Ilvino in East Hertfordshire

I don’t know why this restaurant has ratings this high. We were excited to go to a real Italian restaurant but it turned out it wasn’t. We ordered burrata and focaccia for starters. The burrata was NOT burrata, it was Mozarella. The focaccia was thin pizza dough with herbs on it. Really thin. The pizza was doughey, and my partner ordered a mushroom pasta which looked like a Tesco meal deal dish. The waiters were nice and atmosphere was good, but I can’t give any more than 3 stars.

It's a great restaurant! The pizzas are to live for! It has a parking lot very close by so it's very easy to get there by car. The atmosphere is also very cosy and inviting. We will definitely be back many many times!

Cancelled order and no details why. Was via go getters who rang to inform me. Said they tried to call them to find out details but no answer.

Wow what a fantastic meal I had tonight the food was delicious and the staff were so friendly I recommend it to anyone

I came here for the first time a few weeks ago for my birthday and it did not disappoint. The overall atmosphere was great and the food was 10/10. We stayed until close and didn’t feel at all rushed out or unwelcome, our server Eliza was the best ☺️

Another excellent meal enjoyed by all the family

Had a great time at this restaurant today. The food was reasonably priced, delicious and served quickly, our hostess Eliza was very warm and friendly. We will be coming back very soon!

Had a great early father's day meal really enjoyed the seafood pasta

Wanted to have a authentic local Italian which was good value for money and that we found! Was met by attentive i want to say owner/manager and sat to a table of our choice. I had to start aricini balls, partner had mushrooms al funghi we washed them down with a nice cold bottle of peroni and a large sauvignon with ice. Mains i we had a calzone and she had a romana pizza ,calzone was heaving with good quality ingredients! As was the romana we even had to take away some pizza as was very good sizes. Staff was lovely and very helpfull and attentive, we will be back! The manager/owner even walked us to the door and shook our hands what more could you ask for! Well done to you all 😃

Food was delicious and service was great

I visited today with two friends, the food was delicious and staff were attentive and friendly. Lovely atmosphere and will definitely go again.

I visit Ilvino at least twice a month and always find the food and service pretty good.

We didn't have a reservation. It was a busy Saturday evening service, but we were not turned away and welcomed as a table of 5 and made space for us. The food was fresh and delicious, empty plates all round. Will be returning, ensuing next time we reserve a table.

The service and restaurant was great however I was really disappointed at the quality of food which was served . The website shows as the pasta is made fresh and in-house but pasta had no sense of freshness in it even the sauce used was not home-made .

We’ve always been a regular customer in this restaurant and I’ve even advised it to friends, until tonight. The quality of food has very badly changed, my pizza was missing some important ingredients and didn’t taste nice, my daughter who has always loved the bolognese told me that it’s not good! The worst is when I asked for some Parmesan for a second time and the waitress told me that she has given me more than usual and I had to pay for it!!! I’ve never been asked to pay extra for some grated Parmesan!! Extremely disappointed at the waitress attitude, even though she took off £2 for all the missing ingredients on my pizza. This is how a good restaurant goes down…!

My gf and I had a great time here. The staff were really nice and the food / drinks were great. The food took slightly longer to come out but it was a busy friday night.

We were a family of weary people, delayed & diverted due to a crash on the M25 & stumbled across this place. Obviously we hadn't pre-booked on a busy Friday night, but they squeezed us in and everything was just fabulous. Thanks guys

Waited 1.5 hours for food. When we asked after an hour if we could have anything we have been asked if cannot see that the restaurant is busy tonight

Food was hot and served quick, service friendly and so comfortable. Lovely place for dinner!

Staff were very nice , but the food wasn’t, chicken in breadcrumbs was so dry and over cooked my partners was the same , been in twice now , but will not be going back😐

Waited 45 minutes for starters, then extra 35 minutes for main meal, then 47 minutes to get desert ordered, no apologies for making us wait understaffed to much waiting time, not sure if we will return 4/10 for tonight's dinner

This restaurant used to be amazing, authentic Italian food and rustic atmosphere. This was the first time we have visited since it’s re-opening, and have to say we were disappointed. Menu choice has been reduced, the starters were average as was the desert (I passed on both) and the mains were bland and lacking flavour. It’s such a shame as this was one of our favourite places to eat in Hertford. The restaurant itself feels a little soulless and whilst the staff were polite and friendly, the constant hovering around the table was off putting and intrusive. We even got asked if we would like to pay the bill twice after we had paid it but were finishing our wine. Overall, we would not recommend it this time, real shame.

