Pesto at the Axe And Compass in Rugby

A first visit here on a Wednesday lunchtime following some recommendations from friends. We were not disappointed and the food arrived quickly considering it was busy. Staff were friendly and helpful. Will return soon! Best to book which is very simple online!

Been here a number of times & noticed going slightly downhill each time. On entering the restaurant it felt cold & we were sat next to a window which had quite a bit of black mould on the framework. The radiator was not turned on so we put it on & that was better. We ordered some drinks whilst we looked at the very large menu. We ordered 6 dishes between us but they looked like they had just come out of the microwave or deep fat fryer & dumped in the dishes, there was no garnish on anything. The plates were already on the table & were stone cold & you didn't know who had been touching them or coughing or sneezing over them. The 3 miniscule pieces of asparagus in the salmon pasta was sliced so thinly I originally thought it was a spring onion, the chicken skewers were dry & tough & everything was just luke warm, making it even worse on a cold plate. We ordered 2 more cocktails but were not impressed again. This place is due to be taken over so hopefully that will improve it but as is stands we won't be returning.

I haven’t been to this place in around 10 ten years but we decided to go for my birthday as it’s only round the corner. I was more than a pleasantly surprised! Food was lovely with plenty of choice of tapas. The service was very quick and friendly but above all it was really good value, 2 lots of tapas (3 plates each), 2 deserts and cocktails for just over £50. We will be returning soon, it is way better value than a lot of other local restaurants!

Great evening at Pesto’s , great atmosphere and attentive staff made our evening very pleasant Highly recommend, massive menu and excellent quality

Excellent lunch with friends. Lovely delicious plates of food and service was fantastic. Highly recommend

Marvellous food, prompt and courteous service.

Pesto is my absolute favourite!! The food never disappoints. I love the fact that it's an Italian tapas, it's very original. You can order larger main dishes of each option if you wish. The dishes are small but mighty and full of flavour! I introduced my half Italian fella to Pesto, and he was very impressed. I love the style of all of their restaurants. They have a rustic, authentic Italian style that feels homely and cosy, despite their restaurants being quite big. My go-to dishes are always the little diced potatoes with garlic and olives - stunning! The chicken thighs, and the brusheta in any flavour (but the mushroom is my fave) My daughter LOVES their salmon and asparagus pasta. Although you may think the portions look small, they are really filling! I always get excited and over order (normally 4 dishes), but I struggle to finish them and end up taking it home. I've recommended Pesto to so many people now.

Google says 10.30pm close , walked in at 8.26pm , place half empty, asked if we could get a table for 3 , got told no, said Im happy to order straight away, went to ask manager still said no, fuming when I’m starving and wanted to give them money to feed us. This type of business mentality deserve to go under when they turn away easy money.

I have visited many times and whilst I can’t fault the food at all, there is one particular waiter who has been quite rude every visit. We have noticed that he begs for tips and if you don’t tip him, he questions why, and when you do, he questions why he didn’t receive enough. In our recent visit, we gave a £6 tip without him having to ask, but after he was looking at our receipt and asked us where the rest was and saying that we hadn’t tipped enough. We have noticed him do it to several tables every visit now.

Great food, busy restaurant with vibrant atmosphere.

Service excellent and food top quality and nice and easy to get to, alysha was a great waitress asking was our food good best place around the area

I've been coming to Pesto's for a while now. The food is delicious and not overly priced. Service is always good, and the atmosphere is nice and relaxed. I've been here on various days at various times, and it's always busy! That tells you something! Give it a go, you won't be disappointed 🙂

Great food, quick and friendly service

I popped in tonight on my own after playing golf had the prawns lightly fried with mayonnaise slice lemon cubed fried potatoes 🥔 lovely 😍

Lovely food and excellent service as always.

Fantastic food and service can’t wait to come back

Not the best Pesto I've been to, was quite disappointed. We were greeted to leaves and food on the floor around the entrance and bar, cobwebs and bugs flying around our table (which was surprising in October). The food was ok, but nothing to brag about. Out of 6 dishes the only memorable ones were the fried chicken and garlic mushrooms. The service was just ok. I asked for the gin menu and was handed one for wines. Had to ask 3 times before I got it. Dont think we'll be going back to this Pesto again.

Me and my family always go here, lovely service, staff and food!

Always a pleasure visiting this restaurant for food! Always the best service and always a hard decision deciding what to choose to eat. Perfect for date night or a girlie catch up.

An Italian take on Tapas, and it works very well. Good food, well thought out menu, fast service and great staff

Stunning food, the choice, and quality are amazing. Tapas style food. It's worth every penny. I can see why you need to book.

