably could do without the spray cream. (Sorry)

We topped it off with two limoncellos. Straight from the freezer.

Perfect service, a beautiful restaurant and a delicious, authentic...