Excellent meal and lovely staff. Our daughter had a pizza and my husband and myself both had pasta dishes. All were absolutely lovely. Desserts were great too. The staff here were great, very attentive....a really nice relaxed meal with a great atmosphere. Thank you.

Aranchini was served with watery tomato and not much flavour. My seafood risotto had clearly frozen calamari and not much taste either! Very expensive for food like this, the music kept making crackling noises and flickering lights! However staff were lovely and attentive.

Awful doesn’t even sum this up. Food was poor and there is clearly issues between management and staff. Shame.

Food was lovely and good range on the menu. Great service. Will go back

We had the 2 course lunch special which was enjoyable. Bruschetta was nice with good amount of toppings. Ham and mushroom pizza was good but could have had more tomato sauce on the base. Definitely will come back to try more on the menu.

Lovely restaurant in a great location, very family friendly

Delicious food, service was superb and the waiter very knowledgeable and helpful

Excellent local restaurant. Fresh good food. Sensibly priced. The staff here are the best. Really. Be nice, and you won't be disappointed.

Very pleasant evening was spent in the restaurant.

Food and wine is die for, super place for a table for two on a Friday night and date night

Had a good meal here, but the food seemed more along the lines of a chain. I had expected something more authentic or different to they usual standard offerings.

Excellent Italian restaurant with a great atmosphere. Service is good, food is delicious, very authentic

Food banged. Great taste and portion. Kids loved it. Great options

Excellent experience! 7 of us ate here on Saturday evening. Staff were super friendly. Food was delicious. We weren't rushed to eat amd leave. We were not cajoled into buying drinks like some places. Plenty of time between each course. Lovely atmosphere. Highly recommend.

Lovely Italian food and wine 🍷 staff friendly

We have eaten at Il Vino many times but this was our first time back after the refurb. The only good thing was the garlic and cheese bread! The arancini wasn't breadcrumbed and seemed as though it had been rolled in flour then baked? A strange soft wrinkly outer coating. Vile. I had the chicken milanese which was incredibly dry and tasted like overcooked fried chicken. I could barely cut it. My partner's lasagne was cheap and artificial tasting. We will give it a wide berth for a while now but pls sort it out, the place used to be great!

Great quality food, staff were excellent, reasonably priced. Only downside - when trying to book online stated that that restaurant full at 7 pm when it clearly wasn't on our arrival ?

Food and service ok. seating a little 'old'. As marked, food ok which is what one wants!!

Wanted to revisit since the refurb and to see if we can find an autentic Italian in Hertford. English staff, indian chef in the kitchen and french music - was about as Italian as a Chicken Jalfrezi sadly. Staff all very friendly nonetheless and a cracking bottle of red wine - Solare at a reasonable price. The seafood risotto was meant to be in a tomato sauce but as you will see in the photo it sat in a very Al dente, very heavily peppered fish broth with no sign or taste of tomato. A rissoto shouldnt come out in 20 minutes surely? Unfortunatly our check back came with a few mouthfuls left with a waitress saying "take it all ok still" as she ran into the kitchen before we could even have a polite word. I was hoping to have emailed privatly but there is no email on website or google. Would go back and give it another go as its so local but shame not to experience anything remotly Italian, as something Hertford doesnt have !!!!

I went there a few times after the re-opening. Its always a lovely experience. The calamari is the best I’ve had in a long time. The pizza is always amazing (last time I’ve had the special of the day - goat cheese, caramelised onions rocket and it was a delicious choice). The chicken with mushrooms and fries is also one of my favourites. The Tiramisu is very very good. Last time I had a Creme brûlée and it was delicious. It’s a lovely and cozy place. In my opinion it’s better after the refurbishment, it looks lighter and very romantic. I also really enjoyed the italian music that was playing. Will definitely keep coming back!

I went to Ilvino with my family last week for dinner. Food was amazing, staff very welcoming and friendly. We had a nice time there and we really enjoyed, Thank you so much and we definitely will come back always.

