Zia Nina — Restaurant in Wales

Wanted to like this so much, but unfortunately, despite the lovely staff and the new decor, the food was below average and the experience ended up being really disappointing. Style over substance and not authentic Italian. I prefer the other Italians in Bridgend so will go elsewhere from now on.

Food: Both our pasta dishes were under seasoned and were poorly executed. I had a carbonara, which was not very good - I can make a more authentic, better tasting one myself. It was quite dry and bland. My partners dish had undercooked asparagus and, tasting it myself, I suspect it still had the fibrous ends in place which made it quite unpleasant to eat - these need to be removed before cooking. Again, I could do better at home.

Drink: We tried to order 2 large glasses of malbec (the only size available on the menu is a 175ml glass or a bottle). We were told the only wine we could have in a large measure was the house red, which was not very nice at all. Why not serve us a large measure of the other wines? It makes no sense other than to possibly try and force more purchases...

Decor/facilities: Clearly, a good amount of effort has been put into decorating the restaurant and it has turned out very nicely after the refurb. I think the upstairs will be a lovely venue in the summer, overlooking the river. When we were there though, it seemed there was a load of furniture stacked in the corner which made it feel like they were still finishing things off and there was dust in the toilets that looked like it was left over from the building work.

My other gripe was the menu has been poorly written! I apparently had a "carbona" and the seafood "trio" I was going to have only comes with 2 seafood items and...

So came here last night 13th oct. 9 of us 2 of which 2 young kids. Had starter , calamari this was ok, sauce was nice. Main was lovely which was lasagne really quite tasty it came with chips which were nothing special if im honest, i ordered a side of garlic bread with it which was nice, The host was a nice guy very chatty, the staff seemed a little clumsy if im honest, just as we sat down a tray of drinks went down the back of my sister because the waitress wasn't looking what she was doing although accidents do happen so no biggy, although I will say nothing was offered! No extra drinks, a free starter, nothing!!! This brings me on to the cost. Not much beer choice at all, consisting of draught peroni which was ( are you sitting down) £6.50 a pint! So I ordered a bottle of bishops finger which i thought was a 500ml bottle, it didn't say on the menu the size of the drink which i think it should have, Well the bottle came and it was a 330ml bottle!! 🤔 £4.70 for a 330ml bottle!!! im sorry but thats to much, come on guys. We all had a starter and a main with dessert each, i had the newyork cheesecake, which was ok but tasted abit like something frozen, didn't seem home made to me anyway. The Total bill came to just over £400!!! (£60 of which was a service charge i was told by someone on the table, but the owner has now said that there was no service charge so if this is the case then i apologise), we were a decent size group but you know when you've gone somewhere and feel that the cost is just too much. Nice restaurant but too...

We attended Zia Nina for a group meal, and overall the experience was great. As with any group, sometimes small issues arise with a pre-order, but the staff did everything they could to smooth out any wrinkles. I ordered the King Prawns with Chorizo, and it was lovely, and the prawns were cooked accurately. The fillet steak I had for main, I ordered medium rare, it was lovely, really good caramelisation on the outside and was rested so very tender. The peppercorn sauce was tasty with a good kick, and the chips were some of the nicest chips I've tasted recently, really good. The Tiramisu was very nice for dessert, possibly a little heavy, but I have had much worse in the UK, and others said the cheesecake was excellent, so overall I'm giving Zia Nina 5 stars and will recommend it.

I hope to come back sometime and try the Calzone which my colleague said was excellent too!

The only small criticism I will provide to the owners, is you might want to check the spelling on the specials board before opening; I've never heard of Arangini (should be Arancini) and Arabiatta (should be Arrabiata) but this is something I think will not detract from...