Check out the brownie if you can find it on your plate

Great meal with friends, love the Axe & Compass, beautiful food, great atmosphere and really pleasant and friendly atmosphere. Lots to chose from, one of the best caprese salads outside of Italy 🇮🇹 meatballs are amazing with that spicy twist! Well worth the short trip from Hinckley or Coventry if your in the area, we travel over from Northampton it’s that good and we don’t have anything like Pesto closer! Love the flavours and six for two is well worth the experience! I always want to order more but we never leave hungry. Plenty of parking and if your stopping in the Hinckley Island it’s £6 in an Uber so you really can enjoy a taste of Italy whilst enjoying the Midlands countryside 🤣

Good choice of Italian tapas. Dishes update from time to time.

Very delicious food 😋 recommend anyone Can't wait to be back

It was our wedding anniversary, service was diabolical and we didn’t get a reasonable table. We had to go to the bar to request for a waiter to come over to our table everty time we wanted to order something. I would never come here again and would not recommend anyone to come to this particular restaurant.

Great for a lunchtime meeting with friends. Unique concept. Tasty food and good value.

Went here for the first time on Tuesday evening & very impressed & will definitely go again. The food was amazing, the staff very helpful & providing a great service. The only thing that let it down was that it was packed at 17:30 & extremely loud; so loud it was difficult to hear yourself, let alone anyone else. I'd go again, but on a quieter day or earlier to avoid the rush

Went today with my wife, have been before, very good service and ambience was warm and inviting. Food was of good standard and quality. Its tapas style so I'd say 70% size of what would be a full meal but that's one of the best bits you can pick and choose whay to try. If one isn't 100% for one person they can share and mix it up with this less waste and more likely to enjoy the meal despite one dish not to full 100(not for us this time we enjoyed all the food provided, but in general I'm saying) Welcoming staff, the waitress and waiters for us today was great as it was last few times we've been in. Fair amount of selection of food and wait times reasonable for such a clean and well look after environment. Would recommend their belly pork, and their breaded lemon Chicken thighs and their Brownie. Good restuarant for the local area very much appreciate the variety change from just burgers , kebab, kfc ranges.

We love Pesto's...everything about the establishment is bang on. The menu is amazing, service is perfect, our order was on the table within 15 minutes...and it's dog friendly which is great for us. Our Llasa - Indiee, loves visiting Pesto's with us, and the staff remember her and make a lovely fuss of her...we will be back over Christmas.

Staff are very welcoming, knowledgeable and attentive. Fabulous menu, good prices and plenty to choose from.Food was absolutely devine.Very clean all round, definitely a place to return to if you want great food,atmosphere,cleanliness and service.

Absolutely fantastic night out. Being tapas it’s great to get quite a few things and share them so you don’t waste a dish if you’re not too keen on it. Food was hot, fresh and tasted amazing. Service was great until we received desert menus and then had to wait 20 mins to order the desert but the place was packed out.

Well I still don't understand the menu quite, but that's been fine for the two visits I've had so far as it just means I get a nice surprise when it arrives. Honestly I do love this place, but so popular you have to book. Definitely a fan.

Good value in the week , great service

Always guaranteed a great meal , reasonable prices , No gambles here , a great eatery

Excellent service, always happy to advise. the food is excellent, well worth a visit xx

Went last night ,very busy place ,service was outstanding, food was ok ,(not my ideal meal Scenario TAPAS) D.F

Really good tapas Italian with good service and a nice garden area.

Great experience, friendly & efficient staff and the food was amazing. Would highly recommend.

celebrated my Birthday here and it was perfect

Great service food and atmosphere. The staff were attentive and very helpful.

The food here is always delicious along with excellent service. We had the tapas which was cooked to perfection.

Great restaurant, delicious food

Fab italian tapas! Portions seem to be getting smaller but overall quality still good. Service is hit and miss

Been eating here twice a month for 6 years .The consistency of the food and service in this place is quite frankly astonishing.Never had a bad meal and never not had exceptional service.

Love this restaurant food is delicious

Well priced, staff where available and help when asking questions about menu.

Great Italian experience with smaller samples of popular dishes at reasonable prices. Good location and ample car parking

Very busy but services was excellent 👌 and food was great

Busy as ever but good to sit outside in the little sunshine we had this year

Absolutely great food super service

Ànd yet another great lunch here at this restaurant with it's delicious food, great value for money & excellent table service from Emily. This is why we return repeatedly & are happy to introduce/recommend to friends & family. Thank you!

