Visited Il Pirata for a leisurely lunch today and thoroughly enjoyed it. A lovely, relaxed…read morerestaurant with top class service from attentive waiting staff. Unfortunately they don't offer a separate, dedicated Vegetarian menu like their sister restaurant Coppi. However Il Pirata do offer a few good, clearly marked Vegetarian options on their standard menu. The food was phenomenal, being extremely delicious, reasonably priced and consisting of generous portion sizes. I cannot fault a single thing and will be recommending Il Pirata to everyone.

The Upper Newtownards Road is a hive of restaurants and coffee shops so you've got to do something…read morereally special to stand out from the crowd, or so you'd think. But Il Pirata is chic and understated - from the outside there is no hint at what is behind the heavy stained glass door - you could easily walk passed without even giving it a second glance but that would be a mistake. Inside there is a reclaimed feel to this hip Italian. The furniture is all made from rich oak and the walls are paneled with what looks like up-cycled wood. This creates a real authentic rustic feel. The menu is typical Italian with all the usual suspects listed - you've got pizza's. pasta dishes, risotto as well as piatto. I actually opted for the Calzone of the day which at £5 was a bargain (Monday to Friday lunchtime special). It was filled with cheese and mixed Italian meats and was just the right size to ensure that the afternoon isn't spent in a food coma. The calzone was served on a wooden board which actually made sense as I was able to cut through the doe without the fear of making porcelain shriek. The service was second to none - the food was on our table no more than 10 minutes after ordering and the waiter even replaced a coffee he spilt a tiny bit of, even after we insisted that it was fine. To me this is the perfect place for a quick working lunch - the food is light and relatively health and they have lunchtime deals on which make it value for money. I also noticed that they serve draft lager and there was wine listed on their menu. I will definitely be back - there was a lovely relaxed vibe and the Italian food was as good as I've tasted in Belfast.

Amazing food as always will definitely be back again amazing starter and main I had brusetta for…read morestarters and the ravioli for my main

This place was recommended to us by another establishment who had closed their kitchen for the…read morenight. What a pleasant surprise, excellent tasting food, I had the linguini and meatballs, pasta was perfectly cooked, marinara spice was tasty, meatballs were plentiful and cooked to perfection. Wait staff was on top of it, very clean place. Many kudos to the manager, she was a rock star, she was making sure her staff was on point and was there to ensure every guest had a great experience and meal, we thanked her personally. Hope she is there on your dining experience there.

By far the best meal I've had since coming to Ireland! This is conveniently located in St. Ann's…read moresquare. We made a reservation here a couple days ago and were seated quickly. There is a 4 course meal option here where you can get a starter, a pasta, another main entree (+£5 if you get the steak and +£6 if you get the market special fish, which in this case was halibut and was delicious), and a dessert for £46. I got beef carpaccio, beef ragu with papardelle, lamb, and tiramisu + my friends ordered some different dishes so we could all try a little of everything. The food was absolutely amazing! Service was attentive + friendly! It's definitely not cheap, but if you're looking for a good "treat yo'self" option in Belfast, look no further than here!

Group of us got together to catch up and thought we would try Coppi. We had been here last year and…read morethey have since done a renovation. The place has comfortable seating, combination of booths and chairs. It's a very noisy place so if you're going with more than 2 or 3 people it will be difficult to have good conversations. We were well taken care of by several servers that kept water and drinks coming when requested. We started with the Focaccia with olive oil, Cerignola Olives, and Anchovy Toast, Stracciatella & Marinated Peppers. The starters were well received and everything was very good. We then placed our orders, too many to list here, but I had the pea and ham risotto and a companion had the gnocchi. It was requested that the gnocchi only have the tomato sauce but it arrived with the basil and cheese on top. The dish was okay but nothing spectacular. It was offered to remake it but we declined just for lack of time and holding up everyone's dinners. The pea and ham risotto had whole peas and several small slices of ham on it. This dish was like eating a plate of melted cheese with peas thrown in. It was hard to distinguish the risotto from anything else in the dish. The pistachios had a nice toasted flavor to them but the cheese just over powered everything else. Some of the other dishes ordered were the duck ragu (seemed well received), but the beef cheek dishes were not well received and had a number of comments that the quality and flavor wasn't there. From what we recall from last year not only was the restaurant renovated but so was the menu and I think we preferred the old menu. Not sure there will be a return visit if we come back to the city again.

This is a hidden gem in Belfast!!!! It was amazing. My friend got the house pasta and it was SO…read moregood. Highly recommend. All of us were extremely pleased with our meals and left very happy. It is all homemade and you can tell the chef only produces quality dishes. If you have a hankering for Italian food, check this place out!

