Tavernetta Italian Restaurant in Ipswich

Went for our 2 year anniversary dinner and had a lovely time. The service is exceptional, you can tell the staff are very attentive and make sure everyone is happy and comfortable. The food was good, tasteful and filling. My husband loved his calzone. I had the calamari and seafood risotto and it was nice, I enjoyed it. The calamari was a bit chewy but I loved the sauce/dressing that came on the plate. Overall, it's a cozy place to have a nice dinner for a special occasion or just an evening out.

We ordered pizzas, pastas and sides for delivery to a corporate event for 40 persons, including gluten free options. Everything arrived on time (even though it was out of restaurant opening hours) and was delicious. The ordering was easy and we’d definitely source from the restaurant again. Thank you!

Lovely food and atmosphere. Great service. Will be back again for sure

Excellent food, staff and atmosphere. A must do visit if you want a good meal at reasonable prices.

Very nice food, people and drinks. Would recommend.

Love this restaurant. The food is always good & the chef and staff are friendly. I love the relaxed atmosphere. atmosfera molto buona!

First of all, let me start by saying this restaurant looks much more inviting today with its beautiful warm blueish green coloured walls with lovely dark wood furnishings.. Very cosy, compared to these photos that are used on this page.. Now about the dining experience this evening, it was absolutely fantastic... From the moment we arrived, table side service to the delicious starters to our main course.. My verification is superb in full... Just look at the photos I took to share.. Absolutely delicious...

If I could give it no stars I would. Group booking which booked out the whole restaurant. Pre ordered food but they didn’t have the correct order sheet and wrong food cooked (admittedly not their fault) and I waited 2 hours for my food which was badly cooked steak (allegedly fillet….not!) and the Gorgonzola sauce was spilt down my arm and burnt it (again not their fault but it was mayhem because of all the issues and food was not ‘served’ properly resulting in the spillage). They offered no help and my friends had to clean up and help me in the toilet (which was broken and some of us had to go to the pub opposite for toilet) many dishes sent back as inedible. All in all a very poor experience. I left before dessert as hungry and went to get a kebab!

As always, had a fantastic meal in a wonderful restaurant. Can't wait to visit again soon. On a sidenote, we'll done to the young waitress tonight who was on her 1st ever shift. She was so polite and helpful!

Everything about this restaurant was amazing. The food was out of this world. Service was great Paulo (I think was his name) was great funny and attentive. Would highly recommend this place and would definitely go back.

Amazing fresh ingredients, cooked beautifully. Best pizza in town. The guys here are always super friendly. Give it a go. You'll love it.

One of the best restaurants in Ipswich.

Great Place to eat and drink in Ipswich

Went here for dinner with friend, I am currently pregnant and the owners were fantastic and added little touches such as putting my apple juice in a wine glass As my friend ordered wine, and I ordered carbonara, and the chef came out and spoke to us and gave reassurance that the eggs are British and will be thoroughly cooked etc. The food is all made fresh, and chef came to us again and asked if we were ready for mains as he cooked in there and then. The decor was lovely and it was busy which was a good sign, but the tables were spaced enough that it wasn’t crowded. There was no rush to leave and just an overall fantastic experience. Definitely recommend.

Food wasn't great, service was ok.

We visited for dinner on a Friday night and it was understandably very popular. We both had a pasta dish my partner with a ragu and mine was with salmon. Both dishes were very good. There was good service, we would definitely visit again.

Just returned from having dined out at Tavernetta and felt compelled to write a review, to reflect the excellent experience there. We received a lovely genuine welcome on arrival and the 2 pizzas we ordered tasted absolutely amazing, the best we’ve had in a long time, with authentic rustic bases and top quality ingredients. We noticed food delivered to other tables looked extremely appetising too. We are here on holiday, otherwise this restaurant would be our ‘go to’ Italian of choice. We highly recommend a visit here.

Friend and I had an excellent meal on Friday 19th April 2023 - both had the steak with mushroom sauce, first rate. Highly recommended. Service excellent and 4/5 for atmosphere because it was a little quiet for a Friday. Well worth going.

Lovely atmosphere and great food

Absolutely my favourite place to eat in Suffolk. Fantastic food, delicious traditional Italian coffee, inviting atmosphere and 10/10 service. Will always come back time after time.

Bit cramped but would go again without the kids!!!

Very disappointing after reading the good reviews. I mentioned to the waiter that the top of the two lasagnas were burnt so couldn’t be eaten. He responded that they weren’t burnt. Not the comment I expected. Rude! The meal was expensive for what we had. I definitely wouldn’t recommend or return.

