The best restaurants serving Italian food in County Durham North East

Recently visited Perla Nera for an evening meal. The restaurant is beautifully decorated. The Christmas decorations are lovely and tasteful. We had bruschetta which was so tasty. Garlic mushroom and a black pudding and pepper sauce to start. All were cooked to perfection the pepper sauce was stunning. For main course we had a chicken in pepper sauce and a carbonara which again both were beautiful. The chips and veg with the chicken were lovely. Homemade chips and the veg was sautéed in butter and was fresh and crisp so nice. I had a coffee after which was beautiful, you can’t beat Italian coffee and my husband had sticky toffee pudding which was beautiful he said and was convinced was made fresh in the restaurant and not bought in. The staff really are attentive without being overbearing and are extremely friendly. I can’t recommend this restaurant enough and we will definitely be back. Thank you so much Eli and team keep up the fantastic work. We had heard about your reputation before we came and can 100% see why you are so highly regarded. Thank you.

The owner is very pleasant and attentive.. the meal was superb.. cracking little restaurant..definetly worth a visit.

My wife and I had the £10 meal deal, starter, main course (pasta or pizza) with tea/coffee to finish. Everything was perfectly cooked and served piping hot. Amazing value, service and meal. We will be back.

Waited 50 mins for our food ! Table was dirty . Musty smell horrible decor . Staff need some more customer service experience. Place was empty so don’t know why we had to wait 50 mins . Here in area to visit family won’t be back sorry .

Heard alot about Charltons so decided to give it a try. Best breakfast butty i've had in a long time! Beautiful food & great service 👌

We have ordered take away from Grande many times and it has never disappointed, hot, tasty and very filling. It's hard to describe how good it is! The restaurant part itself is small and is restricted to only a handful of tables so I would recommend booking beforehand but size doesn't matter when you are serving food of this quality. You will not be disappointed! Reasonably priced and serves throughout the day . I'm yet to try the breakfast menu but what from what I've seen of it, it looks delicious. If you've never tried the food, it's a must! If I could get away with it, everyday would be a Grande day.

My sister and I visited for lunch today to help them celebrate their first birthday in business. Food and service were just fantastic. We love coming up from Chester-le-Street for lunch. We’ve never been disappointed right from the word go. The food is brilliant but it’s not just that it’s the staff and the atmosphere too. And today was just tremendous. The steaks were absolutely perfect. Ariano’s is a real community asset and we look forward to many more visits. In fact I’m coming with another group of friends later next week. You just can’t keep me away. Well done to everyone. ❤️❤️❤️

We visited on a Friday evening, had some very nice cocktails especially Wallington dream their signature cocktail. After coming back from holiday this place made us feel likke we are still celebrating on holidays. Love the calzone and the seafood linguine very fresh and tasty. We'll done to the owner and the team they turned this place to a proper Restaurant

Fantastic 100% food staff atmosphere friendly 👌

Nice food, nice restaurant...not my personal favourite Italian, but it's pretty good. Does a good selection of seafood dishes, but pizza selection isn't great.

This is a tricky one as I have to leave my review on quality and quantity as it's the whole thing. First of all place was lovely and staff were amazing, I went for the Sunday lunch chicken breast which was really nice and would definitely have again. But this is where I was let down, I had the pate for starter and was it nice yeah but am sorry for £6 the quantity was shocking. One slice of toast ( seemed small), the tiniest bit of jam and I mean tiniest and probably 2 forks of pate, and yes you have to pay for quality I get that but am sorry this was ridiculous for the cost and 100% wouldn't order again. Would I go back yeah would I have a starter definitely not sorry .

Visit here quite often so thought I’d do another review more recent than my other one nearly a year ago. However, the words are still the same….. Great place! Super friendly staff, delicious food every time (been at least 10 times!) and speedy service. Highly recommended to you

Great food very busy but no issues waiting for food etc .deffo will be visiting again

This restaurant has good atmosphere and the staff / waitress was really helpful and check to see if we would like anything else bringing to the table. The feel of the restaurant was elegant and had high standard of decor to make the place feel like home and welcoming. I had the linguine carbanara which had mussels and prawn in and also had tagliatelle in and garlic bread this was really delicious and also was really tasty I definitely will be back again as one of the best Italian reasuarnts in bishop auckland.

First time here celebrating our mother's birthday. Food was fabulous, service was excellent and the decor was wonderful. The prices are extremely competitive and great value for money. A daily set menu was available, 2 course for £15 or 3 course for £21. You can pay £3 to upgrade to the salmon dish which I would highly recommend. £5 to upgrade to the steak which I will do next time. All round an exceptional dining experience. Regards Richard