Il Rustico in Dover

Amazing food. Will definitely return soon

Head and shoulders the best restaurant in town. Great kitchen consistently pumping out wonderfully tasty dishes. Good value too. The only grumble are the wines, which to accompany food of this calibre are disappointing. Sort that out and it’ll be a strong contender for the best in SE Kent.

Very nice restaurant with lovely personnel

10 out 10 stars!!!!! Amazing drinks, appetizers, food, atmosphere and lovely staff!! We will definitely be back! There are no pictures of the food because we ate it all too soon with nothing left for proof. The owners are the sweetest and most authentic couple. You will be missing out if you don’t stop by.

Lovely Italian restaurant. Arrived on a busy Friday evening without booking but they kindly accommodated us. Food was great, our group had pasta, chicken and pizza dishes all were fabulous. They even have vegan cheese for pizza 🍕 The waitress who served us was very knowledgeable about veganism and without me asking was swift to acknowledge that they would ensure no cross contamination of items in the kitchen. Amazing customer service 👏

Great service, fabulous pasta, but best of all for me were the Gluten Free options, the Ameretto Cheesecake was amazing!!

Lovely atmosphere, yummy steak, meatballs, salmon

Really nice food and atmosphere. Staff were great, always like it when you get a bit of a laugh from the staff. Food was quick, fresh and cooked well. No complaints here.

Fantastic food and Amazing service we were table of 7 in late evening.Thank you for good time really appreciate it

Delicious real Italian food. Staff are super friendly and very efficient. Lovely venue and atmosphere. Would definitely recommend.

I want to thank the restaurant for the excellent service and delicious food. We ordered a Margherita pizza and Bolognese. My friend said it was the best Bolognese she’s ever had. The pizza was just the right size, with incredibly tasty cheese and tomato sauce. We will definitely come back here if we have the chance!

Amazing food! Amazing service! Food was as good as my (Italian) great grandmother's cooking!

The staff, the food, the noisy and busy atmosphere all typical of an excellent Italian restaurant. The advice given on the menu was just right as was the food. We will have to go again next time we find ourselves in Dover.

Food was excellent and service was very good. Very convenient to marina hotels. Easily walkable. Reservations needed.

Great place - genuine home cooked, delicious food. Great friendly service. Would recommend highly. Book if going at the weekend.

Fantastic food; quick and friendly service.. staff fitted us in at the last minute and we did not regret it. We had risotto and the salmon and both dishes were amazing

Famtastico. Excellent email. Great service. Highly recommend

We had an absolutely fantastic meal here for my niece's 18th birthday. Will definitely be back. Highly recommend the salmon and asparagus linguine, and the amaretto cheesecake. Delicious!

Had a wonderful starter, main & dessert, all cooked magnificiently Service was wonderfil

Perfect! Lovely calm restaurant, Italian music playing, varied menu, attentive service and very reasonable prices. They can add vegan cheese to pizzas if required and vegan options are marked on menu. The Swordfish was cooked perfectly and the pizza was generously topped. I would recommend booking.

Great local Italian which serves lovely authentic food. Service was attentive and quick however the seating layout meant we were spread out where there were plenty of seats at the front of the restaurant which would have helped the atmosphere. Very reasonable and well worth visiting.

Delicious freshly cooked Italian food. Amaretto cheesecake was fantastic! We will be back soon.

Very nice people and excellent food. Local wine and products served in a very nice place. We went twice.

We didn't had anything to eat since the afternoon and we entered around 21h35 for food, just before closing time, but the food was awesome, the owners showed love for their guests and made us feel welcome! The staff was also very friendly, and the lasagna really great, so all in all great experience and will visit again when i'm there.

Hands down the most amazing place to eat in Dover food was delicious and the service is perfect

A delightful dining experience. One notable advantage is that tables are well-spaced rather than bunched. Pasta was piping hot and really well prepared. Ample desserts beautifully arranged. Washed down with properly chilled Frascati. Staff were all both amiable and efficient.

Loved eating dinner here, 1st time & was impressed. Great menu, traditional Italian food & good quality dining. We had seafood pasta & it was fantastic. The dessert was excellent too, Tiramisu & the best Panna Cotta I've ever had - gloriously creamy & smooth. It's home made. This is a family owned business & it shows from their genuine care for customers, to their quality in the food they make & the love that goes into it. Eating here was an absolute joy.

We ate here two evenings in a row and the service was quick and friendly. And the food is fresh, hot and very tasty. The price/performance ratio is right.

Family birthday celebration lunch visit last week. Yet again Il Rustico came up trumps! Lovely menu with classical Italian favourites on offer. Well cooked, nicely presented and delicious to eat - all those dining were well satisfied. Good wine to accompany and nice desserts to follow. Reasonable prices across the board with excellent, friendly service throughout. As in previous visits, no hesitation to recommend this lovely Italian eatery. We will be revisiting again for sure.

