I found out aboutZizzi from friends when looking for a restaurant for a first date. It was highly recommended by everyone I talked to for its nice atmosphere and excellent food.
Walking into the restaurant we were pleasantly greeted and immediately shown downstairs to a clean and neatly laid table. The restaurant floor is below ground with side stairs leading up to the street entrance. This makes the ceiling higher and increases your sense of space, which is nice. The interior design as a whole is very good with plenty of wood and traditional italian decoration.
We were soon provided with drinks and shortly afterwards one of the real italian waiters on the staff came to take our order. I decided on the Clarissa Calzone (a Calzone is described as a folded pizza with grana padana and garlic butter with various fillings inside), while my date had the Penne alla Pineta pasta dish and we shared a garlic pizza bread starter. A full menu is available at zizzi.co.uk.
The restaurant is laid out so that you can see the chefs at work. This is a nice touch but also produces a lot of noise, which combined with the busyness of the place meant that we were having to lean across the table and speak loudly to hear each other. Our starter arrived after about 10 minutes and our food maybe 15-20 minutes later, an ideal wait in my opinion. The Calzone was original and delicious, it's something I've never seen before and now would definitely go back for. The side salad was the same as you'd get anywhere else, except that a nice italian dressing is available. My date said her pasta was excellent too and in fact I don't think I've talked to anyone who's been there and not been impressed. During the meal we got checked on by a waiter just once, which is always good as it shows attentiveness without being a nuisance.
After the main course we were given dessert menus, but to be honest most of them seem rather bland and we decided just to have coffee, which turned out to be great actually. The bill showed just how reasonably priced this place is at under £25 total for a shared starter, drinks, a delicious main course and coffee.
Overall Zizzi is an excellent place to eat. It's reasonably priced, stylish, serves delicious food and has a great atmosphere. The noise meant it wasn't the most romantic meal ever, but I suppose the fact that it was so busy just shows how popular it is.
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Jul 23rd, 2007
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