Probably the best pizza bases you'll find in town, really tasty, plus these guys are proper Pizza…read moreChefs so there's no milk lurking in these stone baked bases. We had really great veg topped pizzas minus the cheese. So it is possible to get a delicious vegan pizza here, which with a bit of olive oil added was scrumptious. But it would be wonderful to see some vegan cheese and/ or specific vegan pizzas listed on the menu - hopefully these will appear in future. Bella Vita is both a small, beautifully decorated, BYOB restaurant and also a takeaway. There are also a few outside tables and staff are exceptionally helpful. Perfect location for a mate or date night out, especially before heading to the nearby cinema to enjoy a movie.

Very cute French inspired diner with wonderful food and drinks and cozy booths. Good service and…read morewas easy to get a booth around 12 pm

The cutest atmosphere with ages brick, chandeliers and orange trees. Absolutely romantic. Had the…read moreChubby Cherub special pizza and it was excellent. The crust was nice and thin and an abundance of toppings. Enjoyed a lovely iced coffee and a beer with it. Great staff as well!

Once again I ate here as part of a food tour in Belfast. It's an Italian restaurant. We had…read moreappetizers: scampi fritto, fried mozzarella, crispy chicken wings, carbonara arancini. Every thing was cooked to perfection. We were also served limoncello. Service was attentive and quick. The ambiance was chill. There was a rather pub feeling to it. Great food. I recommend.

An extremely good restaurant in Belfast. The food was great. We had a pepperoni pizza that was very…read moregood. The service was good, very attentive wait staff. The ambiance was also good. Very attractive interior. Be sure to try the affogato. That was excellent.

I grew up in the NYC area and in an Italian neighborhood. This was quite possibly the best Italian…read moremeal that I have ever had . I had the seafood linguine. The pasta was done to perfection, the sauce delicious, and there was tons of seafood in it . Service and atmosphere also very good ! I went back two nights later and had the same exact meal , and it was just as good . Oh and the tiramisu was to die for ! I had a nice chat with the manager and we shared a limoncello.

Great service Great food = meatballs, goat salad, and penne…read moretorinsei (?-spelling) Good drinks Great limoncello We'd come back Great atmosphere too!

Food was very good made by an Italian chef. The service was excellent, but it was a pretty quiet…read moreThursday evening. We are from the states, but would definitely return if we came back to Belfast.

Two weeks ago 150 extra special folk were wined and dined at the newly opened Italian restaurant…read morethat is Tony Macaroni at Victoria Square, Belfast. It occupies the prime spot out of all the restaurants in Vic Square, the iconic glass corner tower ( ex Chiquito). Tony Macaroni is a large Scottish (Glasgow) chain of "Real Italian Food" run by Sep Marini. This is the second one in Northern Ireland (after Bangor). I brought my daughter as my plus one, a welcome distraction from AQE preparations!! She was so thrilled and excited as it was a surprise for her. The interior has all been totally refurbished with the main features being the bar and the open kitchen. On arrival we were very warmly met and seated by the Manageress. There was Prosecco on arrival but I opted for the sparkling water and Fanta for my daughter. The menu was very extensive, with lots of mouth watering, Italian named dishes and my daughter immediately spotted the calamari whilst I opted for the Gamberoni (prawns). After a few minutes our dishes arrived and looked incredible. They were big portions!! The squid was juicy and perfectly cooked and the garlic mayo and sweet chilli sauce accompanied them well, whilst the prawns were subtly flavoured with lemon, garlic and white wine and served with sticky rice. It didn't take us long to finish!! Spaghetti carbonara is a firm favourite for my two daughters and for me I love calzone, so I ordered the Americana and my daughter insisted on chips (I tried to dissuade her as I suspected the portions would be large). When the dishes arrived I was certainly right about the big portion sizes!! The carbonara was excellent (my daughters honest opinion!!) and I must say did taste excellent!! The chips were big fat fellows. My calzone was a bit plump round the edges but bursting with filling- the sausage, bacon and ham bursting out along with the tomato, cheese and onion and was tremendous! Alas bellies beat our eyes and we had to stop and leave room for desert!! We asked for the rest to be packed (so no 2 daughter wouldn't feel left out!!). For sweets my daughter chose the white chocolate sundae whilst I was recommended the toffee tablet cheesecake. When they arrived my daughters eyes lit up!! She immediately went to work, like a busy beaver, deconstructing it, peeling back the layers of cone, mint, cream, raspberries, vanilla and strawberry ice cream until the treasure of white chocolate was unearthed at the bottom. Meanwhile my toffee tablet cheesecake, topped with raspberries and blackberries and served with a pot of cream was equally indulgent. "Tablet" I hear you say, it's not medicinal but is what our Scots friends call butterscotch fudge. There were nice chunks on and in the creamy toffee cheesecake. The biscuit base was quite thin and the addition of the pot of cream was maybe too much!! This was all washed down with a cappuccino and hot chocolate. Well we could hardly move after all that!! The food was excellent and service was slick. We were given a nice gift bag containing a glass and bottle of Prosecco (for the wife of course!!) as well as the remains of the spaghetti and pizza (for no 2 daughter). I shall definitely be back with the rest of the family as there are a few dishes I want to try and I love the Presto menu for £5.95 (£6.95 on Sunday) and the breakfasts and the "Go Jimmy style" of having pizza/pasta half/half, a great way to share.