Amazing traditional italians! The staff were so attentive, and the food was incredible.

Very good service. Very good food. The Tiramisu was the best I’ve had. Waiters/waitresses very friendly. My guests and I did not feel rushed and enjoyed the family restaurants atmosphere. House wine very good.

Beautifully clean and cozy restaurant with attentive service and good food.

Visited to celebrate my birthday and my daughter’s great exam results. We were on a stopover on the way to Southern France. Lovely welcome by friendly staff. Family friendly , great service and food that tastes so good you’ll want to eat it again. The deserts are so good!

Very delightful restaurant. Great find in Dover, England

Great place to go. Very good food for reasonable prices. The bruschetta was delicious. As well as the pasta and pizza dishes. Our highlight: the desserts. Loved the chocolate cake and the cheesecake with amaretto.

Lovely Italian restaurant with nice people and great atmosfere. You'll feel very welcome like at home.

True Italian experience! Loved it! Strongly recommend!! ♥️

The Linguini Ai Frutti Di Mare was very nice and the garlic bread was quite good as well. Would definitely recommend . The staff were quite friendly and the atmosphere was pleasant.

Always great food at reasonable prices .

The service was excellent, the food was good, better than any place in Dover, surely. The toilets were absolutely shiny! Maybe the portions could be slightly bigger, however everything was good!i would recommend this restaurant.

The restaurant was extremely hot..no air conditioning as far as I could tell. I chose lasagne, which was nice, but the dish it was served in had burnt spots all over it from the sauce splattering in the oven. It was not served with salad or anything else.

This really is a lovely authentic Italian restaurant. We had pizza, risotto and pasta, all were well cooked and well presented. The service is polite and unobtrusive. We have visited a few times now whilst meeting up with family in the area.

Rude behaviour!!! Wow, although the place had seating space available and no reservation signs on tables, we were refused entry by saying everyone (all customers) came in all together and we cannot manage them all….so no entry I am surprised this still exists. Sorry can’t comment on your food but can make sure it would be stale like the behaviour….

We like to eat seafood, and the appetizer of mussels is delicious 👍In addition, we ordered two kinds of fish including Swordfish and Hake. I personally recommend Hake, which is tender and smooth, while Swordfish has a firmer texture, if you don’t mind! Because both taste great. The staff are polite and friendly, and the environment and atmosphere are comfortable and enjoyable. Will definitely come again!

Lovely restaurant with lovely staff and great food. ⭐

We visit with friends every time we visit Dover. The food is amazing and very reasonably priced and they have a good wine list. The staff are so friendly and knowledgeable. Will deffo visit again.

Nice family restaurant, delicious food!

We recently dined at Il Rustico, and it was a delightful experience! As a family of three, we appreciated the warm and welcoming atmosphere. The staff were exceptionally attentive, making sure we were comfortable and well taken care of throughout our meal. The food was absolutely delicious. I had the hake, which was perfectly cooked and bursting with flavor. My husband and our son both opted for pizzas, and they were fantastic—crispy crusts, fresh toppings, and just the right amount of cheese. It’s clear that Il Rustico uses quality ingredients in all their dishes. Il Rustico is truly a superb local gem in Dover, offering authentic Italian cuisine with excellent service. We highly recommend it to anyone looking for a wonderful dining experience. We’ll definitely be back!

We recently dined at Il Rustico, and it was a delightful experience! As a family of three, we appreciated the warm and welcoming atmosphere. The staff were exceptionally attentive, making sure we were comfortable and well taken care of throughout our meal. The food was absolutely delicious. I had the hake, which was perfectly cooked and bursting with flavor. My husband and our son both opted for pizzas, and they were fantastic—crispy crusts, fresh toppings, and just the right amount of cheese. It’s clear that Il Rustico uses quality ingredients in all their dishes. Il Rustico is truly a superb local gem in Dover, offering authentic Italian cuisine with excellent service. We highly recommend it to anyone looking for a wonderful dining experience. We’ll definitely be back!

Amazing place. Very delicious Italian food. The pasta was superb. Special mention should be made of the desserts. They are not overly sweet, just the right amount. It was divine. The place is cozy, but we were there during peak hours. It was a bit noisy at that time, but it also added to the atmosphere.

excellent food, amazing tiramisu taste just like italy

Saw the reviews and wanted to give it a try. I must say that we didn’t have a booking, but we were able to be seated perfectly. We got some starters to share and everything was fine. However, we started to realise that all the waiters looked like young students (which we understand—no one is born with experience), but they all seemed to follow a script. But never mind, we ordered 2 starters, and they were ok. What we didn’t like much were the sizes of the pizzas—they were small. Furthermore, the risotto just tasted like cream; all the other ingredients were barely noticeable, too much cream in my opinion, plus, some asparagus were hard while others were soft, which was a bit strange. We also ordered tiramisu, and again, it just tasted like whipped cream without any flavour of coffee or mascarpone. This is just my opinion; but overall I got disappointed.

