Il Cancello Italian Restaurant in County Durham

What a find this was. We came to the local area for a couple of nights and after a bit of tripadvising we decided on this Italian. We never booked as it was a last minute decision but it was not a problem. We were greeted by a very friendly waitress and were shown to a table straight away. The waitresses and the gentlemen (believe he was the manager/owner) who served us were very efficient and extremely friendly. Food was fantastic, really tasty and great portion sizes. It was nice to come somewhere where we felt we were getting our moneys worth! Strongly recommend the pizzas and the garlic bread! If we come back to the area we will mostly likely be returning. Thank you!

Food beautiful Staff lovely Good choice of food and drinks Peppercorn sauce to die for.

Went on a Sunday and had the best roast I have ever had. Restaurant was very busy and buzzing when we first arrived. Service was great, staff were friendly and food arrived promptly.

Great place. The food was fantastic and good value. Staff were attentive and adjusted an order to suit. Could not fault and would happily eat here again if I'm ever in the area again.

Cracking hot food, plenty of it. Highly recommended.

Beautiful food, wouldn't expect anything less from Ian, Christine and the boys !!

First time there but I'll will be definitely going back . starter main and dessert was lovely.

Been today for mothers day absolutely beautiful staff friendly food beautiful

Surprised and delighted to find a curry option in an Italian restaurant. It was delicious and a very generous portion. I can't speak too highly of Il Cancello. Very much recommended.

It was Valetine's night, so it was busy.

No complaints, everything was perfect, pizzas are amazing, Sunday lunch was huge staff were fantastic.

Sunday lunch visit and it was amazing, will return to try the main menu.

Lovely place. Great choice and the staff are really good and welcoming. Thoroughly enjoyed our meal.

Lovely place to eat excellent food

Collection Dinner for Two. Ordered Agnello e Cipolla Rossa (lamb, caramelised onion & tomato) pizza and Di Pesci (seafood) Linguini, as we wanted to takeaway to eat in our hotel whilst watching FA Cup. Phoned in order selected from their (clean and concise) website menu, collected to the second 15 mins later. Outstanding pasta, very generous portion and great variety of fresh seafood within. Couple of mega king prawns on top which were cooked to perfection, fried in garlic and finished on flame by the taste - lovely touch. Pizza was great too, strong enough flavours but not overpowering the pasta dish.There’s a very good chef running Il Cancello’s kitchen, evident in every deep, delicious mouthful of their excellent food. Impressive.

Visited a little while ago. Lauren and Luke both exceptional.

Really nice Italian restaurant with friendly staff who were very tentative. Food was absolutely perfect. Already looking forward to going back in the near future.

First visit to this restaurant today, and it was fab. We'll definitely put it on our good food venues.

Small Italian with a charming feel. The food is consistently good. Prices have shot up over the years... but haven't they all.

Exceptional service and delicious food all the time. Best waiter we have come across with called Paul. Very attentive , polite, quick and professional in every way. Ava&Graham Scott

My favourite Italian restaurant. Lauren is just lovely, brilliant service and great food.

Great atmosphere, food piping hot. Nice touch if it's a birthday.

Always an amazing place to eat. Food is unreal with plenty of choice and always extremely tasty, atmosphere is great, staff always make your experience fantastic with awesome service. Arguably the best place to eat around. Belisimo!

Excellent value we will be back

Excellent food, great service from the staff

We had a really nice meal, four of us visited (one veggie) and everyone had a lovely bit of food. I had the chicken and potato which was lush, the prawns to start (very nice) and a side of chips. The staff are friendly and welcoming, the drinks are nice to. Cannot fault it really. Large car park across the road (free).

Long time since id been here and i loved it..it was buzzing with chatter and atmoshere and the food was really good. Good service too.

Had a great meal here, large group with kids and adults. Everyone enjoyed the meals, food came out in good time and everyone's turned up :-) Let the waiter know we were in a bit of a rush and were very accommodating with the service. Provides takeaway boxes for our leftovers too. Would definitely recommend. Parking wasn't obvious at first, it's just over the other side of the road with plenty of spaces

Lovely food and great staff. Really nice atmosphere and lots of returning diners which speaks volumes

Starter was good. Black pudding in a peppercorn sauce, with crispy bacon and poached egg. Could have done without the egg as it made the bacon soft and wet. My main course was disappointing. Fillet of pork was okay, crushed herb potato was not nice and looked like mashed potato that hadn't been mashed and not as expected. The Creamy blue cheese sauce was excellent as were the roast garlic potatoes. That said the rest of the party had no complaints at all.