I tried Greens on Lisburn Road a couple of years ago and was so disappointed I never returned, nor…read moretried this branch in Ballyhackamore, Upper Newtonards Road. Having started following a fully vegan lifestyle from January 2018, I've recently heard good things about Greens and how they now offer an extensive range of vegan options. Hence I decided to throw caution to the wind and give it a go. Ballyhackamore Greens is definitely popular, especially with families, as it was extremely busy when we arrived circa 7pm, Friday 30/03/2018. We got the last remaining booth and ordered Vegan Butter Garlic Bread, which was also topped with vegan cheese when set in front of us - not what we asked for, as we had specified no cheese when ordering! But hey-ho. Our pizzas were a Bawnmore; no cheese, artichokes, olives, peppers, onions and oregano. Plus the Earlswood; tomato, vegan cheese, mushrooms, onions, sweetcorn and basil. All bland, bland, bland, blah. In fairness the Garlic Bread Starter was decent and Brawnmore better than the Earlswood thanks to lots of olives. But nothing was spectacular or even really good. We piled on chilli flakes, garlic oil and chilli oil. Once we managed to obtain chilli oil that is - we had to ask three times for it! Third ask brought forth an admission from a waitress that there's only one bottle of garlic and one bottle of chilli oil for the whole restaurant! Hence she set off to retrieve it from another table for us. Absolutely ridiculous and quite comical! Greens either need to invest in a few more bottles of oil, or when customers ask for oil possibly dispense it into small containers and leave to tables as necessary. I wanted to give this branch of Greens a chance and really hoped to like it, especially because of the numerous vegan options. Unfortunately thick chewy pizza bases, bland toppings, an unwelcoming maître d' (abrupt and unsmiling with an air of just not wanting to be there) plus a comical farce over obtaining a bit of chilli oil really let this restaurant down. Not an enjoyable experience.

Had a beautiful meal here last night. I had the Ferris Wheel, it was delicious. All the ingredients…read morewere so fresh and tasty. One of the best pizzas I have ever had. It was gorgeous. It was really not greasy at all like some pizza places can be and the doagh was really fresh too. The resteraunt was really nice. The atmosphere was great, it was a Saturday evening, they had music playing in the background and a bit of bustle about the place. Really laid back and relaxing dining experience and the staff were very chatty and friendly. I will definitely be returning. Also, you can bring your own booze, wine or beer only. Wine £2 corkage and beer is 75p.

So impressed!…read more There's a new addition on the Lisburn Road and it is definitely a welcome one. Il Gusto is a modern Italian that packs a punch. We went for dinner here last week and it couldn't have been better. First up, the decor is modern, confutable and stylist - a delicate balance that's hard to create. It's a relatively small restaurant seating maximum forty people. This small set up creates an intimate dining experience, perfect for couples. The menu is great - there's all the Italian favourites with some additional dishes such as mussels. For starter I went for Caesar salad which came fantastically presented. It was loaded with thinly but bacon and tender chicken. The portion was just enough without being overly filling. A great set up for main. I went for pizza for main and my girlfriend went for tagliatelle so we could mix and match. The pizza was incredible spicy, but that's exactly what I was after. The tagliatelle was great, loaded with chicken and spicy peppers also giving it a real authentic flavour. Although we were full we couldn't resist having dessert. Once again we mixed and matched. I ordered chocolate fudge cake and my girlfriend went for cheesecake. Both delicious. The coconut ice cream was incredible - a must try! I can't recommend Il Gusto enough. You won't be disappointed.

This place could be the Pizza-Off winners 2017 - the pizza was simply delicious! We went for…read morepepperoni, chicken, jalapeño and chill - the best pizza I've tasted. We also ordered the tegatelli pasta with chicken, mushroom and chilli - it was the perfect level of spice - i could have licked the plate clean. The restaurant itself is beautifully laid out, cosy and intimate. The waiting staff were friendly and efficient. I didn't try any of the cocktails on this occasion but I plan to on my next visit. This place gets a full five stars from me - I'm already planning my next visit.