Southend-on-Sea
Piccolo

Piccolo

1-4 Shorefield Road, Southend on sea, SS07RH, Southend-on-Sea, United Kingdom

Pizza • Pasta • Seafood • Italian


"The moment you walk into this restaurant, you realise you are going into a family run business where you are going to be treated very specially. And quite simply, I can’t wait to return. We were all made to feel like we were the most...important people in the room. What made our attendance a little bit more complicated, was that there were eight of us with four children under the age of four, but the staff couldn’t be any more accommodating if they tried. Squeezing us in but still given the space and respect accordingly With a menu that boasts some of the most imaginative and mainstream options that you would expect from an Italian restaurant, it’s when taking the order that you realise that everything is bespoke and completely made fresh on site. What would appear to be a huge disappointment when we found that the half lobster pasta, which was showcased on the specials board, was no longer available, we were then presented with a waiter who wanted to showcase the very large Nigerian prawns that he could substitute with. Incredibly motivating in his presentation of this, he also highlighted that this would be a huge reduction financially. What turned up with a selection of some absolutely outstanding food. Of course these prawns served with a crayfish and calamari tomato cream tagliatelle was absolutely out of this world and probably one of the best dishes I have ever eaten in the area. But the Dover soul, pizza, and even chicken Milanese was out of this world. No similarity in flavour, everything was made to each other’s tastebuds without just chopping and churn in the same sauces in every dish. What secured an outstanding set of service was when we found out that one of the deserts was also not available as they had run out of strawberries to create the eton mess. Within seconds the head waiter pulled cash out of his pocket and instantly another waiter went outside, jumped on his motorbike, and drove up to the local shop to buy some strawberries so we were able to have the dessert! I cannot think of another time or restaurant where they will give so much special attention to make sure that their guess got what they wanted. Brilliant. Outstanding food. Outstanding service, what an absolutely wonderful restaurant!"

Monti

Monti

513 Southchurch Road, SS1 2PP, Southend-on-Sea, United Kingdom

Cafés • Pizza • Pasta • Seafood


"Now THIS is an Italian restaurant nothing pretentious, nothing gimmicky, just amazingly well cooked, super tasty Italian food. The restaurant is lovely, homely and intimate, and the staff couldn 't be more welcoming and comforting. But all that is just the cherry on top of what it an amazing menu regardless of your tastes, there 's something on the menu for you, and it 's all cooked to the highest quality, with super fresh and excellent quality ingredients. There 's classic Italian pasta, meat and fish dishes, pizzas, as well as some more contemporary choices. My partner had the Sautéed Argentinian king Prawns in a garlicky sauce to start, followed by the Cannelloni di Pesce (seafood Cannelloni), both of which were sublime, the prawns were huge, the fish fresh, and nothing lacked in quantity, to the point she couldn 't finish the Cannelloni. I had the Cappesante Seared scallops, and some of the best scallops I 've ever had to be sure, and I 've had A LOT of scallops (unfortunately missed a photo of this one), followed by the Porgi l’artra Guancia a slow braised Ox cheek, served on a bed of creamy mash with a sauce and roasted vegetabled. The menu states, try it to believe it’s deliciousness! and I 'm still finding it hard to believe just how delicious it was genuinely a dish you 'll remember for a lifetime. Then we just finished it all off with a panacotta, which even that, as simple as it was, was perfectly made and presented! In short, we 'll be back soon, and time and time again; there 's nothing much we could find fault with in Monti 's, nothing at all..."