The best restaurants serving Italian food in East of England

Unbelievable pizza and steak. Couldn’t recommend it more. I had garlic bread, steak and truffle fries. The dough is so fresh. 10/10

I visited before for lunch with my dad and as we’re both Italian it was nice to find somewhere authentic. When I went for dinner (I have coeliac disease/I’m gluten free) I forgot to ask for gluten free pasta. When it arrived I realised, so apologised and asked for the GF version. The staff replaced it and apologised to me, I explained it’s me who should be apologising! I’d taken one bite before I’d realised, and the waiter came to check I was ok. They were so kind and didn’t charge me extra so I gave a decent tip. They allowed me to bring a cake, as it was for a birthday, and they brought the cake out singing Happy Birthday!

What a super little find, very friendly staff, lovely food, great prices, brilliant choices in menu, free parking in town, and lots of lovely Italian goodies to purchase, highly recommend

We have lived in the area for some time & have only recently ate here. I wish it had been sooner! The food is amazing & the service outstanding. The staff are so attentive, we had Suraj as our waiter & he was so kind & made our evening. The food was so delicious & very reasonably priced. The chef even came out at the end to say hello & gave us complimentary drinks!! We would def recommend here & will be telling our family & friends about it!

Another brilliant meal. Fantastic cooking by Andrea. Best Italian cooking this side of the Alps. And his team were absolutely wonderful.l

Truly authentic Italian style cocktail bar. Loved it! We will come here again. Recommend the platters to share and spritz

We went again this week with different friends. Last week one of our party said his sirloin steak was up there with the tastiest he has ever had. Everything was spot on. Not sure about the previous review, we all had the breaded chicken with different spaghetti and sauces and all four were delicious. The mussels special starters were excellent. A decent wine list as well. A lovely family run experience and super value as well. Thank you to all involved.

Brilliant deli - reminded me of the Italian delis in London's Soho from my childhood. Great spaghetti and Guanciale which we just happened to need for a recipe. And in Dunstable of all places

This is a village country traditional pub retaining all of its original features which still offers the opportunity locals to prop up the bar with your dog for just a chat and pint but there are three eating areas with the menu being 100% Italian. Outside to the front there are benches and tables and the pub offers parking too. The menu prices are very reasonable and food is very good. The service was good with helpful friendly staff.

We visited The Aviary for the first time at the end of the August.It was lovely.We wondered if we had just been lucky or if such fantastic food is par for the Course. Therefore we returned in October and I can report that it was no fluke and this restaurant is really special. Since our first visit it has been refurbished and also created a separate room acting as a bar serving light food. We stayed with the beautifully appointed restaurant and chose from their special lunch menu which is very good value at £ 25 for three courses and offers a number of choices with a diverse range of options. I started with the satay chicken with peanut sauce.In common with all the courses the presentation was superb.The chicken was very moist and the sauce was excellent.My wife opted for the avocado prawn and was surprised and happy that not only did it taste nice but the serving was most generous. We both had calves liver and crispy bacon served with a jus,mashed potato and broccoli.It was perfect.Every component of the dish was clearly made with such care and creativity.The sauce was enjoyably rich with a hint of sweetness.The chef clearly cares about the food he produces and succeeds with flying colours. For dessert we could choose any from the a la carte menu.I chose to have the banana bread pudding which was very nice and bananary ! My wife had sticky toffee pudding serviced with vanilla ice cream which she thought fabulous but she said it would have tasted even better if served with custard. The waitress whose name we found out to be Egle was brilliant.She made us feel very welcome,was very efficient and helpful and also had a lovely personality.She was proof of how important a server or manager is. A restaurant close by still very good but not as good as The Aviary had a great manager but she left and her departure left a real void. The Aviary is very fortunate indeed to have such a brilliant employee. We only have one concern and that is in trying to offer changes on the lunch menu more regularly some great dishes are taken off like the Atlantic cod.No doubt the calves liver will be replaced in time which would be sad as rather surprisingly it is not offered on the a la carte menu. It so happens that both our visits have been at lunch time.We are planning to go in the evening too.The prices for the evening are certainly no higher than those for the other high end restaurants indeed maybe slightly less. All in all The Aviary is a stunning restaurant both aesthetically and with the quality of the food.It is one of those rare places where you know you are going to be a regular after the first bite of food.

Just back from our first visit to The Terrace. The decor is stylish, the atmosphere buzzy, the staff welcoming and our waitresses, Natalie and Kash, were charming and attentive. We really enjoyed the Sunday lunch platter - the lamb was particularly good - and the potatoes were actually crispy. Hurrah! My husband appreciated the combination of custard and ice cream with his apple crumble and I had the pavlova with, possibly, the best meringue I’ve ever eaten in a restaurant. We will certainly be back.

Loved this lunch spot. Visited three times in a week. Delicious food. The salad with chick peas was the best. GREAT STAFF AND GREAT ATMOSPHERE.

Great pistachio cornetto however the pistachio tiramisu was my personal favourite and recommended by the staff who wore the kindest most welcoming smile! Thank you.