The best restaurants serving Italian food in England

This had been my favourite pizza place for the longest time -- we have spent so much money there over the years -- but after my partner was violently sick several hours after consuming the Wicker Man pizza (nduja, pepperoni etc), and continued to throw up throughout the night, as well as suffering high temperature and severe aches, it's rather ended my love affair with the place. When I informed the manager about what had happened, and let him know I had contacted Food Safety Waltham Forest, he said 'it's unlikely to be our kitchen' then quibbled over how long food poisoning takes to kick in. He said it wouldn't be food poisoning if it only took 2 hours. NHS England says: "Sometimes [symptoms] start after a few hours or not for a few weeks." Good to know.

Not enough staff and food appalling. My sister and I ordered Tuscan soup to start (which I had ordered before and liked) but it was totally inedible as it tasted sour as if it was off and we had to send it back, so just had bread that came with it. My main was spaghetti bolognaise which has very little sauce and had to ask for more. The dessert I had was chocolate cake with mascapone cream. The cake itself was heavy and there was only a teaspoon of mascapone cream served with it so again had to ask for more. So the starter, main and dessert were all disappointing. They also didn't have any mash which was meant to come with my sister's main.

1.after not having breakfast because I was excited to having our special anniversary lunch. So disappointed!!It was an awful veggie meal. Didn’t eat my bruschetta.Slice of bread with beef chopped tomatoes. Main meal worse. A truffle resotto. A few mushrooms and rice over cooked with that test of vegetables oil. Could not eat it awful.

Four of us visited for our son’s birthday on a midweek evening and were all hugely impressed by the quality of the food and portion size all washed down with a very gluggable Valpolicella. It was a fairly quiet night and yet four different dishes were delivered piping hot in surprisingly good time and at a very reasonable price. We will definitely visit again to try some of the other food from their appetising menu.

I've had dreams about eating there food it's that good. Who would of known the pizza man is Polish not Italian. Going Poland next year. 10/10

Really lovely little cafe, excellent food made fresh to order

I can't believe I haven't been to this restaurant before, despite having lived in Louth all my life. It was definitely worth the wait, as it offers a very authentic Italian experience with great food and a warm, welcoming atmosphere. We had Arancini and pizzas, which were excellent. The meal was great value for money. We treated ourselves to a bottle of wine from the superb choices available. We went for the Sangiovese, which was delicious and not overpriced. We also found out that they offer a 20% discount during lunch. I can't wait to return and I'm now recommending it to all our friends!

I used to visit this restaurant frequently prior to Covid lockdown. I’ve finally managed to come back again as I always enjoyed the food and the service. I’ve realised this was a big mistake! Poor slow service with only 3 tables that had clients. I was finally the only client but that didn’t make the service faster. I believe it’s under new management? The pizza has been watered down. No glimpse of tomato sauce on magherita pizza. I am really disappointed and I’ll be not coming back here again.

This is an upmarket cafe, it has a cosy feel. We loved the background music. The service is professional and very friendly. We ordered the platter, absolutely delicious followed by cannoli yum yum yum and coffee .

Lovely food and friendly staff!

Great Italian food, great atmosphere, really friendly staff! Best Italian food I had in a long time! Absolutely recommend it!!!

This is a great restaurant with lovely food and attentive happy staff. I had my daughter’s birthday celebration here. There were 25 of us and all the food came out together, piping hot and delicious. The staff couldn’t do enough for us. We will definitely be back. Thank you M2!

Birthday Girl, the occasion was a birthday treat for a special lady. We were looked after by Vas the waiter and nothing was to much trouble, his knowledge on the food on the menu was very helpful. The restaurant was buzzing with excitement. We will definitely come back and thanks for a night to remember.

We ate at this restaurant two nights in a row and the food was just amazing, the staff were friendly and attentive. The lasagne was the best iv had honestly. Only negative is the place itself needs a refurb, but honestly if we stayed in Cricklewood again we would definitely return to this restaurant.