This brand new Indian Restaurant is definitely worth the trip to Ballymena. I had the pleasure of…read moreattending the official launch of Sanjha. This truly authentic Indian restaurant is the brainchild of Head Chef Sanjay and Front of House Manager Pawan. The team have put a lot of effort into this place. It is ideally located and has plenty of car parking and seats 85 people. The ribbon was cut by the landlord and then Sanjha opened for business. There was a Prosecco aperitif on arrival, followed by popadoms and chutneys. Starter for me was a mixed platter of chicken, salmon, shami kebab, aloo tikki and onion bhaji served with spaghetti salad and chutneys (mint and mango). The starters were amazing and set the bar high for the mains. The main course duly arrived and consisted of butter chicken, Rogan josh, saffron rice and nan. The taste was so real it was as if I was sitting in India and eating it!!!! There is an extensive wine and cocktail list- which looked very appealing!! The staff and owners have really got a winner here.....I would thoroughly recommend paying a visit, I know I shall!!

What a surprise to be in such a lovely Indian Restaurant . Great ambience and a great host is the…read moreowner having worked at the India Habitat and at the Taj Palace New Delhi . We ordered a variety. Dhall makhini , mix veg , raita , butter chicken. , paneer masala , chicken tikka . NaN and rice . 6 of us and we licked it clean. Absolutely great food . A must visit

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.

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.

I did a search for restaurants near me that are open now, and this said it was open till 11 PM…read more We're starving and we got here at 6:45 PM and it's locked up tight!

All our food was delicious. We got the focaccia as a starter, and then pastas and a pizza as our…read moremains. The staff was kind and prompt. It was a bit chilly inside. They did have a portable heater out but I would still recommend bringing a sweater if you run cold. Cute decor and I would go again!

Terrible x3 = do not come here. We wanted to eat at Harry's Shack, but they were booked solid. So,…read moreour B&B host recommended Amici being so close and we wanted to get in an early dinner. The place was packed even though they had just opened at 5 pm. We had the "prawn" appetizer which consisted of 5 dinky shrimp swimming in oil, oh and the smallest slice of bread I'd ever seen. The app came out fast... however, the server just a quickly wanted to take it away even though there were still prawns in the dish. Then, we proceeded to wait 45 mins for the main courses. The seafood pasta was bland and had this terrible fish they claimed to be monkfish. Having had good monkfish, this would turn anyone off of trying it again. We were duped by the "woodfired" pizza, which was barely cooked through and just boring and bland. The only redeeming dish was the sea bass, which was actually cooked well, but still not super flavorful. So, all in all, only come here if you are desperate, have low expectations and aren't in a hurry.

Delicious food just a shame it's gone now but I can visit your portstewart restaurant insteadread more

I had the short stack of pancakes and they were way overcooked and dried out. It was like they…read morecooked the pancakes, put them on a plate, and then cooked them again quickly when they were ordered. Even my back bacon was burnt, yet that was the best part of the breakfast. The maple "flavored" syrup was not good either. Since you order at the counter, and don't have a waitress to discuss your food quality with, you don't have a normal way to ask for your food to be remade like you would at a normal diner in the U.S. I don't like the order at the counter setup unless it's a fast food restaurant and I typically avoid those. Overall a big vacation breakfast let down. I wish I would have went to Awaken, like I was originally intending on doing.

We ordered a pizza and salad and both were delicious. We saw many tempting looking ice cream…read moreSundays, but we did not indulge.