We used to eat here a lot it was lovely, never had a bad meal and good value. That was until yesterday. It’s been done up and looks nice although it’s lost it’s more rustic charm. They have reduced the menu significantly and have no specials. My favourite dish is gone. The food was really bland. The antipasto was okay but very average and minimal. I had the chicken pesto which is usually really flavoursome but was really bland I left a lot. Mum had the the fettuccine which had an odd curry flavour and was really not very nice she left half of it but ate the fish. Dad had the homemade lasagna which you would think you can go wrong with but was really over done with the tomato sauce. Dad loved his pannacotta but the other deserts were ok. The service is really friendly. Such a shame.

This is a lovely pizza & pasta casual place, if you want pizza & pasta. Previously this was a restaurant with a wider selection of food, a specials board, and an extensive wine list. It is no longer that restaurant, though it has kept the same name. Very recently it changed to be a pizza/pasta joint. Which is fine, We just didn’t know how much it had changed, so our visit was disappointing for that reason only. If we had known it was pasta & pizza, and we had wanted to go out to have pasta & pizza, we would have been very happy with it. We personally however will miss the old Ilvino restaurant, it was, before this revamp, one of our favorite restaurants in Hertford.

Lovely meal last night. Nice atmosphere and service was excellent

Recently refurbished very nice although very sad that the oak beams have been painted white. Food average garlic bread not very garlicky and very over priced. Brie starter lovely Lasagne very tasty Chicken pesto pasta average Not too bad although I think as usual Italian food very over priced

Excellent food and good service from the waitress.

Food is average, food was cold when it came. Nothing to write home about unfortunately.

Been to resturant loads of times and my last visit was as great food as always. I understand they had a staff shortage and the waiting staff were excellent, my only criticism was the length of time we had to wait, but the wait was well worth it as the food was excellent. Cant wait for my next visit. Sorry about the low mark but the wait really was a long wait.

I have eaten here a few times before but my last visit was disappointing. We had to wait for our table to be laid out. Minus a fork. Pepper but no salt. We ordered drinks, my first two choices of wine, unavailable. Food was just OK. Our Brie in breadcrumbs seemed to have no breadcrumbs and the accompanying onion marmalade was a best a thimble full. We skipped dessert but were both intending to have coffee to finish only to hear the machine wasn't working! We were informed that the restaurant is closing for refurbishment so hopefully this might be the reason things were, as I said disappointing.

I love Il Vino - the food is great and the staff are lovely. A very homely atmosphere makes this one of my favourite restaurants.

We had a good meal at Ilvino. The waiting staff are really friendly and the food is reasonably good. Unfortunately the manager spoke to us in a shockingly bad way when we politely asked for the music to be turned down as my mother has tinnitus. It’s a real shame as we’ve visited before but will definitely avoid going forward.

Just OK is the only way I can discribe it. Unfortunately the service was very slow, the risotto was a bit sloppy but tasted good. The spicy sausage linguine was a confusing dish. We both love Italian food and was very underwhelmed I'm afraid. We then got given the wrong bill, and to compensate us for this mistake they brought us 2 lemon cello which would maybe be great for others but considering we had no alcohol with our meal should have been an indication you should ask before bringing alcohol to the table. My partner is a recovering alcoholic. Not great to have to explain this at the table with close proximity to 2 other tables.

We visit Ilvino often with my fiancée as we really enjoy the food, drinks, and the amazing friendly staff! Special thank you to Martin and Julia for looking after us. Can't recommend this place enough!! See you soon again xx Saija and Adam

Great location, well presented restaurant, friendly and helpful staff, and competitive prices!

Delicious food and friendly service

Meet up with work colleagues. Staff nice, food OK, service a little slow

We stumbled across Il Vino during a business trip. We got our coffees from here first thing and we were tempted back for lunch by the delicious looking focaccia’s and fresh pastries! Lovey owners, excellent menu (all available to take away!) and very good value...

Really rude manager . Music at back end of restaurant was really loud as there is no speaker at front end . The manager refused rudely to turn it down . Food was not that great and the service poor

A little piece of Italy in Hertford! Lovely staff and fantastic food, not my first visit and definitely won't be my last 5*****

Staff very friendly! Food amazing, defo returning soon

Very nice food at very reasonable price.

Really enjoyed my meal. Definitely worth a try.