I bring my wife here for a lovely night out to give her the night off. As a treat this place always puts a smile on my face. Family ran the staff or friendly know there stuff happy to help were vegetations the menu is perfect for us. We often get a take away for a night in also Cancello also has a lovely out doors seated area for the Summer

Food was delicious, and service with a smile

Excellent restaurant.. Food was delicious and good size portions. Staff were very friendly and super efficient. Will definitely come here again.

Fantastic Italian food both regular pizza and pasta dishes as well as many others cooked with Italian influences. I had salmon with mussels and prawns my husband beef in Neapolitan sauce. Great ambience. Good number of local regulars. If this was local to me I would be too.

Love this place, family run who care.

Great food, (you will love the food) good price, friendly staff, nice atmosphere. It's true, we're regular visitors so maybe are biased, but the fact we keep going back tells you all you need to know.

Fantastic food very tasty and huge portions. Staff were attentive without being over annoying. I booked this on the TripAdvisor reviews and all i can say is 5* is not an understatement, lovely place. Will definitely be back

Great food helpful staff love it.!

We went here two nights while we were staying in the area. Fantastic food and the people there were really nice.

In December 2022 I organised an il Cancello voucher as Christmas present for my sister and her husband. Thankfully they waited until we returned to England on holiday from Australia before booking a table. The food was absolutely delicious and plentiful. Ian, the boss, gave us some good advice about the Italian wine and his suggestion was spot. Although my favourite dish, spaghetti marinara wasn't on the menu, Ian was willing to make me a plate. However, I gratefully declined and opted for an Italian meal that I'd never previously had. We were certainly impressed with the way the restaurant celebrates birthday. I had a great conversation with Ian, and I did try to persuade him to establish a restaurant in Perth Western Australia. Many thanks for your hospitality Ian and good luck for the future.

Splendid staff. Lovely food. Acceptable wait between ordering and serving. We booked mid-week just to be sure of a table. Weekends especially Sunday lunch is very busy. Booking essential. We visited twice. Both meals were great. Wine was pricey, that's standard in all restaurants. It seemed popular with locals and the take out was busy. Well worth a visit or two.

Very expensive for the quality of food received. Not sure we'll be back.

All the food was delicious and served fast. The service was exemplary. I would definitely come back.

Good food and excellent service. Not many people in tonight but I think that with the quality of food, service and more people it would be a very atmospheric experience.

Found it very noisy but very popular , Need to learn how to make yorkshire puddings,,,,but food delicious

Called here before a visit to the theatre with my friend, staff friendly, food was gorgeous Broccolini verde, my friend had one of the specials lobster ravioli. I will definitely be back

The food was excellent. Staff attentive and friendly. Cost was Exceptionally good for the amount of food served. Comfortable and enjoyable atmosphere. Fully recommend

Came here for the first time yesterday with my boyfriend to celebrate a work promotion. The staff were lovely, the atmosphere was great and the food was even better! All reasonably priced and so so delicious, we’ll definitely be back as have already booked another visit with the family in a months time after such a good experience!

Food was unreal and staff were so friendly and attentive. Portion sizes are well worth the money, ended up taking a lot home with us. Personally recommend the peppercorn sauce, nicest i’ve had.

Lovely staff, very attentive and friendly. We had a dairy allergy in our party and the waiters/waitresses took extra care to make sure the food was suitable for her to eat. Food was lovely, all the pastas were freshly made and delicious. Cocktails were all themed to the local area, and we enjoyed the Tanfield Sunrise. Lovely clean restaurant and they supplied fluffy blankets for sitting outside, which were a very nice touch and dog bowls. Thankyou for a great night! very recommend.

Excellent food and great friendly service we will certainly return The family had four different dishes and they were all brilliant.