Had never heard of this place and loved the whole thing.

This place is lush. The food is amazing and the service is very nice. Too bad that today the waiter got offended by my 2 pounds tip. I struggle to have a decent life and I can afford to go out once per month and I usually go here because I love the food. The waiter telling me to not bother because is nothing was very disappointing. He laught when we left .I usually leave a bit more but not every month this is possible.

My partner & I enjoyed a lovely birthday meal. Made even more special by our Romanian waitress. Highly recommended.

This place has an interesting and different food service idea ... all your favourite Italian dishes, but served Tapas style ... brilliant! The menu is huge and contains all your favourite dishes. On the fixed-price menu you choose 3 dishes for your main meal. If you want a different number, you can choose whatever combination you like from the A La Carte menu. Simples. I went for a 6" pizza, carbonara and chicken/bacon in a creamy garlic/white wine sauce. All were delicious, although a couple of the dishes were not that hot. There's enough food on each plate to enjoy the dish, without getting bored with a whole plate-full. The desert menu again, has some great choices at reasonable prices. This is a very ethical and customer focused business. I politely mentioned that my food was not hot and the Maître D immediately removed them from the bill, no quibble. They also group the dishes you have by price-band so you pay the lowest charge across your table. This is BRILLIANT CUSTOMER SERVICE; I commend them and highly recommend you go enjoy their hospitality.

We had the most amazing meal here! It was a difficult choice choosing from the menu as all the dishes sounded incredible. I was really impressed with how knowledge the staff were, especially as my husband has food allergies. The food was delicious, and we both left feeling full and pleased we had treated ourselves to a nice lunch at Pestos!

Very tasty food. Suggest! Try out what's new on the eday card. Superb mood cheap food. Very very tasty menu!

The food is excellent and there is a wide variety of dishes. The staff are very polite and friendly. The service is excellent upon arrival, but can be a little slow after you have finished your meal; we had to request for our table to be cleared, for a dessert menu and then for the bill. Overall well worth a visit and we would definitely return.

What a wonderful find! We popped in on our journey from the North of England to the South hoping for something small and edible. We discovered a great selection of small plates of fresh food. We had five dishes and all were delicious. We were served by charming cheerful staff who looked after us beautifully from the minute we stepped in the door. We shall return!

A bit too salty and spicy food , not proper Italian Nice portion's size Cozy pub atmosphere

Outstanding Food, Service, Menu and Ambiance. Was served by Lydia who was very polite and helpful throughout our dining experience. Highly rated for Tapas style Italian!!

Don't really understand why so many 5* reviews. We've been twice and both times were not good. Over £9 for a 250ml sauvignon blanc is totally unreasonable. The prawns in batter were not cooked, batter was gooey inside; the meatballs were more spicy than Italian, the chicken skewers were dry. Sound deadening materials would help the "barn like" noisy feel to the restaurant (Tuesday lunchtime!). Not a place to have a good meal and conversation. We won't be back.

Such lovely food value quality and services

Great service, bang on food. Will go again. Group meal, festa menu, really well done. Piping hot and very tasty, everyone happy.

Great birthday meal, first time since precovid days that we have been back. Great to see it still amazing staff and service food and atmosphere. Thankyou all for making a greay celebration as it was a double 70th, but so many birthdays were being celebrated tonight.

Pesto never fails to impress. Fabulous food, lovely staff and great value. Thoroughly recommended.

Excellent food, service, staff were lovely. A lovely afternoon dining in the outside space. Highly recommended.

Food was great, staff seemed short handed as it took quite a while, I had to go and remind them after.30 minutes we had ordered drinks and were still waiting for them.

My wife and I visit every six weeks, and always request a certain table. Today is our 19th Wedding Anniversary and we came for lunch to celebrate. As usual, our favourite table had been reserved. Our usual server, Molly was her usual professional self and nothing was too much trouble. As always, food was superb and no criticism aimed at the kitchen at all. Just short of a ton, but money well spent at an establishment that genuinely delivers a 5* service. Looking forward to our next visit.

Lovely food a great place to go and share the different selections

Great food and wonderful service from food serving staff, bar staff are another story, ordered a pint of cider and it was not full, said nothing about it, went and got another pint and there was even less in it than the first, aske politely for it to be topped up and got such a luck of the barmaid, she proceeded to add literally 2/3 extra drops in the glass, I got such a look off her I couldn’t be bothered to asked again for it to be a full pint, never experienced this before at pesto.

Very good all round, lovely place to eat, we have been a few times now , There were 4 of us eating.

Absolutely amazing food every time as you can see by the empty plates. Even better value when you get the early bird deal!

