The best restaurants serving Italian food in New Forest South East

It might look like a cafe on the outside (if you can find it), but there’s a proper restaurant with a proper kitchen on the inside. A small but varied menu, good portions and tasty. The chef was out among the guests, taking orders and asking if all ok. Well placed confidence. We would definitely return.

La Lambretta pizza is the best authentic pizza you will get anywhere outside of Italy! All staff are lovely. It's a magical little taste of Italy in Fordingbridge. Wouldn't go anywhere else.

Always a fantastic meal and excellent service. Generous portions and authentic Italian food. We are regular visitors and always enjoy our evening.

Authentic Italian food beautifully prepaired and presented. Loved it.

This is a really great find for us. We were simply amazed at the tasty pasta we were served here. (We tried a beef based pasta and a mushroom with truffel.) The service was great. The price was modest for the quality and portions we were served with a smile. There was enough pasta to take away for our lunch the next day. The wine was also very good at an excellent price. Congratulations for employing two Ukranian workers. The one working front of house did his job with both style and care! So glad that we stopped on our journey and found this restaurant - we will be back!

Pre-wedding get together for 29 people. Great food in a lovely setting. Staff were so nice and friendly. Definitely recommend it for lovely Italian food and a nice all round nice dining experience.

What a lovely little Italian restaurant, only a few minutes walk from our hotel. It is my husband's birthday so it was a lovely treat to eat in such a romantic place. The food was fab. Hot, plentiful portions, served by a young man (sorry didn't get his name), with attention and extremely polite. My husband had the linguine with mixed seafood and I had a vegetarian pasta which was heavenly. Definitely worth a visit if you are in the area

Excellent meal with fab wine. Went on a week night and what a delight. Service wasn’t fast but it was date night so didn’t care!

As a regular customer to Rays Italian, both my wife and myself would like to thank Stacey for another wonderful meal last night. We love all things Italian and this restaurant certainly presses all the right buttons for us... What do we like about Rays Italian? Not just the great food but the staff are always so welcoming and attentive. Best wishes Mark & Jan Laming.

We had an absolutely fantastic birthday dinner here, and it matches or exceeds everywhere we ate on our holiday in Italy this year! The service was relaxed but very attentive, and the sommelier was superb, matching wines perfectly to our dishes. Each dish was faultless, from the gnocchi to the veal, paired with a wonderful glass of pinot noir. If we lived in the area we would eat here all the time!

First meal out in Ringwood since moving to the area and now wondering whether anyplace could beat this. It was faultless. Gorgeous meal, fabulous wine, great service. Authentic surroundings. I couldn’t fault it. Thoroughly recommend trying this restaurant.

Really enjoyed tonight's meal , full of flavour and such amazing staff. Really welcoming. But most importantly the price paid for food was well worth it. Will be back, we had lasagne and the new lobster an crab ravioli which was just yummy and wanting more , will be back soon , thank you very much , really lovely restaurant .

Attention SCAM! Terrible experience!! Shortly before arriving at the property, they sent me an email saying they had canceled my reservation, I called for clarification and they hung up, leaving me stranded. I highly recommend not booking.

Just about to change management but we've met the new owner. He guarantees lots of seafood. As he says " he's from Sicily so should know how to cook seafood". Looking forward to it.

This is a real little gem! The food is really lovely, tasty and fresh. The restaurant is very welcoming and the service was brilliant. Not over priced which in today’s market is unusual. We would happily come here again