Took my daughter before the cinema. We ordered Focaccia to share for a starter. This was black on top and was just white bread (not Focaccia). It wasn't horrible but shouldn't have been charred on top. This was ordered as a starter, but after a few minutes the chef can out and told us our mains were ready so we had to have then straight away, which was fine as the bread wasn't very appetising. My daughter ordered tagliatelle ragu. We asked (and made clear ) that she didn't want Parmesan on it, but came covered in Parmesan. She mixed it in and ate as much as she could but didn't particularly enjoy it. I ordered the fillet steak. The steak was good and cooked exactly as I asked. The dish was served with brocoli and green beans. Some of the brocoli was brown and going off so I left this. The roast potato's were a waxy potato, so not as I would expect a roast potato to be. I have been to Ferarri's in Quorn (Leics) which is an excellent family run Italian- The roast potato's with steak there were perfect and a proper roasting potato so this is just a bad ingredient choice for Tavernetta. We decided to skip desert and go to Caspers in town before the cinema. The atmosphere is hard to comment on as we were early as our film started at 1810 and our table was booked for 5pm. The restraunt was empty apart from us. We did drive past later on the way home and it looked busy, and I'd imagine it would have a nice feeling when all tables full and it was nicely decorated. The fact we were there early probably didn't help as they were only just open. However, We didn't feel particularly welcome and the food seemed a bit of a chore to prepare for us, also being less than ideal quality. Prices were reasonable.

Oh dear, was really looking forward to this in quaint surroundings. Ordered the fillet steak, ( which arrived later than all the other meals) mushroom sauce was cold and tasteless, steak was small and chewy, (waiter admitted this when served and said would send out some more) politely complained, and meal was taken away. Then 2 slivers of steak arrived on small plate. I was given a new meal and started to eat the potatoes which were cold. I called FOH and asked him to taste it, this he did and said ' its cold ', and food was taken away. I declined anymore food as I was losing faith, the back of house guy was very apologetic and said potatoes had come from fridge! the FOH proceeded to completely ignore my table from then on and when bill was asked for I hadn't been charged, for which no apology was forthcoming and no goodbye, like it was my fault! Will not return, worst eating out experience in Ipswich or anywhere else for years.

This quaint little restaurant in Ipswich offered a very warm welcoming with classic Italian style music played to help the atmosphere. The hosts were welcoming and very friendly and immediately took us to our table. Food was served in a very timely manner and tasted amazing. They even double checked for any allergies upon delivering our ordered food. The only downside was the restaurant seemed (temperature) cold. Overall, a fantastic restaurant with beautiful tasting food at a reasonable price.

Filippo was so helpful over email, we had to move booking from 7:30 to 8:15, arrived and warmly greated, 10 min wait at bar with drink, as place packed, it is only small, but no hardship waiting, seated and Filippo again was great, both had Mozzarella in Carrozza to start, then Tagliatelle Al Ragu for hubby which he loved and Creamy Salmon (Tagliatelle with spinach in Creamy wine and garlic sauce) for me. Only gutted we were too full for desert! 10/10 on staff, atmosphere and food! Definitely a little gem that will be visited again.

The place itself is beautiful, the staff were all so friendly, and the food tasted so good! The portions were humongous. We wanted to get desert as the starters and mains were so enjoyable. However, simply did not have room for it! A lovely choice of drinks on the menu also.

thank you very much, it's really good and the best thing ever said to us by an Italian, thank you again😊

Honestly exceptional. I went for the king prawn starter and pepperoni pizza. Both were a 10 out of 10. Good menu, friendly and efficient service, and lovely food. Highly recommended.

Was here for my Christmas works meal on the 14th. The best pizza I’ve ever had! (I had the Carne), service was fantastic with all staff being incredibly friendly. Will definitely be returning in the future :D

Great friendly service, superb food, lovely place and people. Did I mention great value as well. Meal with some friends, made extra special by our choice of venue, will most definitely be back.

Pizza was pretty thick and stodgy, not the Italian-style that I'd been expecting from a place like this.

An outstanding Italian restaurant. Relaxed atmosphere, serving amazing food. The flavours are clean with fresh ingredients. I have been with my husband, with friends and as a family. Would highly recommend it

Superb meal here with work colleagues. Food was excellent. Helped that one of our group was Italian I suspect. Great night had by all.

First ever time visiting Tavernetta, amazing little place in the town centre.

Very enjoyable meal out with the wife. It definitely gave the atmosphere of a very traditionalist Italian restaurant. Staff were very friendly and gave great recommendations! Limoncello with the bill was a great touch. Will be returning.

Good choice, great food and service. Very authentic Italian food and large portions. Would return if in the area again.

