Zizzi, Nottingham

Being a long time Nottingham resident I have visited Zizzi's many times - occasion meals, a quick lunch with friends, on a date etc and feel suitably equipped to review it.

Atmosphere

So let's start with the atmosphere - you walk into the restaurant and immediately it is quite dark. Middle of the day, 8 at night - same level of light. It's slightly disorienting in the daytime but on the whole it's atmospheric and cosy. You then are potentially faced with an empty room full of tables... this is because when the restaurant is busy every gets seated downstairs which often means no one is there you greet you at the door and you spend a confused minute working out what you do originally. Having found your way down to where all the action is - the ground floor. It's cosy and quite romantic with the low lighting and tea lights but it is also very very cramped. The owners have stashed way too many tables in here and you will spend a great portion of your meal backing into people or moving yours bags away from their table and struggling to make your way through to the rest rooms (which are upstairs by the way!). You do get used to it though and I find it quite cosy and it can be quite a nice romantic setting in the evening if it's not too busy. Even better if you get a booth - which i've yet to do. :(

Food

I can't say i've had a bad meal here. Pizza, Pasta, Salad it has all been delicious. Zizzi also has lots of vegetarian options although they aren't clearly marked on the menu so I occasionally have to ask just to make sure! But my meat eating friends have always been impressed with the selection too - although often the veggie options are so tempting they go with them! My current favourite is the Ravioli Di Capra - gorgeous huge portions of Ravioli stuffed with goats cheese, spinach and tomato with rocket pesto, pine nuts and tomato sauce.

Service

The staff have always been quite pleasant but when they are quiet any system seems to go out the window with it becoming a waiter/waitress free for all. Within 3 minutes or so me and my boyfriend were asked 3 times but 3 different waiters whether we were ready to order drinks! Honestly you wait for one for ages and they all come along at once! The food takes around 10-15 minutes to arrive. Just nice really - time for a chat and a drink to work up your appetite.

Value for Money

Most of the time there is a 2 for 1 offer or such making the rounds which makes eating at Zizzi's very affordable. But even when you don't have one of these it is quite good value with main meals costing around £7 - £9. Drinks are quite expensive though and I rarely drink wine when i'm there. A small glass of Zinfandel Rose is £4.65, large £5.95. The cheapest bottle of wine is £12.95.

Overall

Overall I like eating at Zizzi's as the food is delicious and the atmosphere quite cosy.