Il Vesuvio Restaurant — Restaurant in Tunbridge Wells

The examination began through my entry to the restaurant.

As soon as a I had entered, I were greeted by a polite young woman who guided me to my comfortable and spacious table.

After reviewing the menu, I had settled on ordered a Pepperoni Pizza in which the Waiter had recommended.

One thing that still bugged me, is that on the menu, a lot of the food is in Italian terms, which would never be a problem for an Italian restaurant if they had considered putting a picture next to each pizza, some people can mistake a Calzone for a generic Pizza which is a common mistake I see nowadays.

Or the waiter can at least confirm with the customer, what a Calzone is before they order to ensure they are aware what they are buying is what they are expecting.

After 20-30 minutes of waiting, presented before me was an undercooked pizza consisting of cold pepperoni and stale bread base, I ask for the future that the chef’s consider cooking the pizza before actually serving their customers.

Despite this, service was great and the restaurant had a nice, but slightly...

Il Vesuvio has been a favourite restaurant for a very long time. We used to go regularly once a month after having had a business meeting all day, and we looked forward to our meals. Then Covid happened. Our meetings stopped for a while and then our schedule changed, so the regular visits went by the wayside. Finally we managed to get things right and have been back twice in three weeks. We were so happy to see Maria 'front of house' again and our meals were all excellent. The first time we returned the three of us had pasta with gorgonzola sauce (×1) and veal escalopes of two different varieties. My companions both had panna cotta while I had a grappa with chillies (unusual, warming, interesting variety to try - I like grappa and wanted to experiment). On our 2nd recent visit I had a form of ravioli with an asparagus sauce - excellent. My companions had pizza and the pasta with gorgonzola (again). Deserts were Torta della Nonna x2 and lemon cheesecake. All excellent. Well...

Bruschetta funghi was exquisite - incredibly creamy and full of flavour.

Mains: Gnocchi - this is the most authentic gnocchi I’ve had since Rome, it was amazing. Cheesy, full of flavour and the tomato sauce was one of the best I’ve had.

Spaghetti - it was nice and simple - nothing too special but it did have a real authentic Italian element behind it.

Dessert:

All I can say is wow. Everything single item hit the spot. The Panna cotta, the chocolate fondant (I cant remember the exact name they had for it in the restaurant) and the cannelloni - it was unbelievable. Especially the chocolate fondant, cooked to perfection - the chocolate began oozing out as soon as we cut into it. The chocolate was rich but just the right amount.

Also the hog chocolate was heavenly if you like thick creamy not chocolates - it tasted like a chocolate mousse!

I would 100% recommend this restaurant - not only is the food incredible but the staff are wonderful...