First time here and can’t fault the place, food was incredible very good portion size wide range of choice on menu which I love, can’t wait to go back and try more dishes. Service was superb, friendly staff lovely atmosphere definitely will be back soon

The food is amazing and big portions too. The staff are friendly and efficient. We live out of the area but have been twice and would go again whenever in the area

We went for our diamond wedding anniversary, pure quality the food is outstanding, a lovely atmosphere and welcome on arrival, staff really attentive. We all had three courses everyone perfect the lobster ravioli is to die for, 3 of the 4 ordered it and we...

Brilliant. We went for Sunday lunch and it was excellent in all respects. There is a good large car park. The building is smart and the staff were lovely and efficient. The menu was extensive, we all had a Sunday lunch but with different meats,...

Its great to see a successful business in action and in our opinion there is absolutely nothing which needs improving here. The food, service, staff, ambience, décor etc are all top notch. I just wanted to leave a review to spread the word that the...

We visited Il Cancello for a family get together. Great atmosphere, fabulous food, friendly service! What more could you ask for. Everyone enjoyed the night, everything we ate was delicious. Definitely recommend 😊

Varied choice of dishes on menu and nice specials. Generous portions , tasty, well balanced meal for both vegetarian and meat eaters. Nice friendly atmosphere. Would visit again

Visited Beamish on short break to celebrate our Ruby Wedding Anniversary. Wonderful food and warm hospitality. My wife said her Quattro Stagioni Pizza was the best pizza she had ever eaten ! My Vegetarian Calzone was awesome. Visited Sunday evening and enjoyed our meal so...

A fabulous authentic Italian restaurant, incredibly popular in the village of Beamish. Lots going on, a vibrant atmosphere with fellow diners clearly enjoying themselves The food is very good, a great choice of Italian dishes as well as pasta and pizza dishes We had Black...

A lovely Italian restaurant in the small village of Beamish. Good atmosphere, lovely food and friendly staff. The owner chatted to us for some time at the end of the meal

I cannot express how perfectly ran this resturant is , the staff are impeccable, the food is outstanding, first time today we went for Sunday lunch as my daughters 20th birthday and oh my days the Sunday dinners are the best I've ever had, i...

Amazing food, very friendly staff, great find in Beamish. Granddaughters 20th birthday made extra special by attentive staff . Sunday dinner outstanding. This is where I'll be if missing thank you iL CANCELLO

i took family and friends to celebrate my birthday service was excellent as was the quality of food thsnks to all staff for making my birthday so special. ron gorman

Visited with a friend for a catch-up, food was lovely and the staff members were so friendly and attentive. Will definitely be returning.

Cosy and relaxed interior with attentive and friendly service ; food was tasty with generous portions ; this was our first time eating here, we shared the mushrooms & brushetta starter, my husband had the Lamb Shank and I had Verdure al Forno - all...

First time visiting this restaurant and we were not disappointed. Really nice traditional Italian restaurant. Food was delicious, service was excellent. Think we might try the Sunday Lunch next.........

I brought my family to celebrate Father’s Day. Everyone was happy with their food choices. I am gluten free and the waiting staff were able to advise me about the dishes I had chosen. Adaptations were made. I chose a hallumi salad with roasted vegetables...

What a gorgeous time. Went with my family for the first time. Service, hospitality and food were perfect. A big thank you to Ian and the team for a lovely dinner. From New Zealand to Beamish, Kia Ora.

This is possibly one of our favourite restaurants, old school Italian flavours and flair in a relaxed family friendly atmosphere. So we had gone for a Sunday lunch, luckily I had rang ahead as this Sunday like many others was a barn burner by which...

Excellent service, nice atmosphere and excellent food, I doubt I've ever enjoyed a meal more. Definitely worth a visit!

Me & my husband came here with another couple for Sunday dinner & really enjoyed it. It was all of our first time at this restaurant. Food was fantastic & staff were lovely.

The food was exquisite Very good service Nice kind waiters Risotto’s were lovely Starters was very nice Overall 10/10 ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Came for years, won’t be back. Average food. Terrible service but the prices are just ridiculous, more than you’d pay in a city centre! £4.50 for a Diet Coke, £9 for a 250ml rose wine, £6.50 for a mocktail (which was awful orange juice mixed...