Great restaurant. Food is excellent.

Went here to spend a Christmas gift voucher. Very nice restaurant, where they do not try to hurry you. The meals we had were excellent, salmon for the good lady and veal for me. The desserts were lovely and nice sized. The waitress we had was very attentive and took our orders when we were ready. Thumbs up all around.

Ate very tasty. Friendly and attentive service.

A lovely humble restaurant. Genuine Italian, with a proper Italian menu. Wife and I went to Sorrento a few years ago, and Il Rustico is every bit an authentic Italian experience, but in Dover! Lovely food, made fresh, served by a charming team. We've been here several times over the years and will continue to recommend it. 2024 update: It's still a lovely authentic Italian restaurant. Humble, honest, genuine food served fast and efficiently. Great prices, nice atmosphere. The front of house staff are great too.

Ate here twice in two days. Great quality and fresh food. We had pasta, pizza, bruschetta and mixed salad.

Stunning food. A real slice of Italy 👌

This is a very cozy restaurant with tasty food! Very nice employees!

Good food. Excellent service. The chef altered an item on the menu to leave out tomatoes for me which was really good of them.

Very nice food, well worth a visit. Sticky tables the last time we went. Not for being dirty, just sticky where the varnish is coming off.

We went out for a family meal. Wonderful food and excellent service. I recommend the mushroom risotto and tiramisu.

It's a,bit tucked away but we'll worth the hunt. Family owned very friendly and attentive staff ( they had never seen us before but treated us like old and valued friends) so highly recommended. Very extensive menu at reasonable prices. So do give it a go. You won't be disappointed

Visited this place on a Sunday and was warmly attended by all the staff. From the moment you step in, you can sense it is a home run business solely based on the authenticity it provides, be it in food or hospitality. The food is delicious and cooked with love. Highly recommend visiting this place again.

We'd travelled for hours across France. Kmn (kill me now). Then the tunnel. Jesus wept. Then Folkestone. Are we there yet? FOOD! The place was empty which was a warning sign. Alarm bells ringing. The food is lovely. Pasta was Al dente. Pizza. Scrummy. The service is worth writing to every restaurant about. Sing it with me... "Do bee do bee do. I'm lovin it."

Good portion and very tasty Tiramisu was not a disappointment either Friendly staffs

Amazing work and the employees are really funny!

It isn’t easy to find in the city , but it’s one of those can revisit, the food is delicious at reasonable price.

All the dishes seem homemade and are excellent, very welcoming service, reasonable prices, very nice discovery

Lovely place for good Italian food.

Amazing food at good prices. Highly recommend.

The mushroom in Cheese sauce I would happily have as a main course. I had the hake which was delicious. Then the pana cotta. I'll definitely be going there again. The staff are delightful. Thank you to all.

If you are early for your ferry or want to have lunch or dinner in Dover then I highly recommend Il Rustico😋: real delicious homemade Italian food and great service 👍👍👍 plus they accept very late service ( 10 p.m.)

Absolutely amazing food with friendly service.

Friendly, old school Italian restaurant with a large varied menu. Great value and a competitive wine menu.

Really very nice food, attentive staff and warm and cosy (albeit slightly outdated) interior. Will definitely return 😊

We decided to visit tonight (Monday April 15) on a whim and I am so glad we did. The entire staff, especially our server, were extremely friendly, attentive and courteous. We ordered garlic bread, bruschetta, lasagna, carbonara, pasta with mushrooms and chicken, and gluten free pasta with sausage, garlic, and tomatoes. Every dish was hot, fresh, extremely well seasoned and very authentic tasting. I have traveled to quite a few places in Italy and the food tonight was on par with the food I've had in Italy. Our experience and food exceeded all of our expectations. Definitely a hidden gem. We live in the USA but next time we are back in the UK, we will definitely be back for another meal.

Excellent food, it reminds me of Italy

Everything was amazing overall. The food was really well made and tasty, I recommend getting some of the desserts! They’re homemade and really delicious, I tried all of them with my family. The service was top notch as well, everyone was so nice to us. The atmosphere was also great, we went in the evening and found it quite calm and relaxed here. I love this restaurant and will return!! ❤️❤️

Didn't really expect a lot from a small town, but the quality of the food was 10/10. I had the sword fish (pesce spada della casa) and it was fantastic. Highly recommended dish. Also for the appetiser, we had the mushroom with 4 diffrent cheese, which was also amazing. Nice atmosphere and great food. If I am visiting Dover again, this will be my no.1 choice of restaurant!