I was very pleasantly surprised by this place. It has a beautifully inviting exterior, it's a stand…read morealone building unlike most of the places i visit in America, which are often strip-mall based. Newbridge Restaurant sits just off a roundabout, and my friend and I had been sightseeing in Northern Ireland, and we were STARVED, after a hard cold day. We saw it in passing, and went back around the roundabout because it was 7 hours since breakfast and were dropping from starvation. The interior was equally inviting, and warm!! The building is inviting, no doubt about it, and the car park pleasantly full, so you knew it could be decent food. The menu was 2 courses for 12 Pounds, which a lot of UK/Irish places feature, and i had expected there's be a limited menu, but such was not the case - it was fairly extensive, and even had specials. I got Spicy Pear and Parsnip Soup with homemade wheaten bread to start, she got Portobello Mushroom with Blue Cheese, Rocket, Sunblush Tomatoes, Red Onion, Parmesan and Balsamic. I have to say this soup was an absolute delight, and i congratulate the use of the humble (Yet hard to find a decent one in Alaska) parsnip, it was superb, with a kick of heat to elevate it. Just a touch of sweetness from the pear, but it was sublime. The wheaten bread, used extensively throughout Irish restaurants was delicious and hearty, and a perfect accompaniment to the creamy thick soup. She adored her gigantic portobello, which was full of cheesy goodness. For our entrees, i selected the Italian Chicken which was a butterflied breast, topped with Parma ham wrapped around Brie, and a rocket salad with balsamic, she went for the Wild Mushroom Linguine, which was drizzled with truffle oil. I must say, it was different than anything I've had before, the cheese with the Parma ham was a really delicious enhancement, to the chicken which can sometimes be bland, but not on this occasion. The rocket and balsamic were beautiful. She couldn't finish her linguine - pasta can be filling i find, she did enjoy the selection of mushrooms. Despite the fact that the prix fixe was 2 for 12 pounds, we opted to get a dessert regardless. Just because we'd earned it, with some hard walking that day. She got a chocolate brownie with fudge sauce, and whipped cream, and i got a banana sundae that i simply could not finish. All in all, it was a delicious meal.

Nine Months…read more That's how long it's taken for me to find a steak and service here in Northern Ireland comparable, or even better than the steak I ate and southern hospitality service I experienced for 7.5 years in Texas... and I found it here at The Newbridge. So we were in Portrush for the day, heading to Belfast to drop my brother off at the bus and I mention I'm hungry, its dinner time, we should stop somewhere. Going on no other information than the car park was packed, we hung a u-turn and pulled in. No reservation, Friday night, packed car park, I expected to be told to sling my hook, or wait 40 minutes for a table, but the nice host even helped find a threenager appropriate table upstairs for us to sit at, no wait - excellent first impression. The blonde dude upstairs (I didn't catch his name) got us sorted with drinks quickly, order in, starters came out in good time. Col enjoyed the black pudding scotch egg, my brother, threenager and I enjoyed the garlic cheese ciabatta. But the mains were the moneyshot. Col had the shredded duck w/ sweet potato fries, brother had the beef chili penne w/ salt and chili chips, threenager had the chicken penne carbonara and I had the fillet steak w/ chips and veggies for the table. I. can't. even. On how good this food was. My steak was cooked to perfection - exactly the way I asked (which, as it turns out, has been difficult for NI chefs to accomplish to date), and not an ounce of fat to be seen! My brothers chili wasn't a traditional chili as you'd expect, it had a sweet chili element to it, but it was delicious, that and his salt and chili chips packed a hot punch, but he loved it. Cols duck was tasty and plentiful and the threenager splatter-painted the entire top floor of the restaurant with carbonara sauce while gleefully shouting "mmmmm delicious!" I really wanted to try dessert, but told blonde dude (sorry, blonde dude, I wish I'd asked your name but by the end of the meal felt it was rude to be all "here bai what's yer name?") I was in a rush, he told me I could get it to go - so I ordered salted caramel cheesecake, cause I thought it'd be easiest to eat on my knee. Confession time: I *may* have acquired one of y'all's forks to take with me so I could eat my dessert on the way to the train station. But rest assured I'll get it back to you - promise! With that said, the cheesecake was devoured on my knee. We all thought it was delicious. Not a single bad thing to say about this place, from easy and plentiful parking, to the absolute nicest staff in any restaurant in the north I've been in in my nine months being back home, to the most delicious steak I've had in a long time and incredibly well priced too! I now need a nap...And to plan a re-visit before our next expat adventure begins! Check this place out for sure!!

This place is a gem. Loved every bit of the meal. We had the cannelloni and the veal (10 out of…read more10). Service was impeccable too.

The hotel concierge recommended La Sosta when we arrived in Derry. Owner Claudio also serves as the…read moresommelier and is both truly friendly and very knowledgeable about wine. Atmosphere is very nice, with a nice view overlooking the River Foyle. Highly recommended for a great Italian restaurant experience.

I went in and ordered a hot chocolate. It was far from hot and very cold!. The service wasn't good,…read morethere was crumbs on our table and I had to clear them all off There was a creepy looking man staring at the other table and nobody seemed to care Not going back

Couldn't rate this place highly enough…read more Their food is delicious and the coffee is just unbelievable and the variety of food and coffee. My wife and I go every time we are in Ballymena and we will continue too.