The best restaurants serving Italian food in Chelmsford East of England

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

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.

We visited after lunchtime on a weekday. The restaurant was slightly quiet, but it wasn't as though we were alone. We were seated immediately, and the first slice of pizza materialised shortly thereafter. The service was excellent, and the pizza among the best we've had. The bottomless pizza concept works a treat, with fresh pizza appearing as fast as you can eat it. In this instance, there was less of a wait than many "Fast Food" outlets, and the quality of the pizza easily matched or bettered anything Pizza Express can do. The only lottery is what pizza slice is coming next! The chef did throw a few curve balls in, ingredients-wise. You can always skip something you don't like the look of. Shame I missed out on the salami/blue cheese/chilli combo that came out, but I was just too full... Thoroughly recommended, but a question remains as to how well the concept holds up on a busy evening.

Took 14 of my nearest and dearest family to vita bella after our wedding. Couldn't have picked a better venue. Staff were amazing, super friendly and attentive. They really made the occasion incredibly relaxing. Every dish served was exquisite and the drinks and cigars really topped it all off. Excellent value, excellent restaurant thankyou. Made our day very special indeed.

Superb food, big portions, quality service especially Leon he is the best host, highly recommended this place.

Stopped in here for a quick dinner before seeing an event at the Chelmsford Theatre, which is opposite. Had pizzas and they were absolutely delicious, truly outstanding. I love pizza, and I believe this place is as good as it gets, genuinely amazing food, great service and cannot wait to go back. Thank you

Fantastic birthday lunch with my husband on a Sunday afternoon. Excellent food and service as usual. I ordered the calamari then the goats cheese risotto. Both fabulous. We were very well looked after. One of our favourite restaurants. ❤️

This amazing gem of an Italian is run and owned by an italian and the quality of food and wine showed, good service great food . We found out that you can get great coffee and food during the day also as they owned Poliano that was over the road so we will be back again definitely .

A very good choice of menu for senior citizens at a fixed price. Food was also very good . Had full choice of the normal menu except specials

This restaurant is sited within the Best Western Atlantic Hotel, the menu choice currently offered is much reduced and not open on Friday, Saturday or Sunday, go elsewhere.

Had a lovely meal with friends here on Saturday night. Great food, great cocktails! Was surprised it wasn't busier.

Crystal was amazing thank you for the service. Food was delicious.

Uncleared tables are just the norm in this cafe and very annoying. Most times you have to clear a table to sit down in the nice area with casual sits. It was so at 3pm on Friday. The coffee is good but the ambiance is dire.

Rude pretending like they wasn’t rude unprofessional and didn’t deliver even tho I wait 1 hour my kids starving just wanted a nice pizza