Great little place with lovely staff. The food we all had was ace. One request would be to build some sort of internal porch to stop the cold from getting in. The door was opened quite frequently and on a cold November evening most of our party donned their coats after about 30mins after we arrived.

Very nice food and friendly service 👌 for my family and my son birthday 🎂

Absolutely sensational food and phenomenal staff. Incredibly accommodating and friendly. Genuinely could not ask for anything more. They turned the worst evening experience from another restaurant into the most magical evening. I cannot thank them all enough. The food and drinks were great value and wonderfully portioned and everything tasted top notch. Party of six all very satisfied. THANK YOU ILVINO

So lovely place to be,amazing staff,great pizza...if I had 10 stars I would give them all :)

Lovely atmosphere and the food was excellent. Perhaps need more staff.

Very nice authentic Italian in Hertford. Little family run business. Food was delightful!

Incredible authentic Italian food. Friendly staff and great atmosphere. Beats all the usual chain restaurants hands down. Can't wait to go back!

Appealing and enjoyable centrally located cafe. Coffee is good , and their canoli, and pannis are tasty. The staff do t appear to be happy here; service with a smile would improve things more!

Very good service and superb food

Pizzas were the highlight for me. Pastas are great too but the pizzas slightly beat them in my opinion. Staff were very friendly and the restaurant has a nice cosy feel. Highly recommended.

Nice food & coffee, good service!

Only use them for takeaway. Best takeaway pizza in town

Saw this restaurant as I drove by and was interested as it looked really quaint and cosy. Took a spontaneous trip here on Tuesday evening and was delighted! The restaurant itself is very cosy and has an authentic Italian feel to it and the staff...

Been loads of times always good food and service.

Fantastic atmosphere and my husband loved the Italian music

A nice experience in difficult times. The food was good but the service really good and tried very hard. Price as expected.

3 of us ate. The Risotto sauce and the Seafood pasta sauce was not as advertised and were obviously from a bottle. Poor quality food. Obviously no chef, not good.

Was ordering food from this restaurant for collection 2/3 times a week since we wasn’t allowed to sit inside supporting my small local business, only to ring last night after a few days of people being allowed back in to dine and apparently they had run out of pizza so had to go elsewhere just want to say thanks very much excellent customer service I’ve been sitting in and taking away from you guys for years no loyalty whatsoever, will never be using you guys again and will be telling everyone I know not to use you aswell disgusting 👍🏻

Only had a table here a couple of times but during lock down we have frequently had take-away and we love it. Great quality food, great service.

Lovely food and even better service!

So I went hear with my girlfriend a few weeks ago and I love it, had no problem making me something that wasn't on the menu. Great service and food was fantastic. Highly recommend

First time customers and we’ll definitely be back again in future - delicious take away pizzas, friendly service, highly recommended!

Last minute decision to order a takeaway from Il Vino and it was delicious. 2 pizzas and a garlic bread - pizzas were amazing, less keen on the garlic bread but still nice. Most impressed with how quick they were - 15 minutes from phone...

This is my favourite Italian restaurant in and around Hertford. So pleased that they now deliver.

Very nice italian restaurant nice surroundings nice meal

Cracking pizza, lovely relaxed atmosphere, plenty of space, efficient and really friendly service - just perfect

Went here using the dine out to help out. Wide selection of food and reasonably priced. Food was of really good quality and tasted superb. Nice decor and really attentive staff. Would recommend the cocktails.

My husband and myself dined here tonight on the government scheme for the first time since moving to Hertford. We had the gamberoni piccanti to start with garlic bread. Followed by the aubergine parmigiana and the tagliatelle alla livornese! The service and atmosphere was absolutely...

Came here as part of the eat out to help out with my partner and we LOVED it. I had the homemade lasagna and homemade tiramisu and it was truly amazing. Service was lovely with a delightful waitress too. Couldn’t have asked for a better...

Great food, good value, nice staff

Ordered a takeaway with family on the lockdown - GREAT value for money - food fresh tasty and did not hold back on portion size - this one is down for a return defo !!!!!

Amazing service and the best pizza in town!

Nice food and friendly staff, nothing amazing but great local Italian. Good set menu deals too that wasn't aware of prior to going!

Very nice food. Service was great. But as its an old building it does feel a little cramped

Had a pizza very nice staff friendly

Lovely ambience,background music and food. Would recommend.