The lasagna was unbelievable! And the service was fantastic. Really great experience. Our server Dan I think was the name was brilliant.

Spent a lovely evening at Il Cancello, we had drinks outside before our meal, the sun was shining and the premium lager went down too easily. Once seated we enjoyed two courses each which were excellent with the exception of the prawn cocktail which was...

Omg from start to finish I would rate this restaurant exceptional! Wonderful greeting, beautiful bottle of Merlot! Starters were brie in breadcrumbs (beautiful) and Caesar salad (hubby said was gorgeous) then Diavalo pizza and chunky chips! Best pizza ever! And OMGG the chips were Devine!...

Great food and staff excellent with out little granddaughter. They all spent time with her. Speedy service even though busy

We enjoyed our meal, we visited as a a family of 7 including children. It is our favourite Italian restaurant in the north east

Still absolutely love this place, every time we go it's spot on. The staff are always very welcoming and efficient. Oh and if you like Moretti, it's the best I've ever had, always fresh and cool. Well done and keep up the good work.

Booked a table for 5 people for Sunday lunch, ordered drinks which came to nearly £50 then were given the menu, only wanted a main meal but were told that because it was Mother’s Day we had no choice but to order from a set...

After receiving the drinks we were told that we could not order just a Sunday lunch and that we had to pay £35 for a set three course menu and that there was no other option. We complained - eventually the manager came over and...

Had a lovely meal, here this evening. Food and service was excellent. Will definitely visit again, when in the area.

My family are frequent visitors to this amazing family run restaurant. The staff make always make a big fuss of our two girls and the food - whether that’s a Sunday dinner, steak and chips, or one of the fantastic pizza or pasta dishes -...

We had a delicious meal yet again at this family friendly run restaurant. Nothing is ever a problem and they make sure that you are well looked after, and provide delicious flavoursome food. Highly recommended

We had a lovely meal at Il Cancello. The food was delicious and the service was excellent. We will be returning soon.

This is the best Italian restaurant I’ve been to, excellent service, excellent food, excellent atmosphere. I read the reviews and was not disappointed, great choice of food, plentiful, tasty and overall excellent.

Really great food! Authentic atmosphere and food quality was top notch. Service was fantastic, really attentive and friendly. Our waiter was a lovely chap called Paul who was wonderful and very kind. Thank you Paul <3 Will definitely come back!

Service, food and atmosphere very good. We moved in just down the road 2 weeks ago and this was our first venture out. Really impressed. Will definitely go again.

Food was fantastic with a fab size portions family feel atmosphere and service. Will definitely be returning with the family and recommend to anyone

Been to this restaurant a number of times and manner had a bad meal yet... First time today for a Sunday dinner and it was lovely

Visisited lastnight 28th January 2023 pre ,booked not a problem welcoming, had no problem with food satisfied.theonly snag I found no pricing on the menu, and know set early bird, at these times of hardship I would of thought this would apply, I myself work...

Excellent service and the food is superb. 2nd visit and there will be many more. Thank you for making our evening such a good one.

10/10 We absolutely love Il Cancello! The Food is amazing aswell as the lovely friendly staff! So pleased to have such a fabulous resteraunt close to where we live.

Visited this evening, food was delicious, we were served very quickly. Couldn’t fault anything. But we were just so taken with the attention the servers were paying towards our 2 year old son. Our son found it amusing to throw the menu on the floor...

We visited here today as a family of 5 adults. Staff were friendly with the right amount of customer interaction checking in how food was etc. The food was outstanding. We all opted for potato skins although there was a varied choice of starters. We...

2nd time we’ve visited recently and both were great, Food is tremendous and tasty, Staff are very helpful and prices are competitive We’ll be there again soon

For a local Italian food was very expensive and only average .Also lemonade at £4.50 was a ridiculous price as were other drinks

Nice ambiance, very friendly, prices reasonable, Service prompt and cheerful. food fantastic. Definitely recommended. Catered for gluten free no problem.

Staff were polite on the phone when asking about menu, popped in to have a look and it’s a lovely welcoming setting. Staff were amazing I needed a pen and piece of paper and the wifi which was a massive help at the time. Food...