Warm welcome and friendly and considerate service. Pizza was delicious. A perfect pre match meal stop on a Tuesday evening.

Beautiful food, attentive staff. Brilliant starters, main & dessert. Book table for Friday nights. £73 for meal for two. Food is delicious and so tasty. Atmosphere was terrific. Dessert was light and sweet. Wine very good coffe excellent.

just eat the food doesn't seem very good to me and it's perfect coming from me as I'm Sicilian thank you so much for being here it feels like home

Food is really authentic and delicious. Very fresh pizza and pasta! :)

Was recommended here by my family so while on holiday we decided to try it , beautiful restaurant really gives the feel of being in Sicily , the owner and chef are really friendly and deliver a great service , I had the T bone steak and my girlfriend had the fillet steak both cooked beautifully, we had whitebait and calamari to start both were lovely too , while we were in there eating we noticed the pizzas going out and they looked amazing so we came back the next night for a pizza takeaway and the pizzas are amazing too, thanks guys can’t wait to come back

The food was good enough. But the state of the toilets made me worry for the state of the kitchen. The place could do with a bit of tlc

Absolutely wonderful restaurant in Ipswich, the tiramisu and lasagna (meat and veggie) was spectacular! The service was faultless too! Would highly recommend.

Been twice here now and both times had fantastic food and great service. Definitely one of my favourites.

Delivered so late that pizza was cold

The food was lovely and the service was good but the restaurant was way too hot it was just so uncomfortably hot it made it difficult to enjoy the food.

Excellent food - the risotto with gorgonzola, walnut and pear was delicious. Great atmosphere and lovely staff.

What an incredible little place. Beautiful restaurant with some amazing high quality food. Highly reccomend!

So glad we found this place. I had the best Lasagna ever. Will definitely go back and definitely recommend!

Food was amazing, lovely, authentic restaurant, definitely go back and recommend

There really isn't anything good to say about this restaurant. I have rarely had poorer food or service. I would not recommend you go there.

Lovely last minute meal out. Delicious risotto and great friendly atmosphere and service from waitress and chef. Best Aperol Spritz in Ipswich

Abbiamo fatto le vacanze a Londra e per caso abbiamo trovato questo posticino incantevole, appena entrati ci ha accolto il proprietario, una persona fantastica ci ha messo subito a nostro agio ,abbiamo ordinato dalla carne alla pizza alla pasta e per finire al dolce , lo consiglio vivamente,se passo da Londra sicuramente passerò a trovarlo.

Consigliatissimo! Cena buonissima, posto accogliente, proprietario simpatico gentile e molto attento a tutto.

Lovely restaurant with a genuine family run feel. Staff made us feel very welcome and were attentive without being obtrusive. Food was delivered really quickly and tasted amazing! We will definitely be going back soon!

I looked at the meniu and not have all the time everything is on it

Good place to eat, food was lovely staff were struggling but did a great job I would highly recommend.

A hidden gem. Amazing food and friendly staff. I'm changing my birthday plans to come back here instead of the place we currently have booked!

The most delicious food in Ipswich. They truly take pride in cooking and you can really feel it. Excellent quality!

said by a Sicilian everything was very good thank you very much as always I feel like I am at home

Arrived on time for our booking at 17:30. Our first visit. A nice looking place. Friendly enough welcome and we were sat at our table and got drinks. The place was not busy at that point. We ordered a starter to share and different mains. The starter came up fairly quickly and was the biggest whitebait I’ve ever eaten, but it was hot and tasted okay. As we ate, two separate, larger groups came in. We’d barely finished the starter when the mains came up. My wife’s seafood risotto was nuclear hot and seemed microwaved. A number Muscle shells were broken and prawns were tough. I had the salmon with tagliatelle which was only warm and a bit bland. I had to get up and find the pepper, as the one member of staff was busy with the other tables. Even the chef came out at one point and helped serve the other tables. They were clearly short staffed. Food seemed rushed and we never got to have a second drink, as they never came back to the table, even after I’d asked for drinks at the bar. In the end we paid at the bar and left. A shame as it showed promise. Doubt we’ll be back.

Absolutely fantastic restaurant staff were amazing the food was gorgeous I would highly recommend you to try this place we will be returning next time we visit Ipswich

I don’t normally leave reviews but I had to for this restaurant! The food was amazing, generous portions & so tasty! I’ll definitely be ordering again :)

Friendly service, authentic and good food.

