The best restaurants serving Italian food in Southend-on-Sea East of England

Family was fed and watered with some great dishes - very yummy 😋 lots of traditional foods that was appetising, portions great and Victoria looked after us.

Absolutely everything is outstanding, reserved a table of 6 for my recent 19th Birthday with the family as a surprise they did for me, couldn't be happier with the preparation of the food, the quick catering and excellent manners of the staff. Thank you for giving me and my family a wonderful service and time! (And food 😋)

Pre-theatre dinner in a lovely restaurant. The place was very busy at 8pm when we arrived. Told staff we needed to be be gone by half nine and they were happy to accommodate this request. Portions are very generous and the prices are very reasonable. The food was delicious and everyone was happy at our table. Also the complimentary limoncello at the end was a nice touch. We will definitely be back to enjoy the food at a more leisurely pace.

10 of us visited for dinner last week. Holly our waitress was fantastic - she couldn’t have done anymore to make us all feel welcome and cater to everyone’s requests - thank you!! The food was also great, the pizzas are delicious and we’d all highly recommend the pistachio tiramisu! We will be back!

Nice and cosy restaurant., The staff were very friendly, attentive and professional. I was out with group of friend's a we all agreed the food was very tasty amd filling too. I'll be back sometime when next visit Southend.

Superb, authentic Italian food and really friendly service. Excellent value. Fabulous family-run restaurant . We've been here many times and never had anything other than a thoroughly enjoyable experience. Not to be missed !

Having walked past this restaurant many times we finally got around to having a meal there. We hadn’t booked but the three of us were made to feel very welcome. Staff were all very friendly and helpful. The menu was very Italian and very varied. My wife & her friend had pasta dishes - one seafood & one chicken. Both were very generous portions and excellent. The highlight of the evening was my Sicilian cooked bass. It was accompanied by spinach mash and a superb sauce and cooked to perfection. Also consisted of two large fillets - probably the best bass meal I have ever had!!

Booked Ricardo's for my recent birthday, with family and a couple of friends, there was 12 of us in all (plus a couple of babies) the restaurant was nice and busy with a good buzz, we were all on one table. The service was excellent and the food amazing (we mixed between the 2 menu's some had the a la carte and some the set menu) the costs were reasonable inc the drink (which is where so many other places often put their prices up, Ricardo's was reasonable). Will happily go again !

If you are in the area, I highly recommend visiting this restaurant. When many places had stopped serving food, I called this restaurant who accommodated us despite being very near to closing time and they did not rush us and made us feel very welcome. The team were great, they were italian and you could tell by the quality of the food served. We had the scallops to start and they were so tender, they melted in your mouth and were fresh and full of flavour, I was thoroughly impressed. For Mains, we both had pizzas which were fresh and delicious and the generous portions meant we took half home with us as well. Excellent place for service and food and if I am visiting the area again, I would definitely go back there. Being half Italian and having eaten a lot of authentic Italian food, I can honestly say this is a gem of a restaurant.

I really enjoyed the meal tonight the atmosphere was really good the service was good and the meal was really delicious I will be back to this amazing place 🙏

The food here is always fresh, beautifully presented and delicious. You can really taste the care that goes into each dish. The family who runs the café are absolutely lovely—warm, welcoming, and always ready with a smile. It’s the kind of place that makes you feel at home. Last time, I had their special dish with avocado, poached eggs, chorizo, and fresh chilli. It was perfectly balanced—creamy and full of flavour. Highly recommend!

This restaurant only opened under this name last month and appears to have a new menu etc. It was formally called II Palazzo and from the dates of the reviews below they all refer to the "previous" restaurant. Service was Ok but instead of the large dining room shown in the photos we were all packed into tables set out in the former bar area with about two feet between tables. Food was Ok

Lovely staff, delicious food. Not busy and very cool place in hot day from crowded shopping centre.

Classy Italian restaurant, food good, staff friendly and attentive, will definitely return.

Beautiful food and excellent service couldn't ask for more good value for money