Warm, inviting restaurant with great food, and great service. Honestly cannot think of one thing that could have made our evening there better. Just a great restaurant!

To start with I had a ham platter which was really nice it had a cheese to go with it. Than I had the fish it was really amazing it was perfectly seasoned and cooked after that the seafood pasta had really fresh mussels and the flavours is just perfect and we had a swordfish it was ok than we had a pizza it was nice for I don’t really like pizza than for dessert we had a tiramisu which was so much better than any other I had than we had a chocolate thing with a vanilla ice cream on top it was nice but I don’t know what it is than we had a berry jelly thing which I don’t know what’s it called too 😐

After an incredibly long day of travel our kiddos were spent and picked Italian food as our first spot to eat in Dover. All of our food and wine was delicious and our 6 year old made it through the meal with a custom pasta dish.

Excellent value and a really tasty meal. The staff are really pleasant and knowledgeable. The special (pork with a mushroom and mustard sauce) was to die for and the amaretto cheese cake was outstanding! Will be coming back again!

Fabulous family run italian. Great atmosphere with Italian music playing in the background. Service and food was exceptional. Would highly recommend. We were pleased we found this little gem whilst on holiday.

I recently visited Il Rustico Restaurant in Dover and was impressed by both the exceptional cuisine and service. The soup was flavorful, and the steak was cooked perfectly medium as requested. The service was attentive and excellent, making the dining experience memorable. Highly recommended for anyone seeking quality food in a welcoming atmosphere.

We came to Dover for the white cliff and found this restaurant on the high street. Very kind and caring staff, exceptional service and the food was amazing and very reasonable price for the family of 5. Highly recommended.

Really nice, perfect service and very good food. 👍

How have I not been here before, 🤷‍♂️ everything about this place was fantastic, food 🍝 🍕staff, decor, cleanliness, and most of all so reasonable without doubt we'll be back very soon 👏👏👏👏😎

My girlfriend and I visited Il Rustico on a Wednesday evening outside of any kind of school or bank holiday. Despite this, there were still a few tables already taken up with big groups, which was encouraging. I was due to run a marathon the next day so ordered two main courses which didn't raise any questions or concerns from the extremely friendly and attentive waitress. When the food came, the carbonara for both my girlfriend and I was delicious, and avoided the common issue of being extremely light on pancetta. It was cream-based, so not entirely authentic for the purists, but fantastic nonetheless. I also had the lasagne, which was very enjoyable, although I wish I had saved some bread to mop up the additional sauce. The desserts were probably where the meal really shone. My girlfriend's orange panna cotta was creamy and beautifully infused with orange flavour and enhanced by fresh orange slices. I had the chocolate mousse which was rich but silky smooth. Dover isn't somewhere that we ever really plan on staying, but if ever I find myself nearby, I'll definitely be heading straight to Il Rustico.

First time at this restaurant. Went with extended family. Something for everyone, food and service were excellent. Incredible value for money. Definitely going to be visiting again.

Quiet as it was a Monday evening, the food and service were excellent.

I went to Dover a couple of days last week. The pizza was great and the mussels were very good! They have a lovely staff, great place to stop by!

Family birthday celebrations,booked at last minute,food exceptional,service even better . If your in Dover please visit this fantastic restaurant. One note No children's menu !

Staff were friendly and welcoming on arrival. They let us pick where we would like to sit. Nicely laid out tables with a rose. Food was delicious, I had the salmon and asparagus tagliatelle. Food was piping hot and full of flavour. Two steps up to the toilets but they do have a disabled toilet if you can manage the two steps. Great food for a great price.

Good atmosphere. Decent food. The only thing I am not satisfied is portion size. Portion sizes are too small.

Lovely Italian restaurant. Simple Italian dishes done well. Reasonably priced and good service.

Lovely family run Italian! Food was really good! Great value for your money will definitely be back to work my way through the menu!!! Pizza looks amazing!!

Myself and my partner booked here for a Valentines eve meal as we had heard good things about it, and were not disappointed! Quaint little restaurant, with very attentive and fast service from all staff. We were sat immediately, and our food and drinks came very quickly, within 10min! Which was surprising as they seemed rather busy on the eve. The restaurant owner took time to come to check on us a few times to make sure all was ok, and interact with his customers. The Carbonara and Bolognaise pasta was delicious, as was the Tiramisu. We were pleasantly surprised at the price too, very good for high quality food. We will definitely be coming again soon!

Beautiful food with excellent service. Everything about this place was excellent, the decor, the atmosphere, the food and the wine. Our starters came out quickly and were delicious. The mushroom risotto my wife had was scrumptious and my spicy pizza was thin, crispy and cooked to perfection. Highly recommended this Italian.