True Italian place approved by an Italian

Great meal here recently. 8 of us . Service excellent. Couldn't have done more. Food really good . I had brushetta and the lasagne. Delicious. Couldn't fault it and would recommend

I never leave reviews but on this occasion I had too. I couldn't recommend it more

as a Sicilian I say that everything was good thank you very much

Tavernetta has been one of mine and my partner’s favourite restaurants in Ipswich for a few years now, we always choose to dine here for special occasions ie birthdays, anniversaries, date nights etc I’ve have raved about the amazing food and service to many friends, family and clients in the past. The food is always incredible and cannot be faulted in any way, but the service in our last two visits has been poor. The last time we visited we got served our starter and main together due to the restaurant being busy and having other customers waiting for tables within 10 minutes of us being sat at our table, when we then asked for a short break due to being full before we ordered our desserts we were told no very sharply from the owner and that he needed us out to use our table although we had only been there for 30 minutes, we felt really uncomfortable and rushed, but we’re apologised to by another waiter and told not to rush, but by this point it was too late and we wanted to finish up and leave. We didn’t want this to put us off the restaurant because of how much we love coming here and enjoy the food, so we booked again for our anniversary. We had been gifted a gift voucher for Christmas from family for £75 which we intended to use towards our meal. Our total bill came to under the value of the voucher by a significant amount, even with having 3 courses and drinks, so when we went to pay with the voucher we expected to receive another voucher or a receipt with our remaining value on, this was not the case. We then politely asked the owner if we could have something to state our remaining voucher value, and was met by a very abrupt, patronising response of, no. When we questioned this response we were told, “it doesn’t work like that I don’t give cash back” and laughed at. No where on our voucher did it state the full value of the voucher had to be used at once and if it had been we would have happily ordered another round of drinks, and when the voucher was taken of us by the owner he should have informed us then too. Even if we had then have wanted to order another round of drinks or maybe some coffee it was to late as by this point our table was already being cleaned down and prepared for the next customers. We are disappointed, devastated and frustrated that we now do not feel comfortable enough to dine here again, as it honestly was our favourite local restaurant in Ipswich, we were made to feel uncomfortable, belittled and frowned upon for purely questioning the remaining amount of our voucher, really is such a shame.

Another fantastic meal. Even though the starter and the main course filled us up, we still felt the evening needed a dessert and coffee. Great value considering the portions and service. We were made to feel very welcome all evening and the atmosphere was great! Cannot recommend enough

This little diamond has an authentic feel to it, friendly staff, tasty food, at a sensible price. You could convince yourself you're in a restaurant in europe if you didn't know better. Shame there wasnt any beers on draft when we went but the bottles were nice enough.

A very cosy and buzzing atmosphere but the food fell far below standards, I only had a mushroom risotto but it was definitely missing something, probably just salt as it was so bland and disappointing. Service was OK except for the off hand rude comments when my husband asked for non alcoholic beer or tomato juice to drink as if he was some strange person for not wanting Real beer! My calamari starter was good but my husbands food was also a great disappointment to him. Best thing about our evening was catching up with old friends.

Really disappointing meal out . Service wise despite the staff being friendly , they were not very pro active. We had to ask for more drinks/general service. The food is cooked to order , but they clearly can't handle a full restaurant, with an hour wait between courses plus orders not being taken promptly . The starters on arrival were nice , but were not as warm as expected . After the plates were taken we were then asked if we would mind a 10 minute wait before mains . This 10 minutes turned out to be an hour in reality, and with very little in the way of apology. At one point , as I was looking towards some food being brought to another table , the chef called to me "yours is now in the oven". The mains (when they eventually arrived,) were a mixed bag , one pizza piping hot , pasta dishes just warm. My carbonara in particular was disappointing and tasted salty and lacked the creaminess I was expecting , resulting in me leaving most of my dish . Others in our party expressed that the food was nice enough , but certainly not worth the wait. The above resulted in us declining to see the dessert menu . I personally, will not be returning.

Lovely looking restaurant but unfortunately waited far too long to be offered drinks, waited even longer for food. When it did come out the pasta dishes were cold. Food was on par with prezzos. Not what I expected from a “proper” Italian/Sicilian restaurant.

Great Italian food and wonderful service

Fascistic place. Lovely staff. Arancini we're incredible. Pizzas and steak also.

Good food, friendly staff, and pleasant atmosphere, what is not to like. The central location in an old building is great. The staff were very keen to help us, and we're aware that we were having a boxing day treat and going to the football after lunch. They were very attentative and made sure we were served in time to see the game. A nice place

This restaurant has great reviews so thought we would try it. Whilst the staff are friendly, great ambiance and well situated, I cannot forgive the awful risotto which tasted like greasy stir fried rice! Where was the warming, thick tasty risotto that so many Italian restaurants do to perfection! On the positive side the cheese and meat sharing platter was good. Overall, for the price we paid I was sorely disappointed.