Pesto is extremely popular and you will be lucky to get a table and while we were there, people were clearly enjoying themselves in the hectic, buzzy atmosphere (Saturday) that's fine - but as a couple, it was difficult to have a conversation. About the food, the only Italian aspect was the names they gave to dishes. The menu is just too big for anything to be properly cooked. We ordered 8 and none was remotely authentic (I have lived and worked in Italy) However, the customers were clearly happy and that's the main thing, I 'spose. Prices are reasonable, it has to be said and I notice a former reviewer mentioned that it made a change from MacDs or KFC. That says quite a bit. It's unfortunate that we expected something which this place definitely is NOT.. ie Italian! Top marks to our waiter Nickolai and other the staff - working flat out but still very attentive.

Great place to eat and chat. Lovely buzzy atmosphere. Food is delicious

Decent restaurant, worth a visit. Dishes all very tasty, some amazing, some good. Helpful staff, well priced. My only recommendation to get to 5* would probably be to actually reduce the offering slightly and increase focus on the remaining menu. A few dishes were good and could have been great. Overall very enjoyable and will visit again. (been 3 times in 3 years).

Great food , great fast service. Excellent meal. Thank you.

I've been to a number of 'Pesto at' locations and they are always the same... amazing! And the Axe and Compass was no different. I was dining alone on a Sunday lunchtime and there was no issue about being getting a table. The service was amazing and the food was delicious!

I recently dined at Pesto and had an overall enjoyable experience. The food was absolutely delicious, and every dish was flavorful and well-prepared. The staff were very friendly and provided excellent service throughout the meal. The prices were reasonable, and the fact that you are enjoying many little portions but enormous ammount of flavours and tastes and amt the end of them all you definitely feel stuffed. The atmosphere was pleasant, making it a good place to relax and enjoy a meal. Waiting time - our food would arrive in around 15 minutes, This was really nice, and the quality of all food i cant stop mentioning how great it was. Overall, I had a great experience at this restaurant and would definitely consider going back again. If you’re looking for a great place to eat, Pesto is worth considering for sure.

This is the best concept, the dishes are all fantastic and being able to try different dishes you never thought you would like is fantastic. Make sure you visit if you ever get the chance

Lovely food, fantastic service

Great good great price, lovely garden when the sun's out.

Dan is an absolute pleasure. Easy to deal with and accommodating to the non ordinary. Thanks Dan!

Busy, but excellent sevice and food, value for money.

Fabulous food & service... highly recommended 👌🏻

Food was absolutely amazing. Definitely recommend to anyone looking for a fantastic meal and night out. Staff are very welcoming and friendly

Great food as always, service quick and staff are very friendly, food arrives in a quick manner but very well cooked, overall great experience, not my first time here. Come here multiple times a year for special occasions

Well worth the visit. Superb in all areas. Best birthday treat ive had so far. Be very hard to beat the lovely place

Very nice food, very good attentive servers. Very good all round experience.

Delicious food. My husband and I chose 4 dishes and were full of them. For children, junior menu price PLN 7.95 including 2 courses, drink and dessert. One big minus is that the table is too small for a family of 4 and there is no privacy. Tables too close together. It's always full of people, special events and it's not pleasant to eat there. Too loud. We would come back more often if it weren't for this.

Lovely service from Alyssa, thanks for looking after us! I’ve never seen anyone carry so many plates. The food was fantastic as always, so much to choose from and everything was wonderful 😄

I've visited here on a few occasions now. Lovely place to visit, and excellent food.

Really great food. Service was good, just a little slow. But .as that was the only small issue, I've no problem in recommending pesto.

Another wonderful meal had by all of us. Great food, great atmosphere and great service. It was as wonderful as ever. Staff are always as attentive as ever and the food is just delicious. Well done to everyone.

Excellent food, very friendly staff. Big shout out to Nickolai, who has been our waiter for our two recent visits. Extremely friendly, knowledgeable about the food and great approach to customer service

As always the food was of top quality and the choices were many and varied, the service was excellent with all of the staff we interacted with being helpful and friendly. Our waitress Molly explained how the menus worked as some of our party had not visited before and she made sure that our dining experience was good. The only negative comment is that the way the tables had been positioned made it difficult for my wife to sit down and leave the table at the end of the meal, a little more space between tables would make this easier. Will definitely visit again.

Great place to have a meal. Friendly staff and great food. Definitely recommend the Tiramisu

Fantastic place food is great 👍

Very nice food, tasty well cooked and presented. There are plenty of drinks options in a relaxed atmosphere.