Delicious food although would have liked a bit more toppings on my pizza ;p Very lovely place with lovely atmosphere. Would come again :)

Very nice food, big portions, friendly staff and nice ambience. Recommended. Great! One of the best restaurants I have been to in Ipswich.

Lovely cosy Italian restaurant. Although the restaurant was full the staff were attentive and the whole experience was great. Food was authentic Italian ( no cream in the carbonara). Second visit. We will be back.

great atmosphere and ambience. dinner was quite a wait (but there were 9 of us), but not complaining as we had plenty to talk about (there were 9 of us). I had calzone and learned that calzone pizza dough is softer and less crispy than...

Had a lovely date night meal here a couple weeks ago, I'd been eyeing up this restaurant for a while and hadn't gotten around to booking in, I wish I hadn't waited. The starters were lovely, we both had calzones and they were packed full of toppings! The staff were very friendly and even asked if I'd like a substitution when I asked for no mushroom. We only took photos of the starters (caprese salad and whitebait), the caprese was very well presented. Very lovely atmosphere, and decor, would recommend to anyone looking for a nice (non chain) Italian in Ipswich!

Absolutely Fabulous 👌 Staff, Food and Service. Always warmly welcomed to the best Italian restaurant in Ipswich.

The arancini are amazing. I chose the Risotto Frutti de Mare to follow and it did not disappoint, good strong seafood flavours. Friendly service, good food, cooked with love. Great vibe. Book here, you will love it.

We visited this evening (myself, my husband and our six year old son) for the first time. The food was absolutely amazing and the staff were fantastic, very attentive, polite and paid attention to our son too, much to his delight. Thank you to all...

Unfortunately we can’t write a review based on our meal hence the rating. We had a table booked and upon arrival no one acknowledged us and when a member of our party tried to get someone’s attention they were very dismissive and quite rude to...

Very friendly, efficient service. Excellent food and wine, good value. Pleasant Sicilian ambience. Would recommend.

Response from owner says it all. I didn't mention a waitress...yes only waiters. No apology for his rude behaviour. Yes, the tasteless mussels were in the seafood risotto, which wasn't great. Fair enough if he didn't turn the lights off and they are sensors...but his response below...not even mentioning his barging into me and non apology says it all. It was definitely this restaurant. One where they don't seem to care and he, in particular, has a rather sinister side to his demeanour and approach to serve, in our experience. Food average at best. Ownership horrendous. Avoid. Food was not great, tasteless calamari, mussels, other food a bit dry. One of the waiters (younger one) was really nice and quite attentive (not easy as not many staff there) but the older one with glasses we found to have a really unpleasant attitude and demeanour. We hadn't felt the brief meal/service we had was that great so didn't leave a tip (I always look to leave a good tip when earned but not when the experience doesn't deserve it). The waiter, after knowing this, seemed to purposefully barge into my shoulder as he walked past (quite firmly) and then didn't apologise, just said "Hello" rather sinisterly. He later turned the lights off on my partner when she went to the toilet. Ambiance in the restaurant is really nice though, shame about the experience we had.

Best Italian, if not best restaurant, in Ipswich. Incredible food, great service and managed to speak to the chef and he was so friendly. Amazing, authentic Italian food! Will be encouraging everyone I know to go!

Love, love LOVE this restaurant. Food is amazing without the ridiculous price tag. Eaten here a few times and booked a table for a birthday party with some friends and couldn't have been happier. Service is awesome and again, the food is fantastic!

Great service and great food well worth the money

What an amazing Italian! If you love Parmesan & the best tomato base ever to be found on a pizza dough and the BEST lasagne (sorry mum) then this is the place. We ordered a takeaway which we collected on a Saturday night & the...

I would say this is the best value steak in Ipswich. Not the cheapest but a good price for an excellent sized fillet with quality sides. Unless you are really hungry, if you do choose a steak, you might not want a starter. Even without...

Proper Italian pizzas and gently efficient friendly service. Beware of the timer on the light in the toilet though! Love the place and would happily eat there every day.

My friend and I visited and had a lovely meal. The staff are very knowledgeable and friendly. The food was delicious and you could tell it had been cooked from fresh. We will definitely be visiting again

After hearing great things about this place I couldn’t wait to try it. We put an order in via UberEats on a Friday evening. Food arrived quickly, which is great. Unfortunately that’s the only good think I have to say about it. We ordered Calamari...

Lovely restaurant. Fitted us in at short notice. Great starters and pizzas. Highly recommended

My favourite restaurant in Ipswich! Everything I've tried so far has been delicious. A cosy atmosphere.