Quite simply the best food we've had since arriving in the Lakes. We were attracted by the…read morelunchtime special £8.50 for soup of the day and any main (pizza/pasta) on the menu. It would be fair to say it exceeded our expectations the tomato and basil soup was served with bread and genuinely excellent. Followed by carnivore pizza which again was excellent with really high quality ingredients Italian meats, spicy sausage, fresh chilli etc. I would have been thrilled with this quality of food doran evening out never mind lunch. Staff were very pleasant and the restaurant though small was immaculate. I strongly recommend you give it a try.

Excellent italian food and friendly, efficient but not overbearing service. Plenty of choice…read morealthough they seem to be slightly biased towards sea-food as three of the four specials were fish based. There were five of us and we chose a variety of dishes,I had red mullet, ratatouille and green (pesto?) mashed potato, whereas my son had pizza. Mine was absolutely delicious. So was the cappucino brulee that I shared with my wife. Everybody else was very pleased with their choices too. Quite a small premises with straightforward decor and ambience, but clean and well run. Definitely worth a visit. I believe you pay a premium for eating in Ambleside but we spent slightly over £20 per head and I think that this was most reasonable overall. I hope that you enjoy it too.

The service was wonderful but it took forever to get our bill. It is a tiny restaurant and the…read moretables all jam close together. So, hearing other peoples conversations is unavoidable. The food was good. The lasagna was the best meal by far. The chicken Alfredo was bland and unflavorful. It needed salt desperately. However, there was no salt on the tables, only pepper. The salads were okay. Nothing special.

OMgoodness... the last time we were here, this place blew us away…read more Three long years later (thanks COVID), nothing has changed! It's a miracle. The Best Italian Food in the Uk as far as I'm concerned. Check out my previous review and my photos- it says it all. Thank you Dodds for sticking it out and emerging back at the top of your game.

Excellent service and excellent food. Our waitress was friendly and fully explained the menu when…read morewe had difficulties with dietary requirements. Their fish dishes were the highlight. Would highly recommend going here if you don't mind spending £10 - £16 a main.

A vegetarian Italian restaurant?! We were hesitant before going and then were so glad we did…read more Located in the lower level of a historic cinema, this glowingly-lit place was the perfect spot to meet up with friends. They gave us a giant round table that was super plush and cozy. My gin and elderflower tonic was delicious, as was the tagliatelle bolognese. I finished mine and almost my husband's too. The portion was the perfect size and the rest of our table enjoyed their meals and desserts too. They offer lots of appetizers (like specially-made bruschettas, etc), as well as pizzas, pastas, salads, and decadent desserts. Honestly didn't even notice that it was all vegetarian. Definitely go here!

Boy, does this place do a good Whiskey and Coke. As you can…read moretell I am extremely easily pleased. We went here last week with old family friends and was the perfect environment to catch up, enjoy great food and have a good drink. The menu is great and everyone left feeling extremely satisfied with what they ordered. I would 100% recommend if you are in the Ambleside area!

This restaurant exceeded my expectations. I had the minestrone soup and pasta with seafood and it…read morewas exceptional. The service was very professional and efficient too.

From the owner: Welcome to The Villa Italian, bar, trattoria, pizzeria and home of the North West's finest…read moreMediterranean cuisine. Our passionate team have decades of experience preparing and serving authentic Italian dishes, and we can't wait for you to visit.

Firstly this restaurant has moved from silverdale and is near carnforth opposite the longlands…read moreHotel at Greenlands Farm, its a cafe by day and italian restaurant from 6pm. Well what a find and totally by accident, only been open in its new location for 3 months. I cant praise this place enough, the staff and owners were very friendly and very helpful and for the Pizza Oh my Word! amazing ! Pasta was also fab, all made using the freshest ingredients. They also had 10oz fillet steak on which we are told is excellent so may try one next time, they had a good fish selection on as well. Cant wait to go back, visit as soon as you can - you wont be disappointed

Finding space for a family of 8 in the lakes wasn't as easy as we thought, but luckily Cafe Italia…read morewas able to accommodate us. While the downstairs appears to be a quick cafe area, upstairs has more of a restaurant feel to it. It even has its own bar on this level. The bathrooms and kitchen are on the 3rd level. First impressions were that it seemed a little bit more upscale than most other places in the area, and I have a feeling that on a Friday/Saturday night this will be a date night hotspot. The staff have matching uniforms and all had accents. It gave it a real nice touch. There is a full service bar, however due to the fine English cold weather, I just stuck with a cup of tea, so I can't comment on the alcohol quality. Our group jumped straight into mail meals, in which the menu is literally a book. They could probably do with trimming it by 50% and still would have a nice variety). Anyways, while trying to remember what everyone had ordered, the 3 items that stuck with me were: pizza - authentic, fresh, flavorful and quite large. Buffalo chicken wrap - nice portion size, Amazing taste. Mackerel - I have to be honest, I've never tried it before so I'm not sure what it's supposed to taste like, however, it was very very good to me! We had many other dishes at our table and everyone left happy. Once again, the portion sizes were more than enough. So you won't leave hungry! For the meals listed above, you're looking in the 8 -12 pound range for prices. If I was to go back to this area, I would most definitely return for the chicken wrap. It was fantastic!

This cafe occupies pride of place on a busy corner in Windamere town. The staff are all well…read moregroomed, good looking and very charming - and good at getting people inside. So it's busy. In fact, they are so busy getting people through the doors, it can be hard to get a server's attention once you are at your table. When I was finally able to stop one of them to order my lunch, I had a Mediterranean salad, which was fine. The coffee is good. Also, they are cash only so be prepared.

We enjoyed eating dinner outdoors here with their various vegan options. We got two delicious…read morepizzas, a calzone (first vegan calzone ever), eggplant Parmesan, a bean stew, and bruschetta. The calzone was incredible and everything else was delicious. The food came pretty quickly as well and there was very friendly service. We'd love to return!

We had an absolutely wonderful time eating dinner here at Trattoria!…read more If there was one thing that stuck out during our time here, it was definitely the service! The server was very prompt and seated us right away. He took our orders and asked us if we wanted our bread and salads first as a first course or if we wanted everything out all the same time. It was a small gesture, but it was very much appreciated! The food itself was also very good! The entrees were all very simple and had real ingredients. (Eg the tomato and basil salad was pretty much all it was!) Being from the States, it was a little unexpected but at the same time very refreshing. Everything in the states is full of processed chemical rubbish so eating something that only has a few ingredients and said ingredients can all be identified by your great grandmother is much appreciated. I would definitely recommend this place if you were in the Bowness area and were in the mood for Italian.

Excellent food and service. Quaint and welcoming restaurant in Penrith. Everything was delicious…read morefrom the rocket salad with Parmesan shavings to the spaghetti ai frutti di mare, to the fresh pizza. Great find!

You walk through the arch on the bust street and you are engulfed by the relaxing and warm…read moreatmosphere of a typical truly italian pizzeria. the plants in the outside patio drag you into what you think is a small italian house and when you ascend the steps up into the restraunt itself you are no loger in a small english market town. but instead in one of the finest pizzerias in italy. this small restraunt can cater for all ages as they serve up some of the best pizzas in penrith. if you are in penrith and in need of a pizza. you could always stop at the take away down the road. but if I were you. I would make the effort to step into the italian wonderland that is Gianni's Pizzeria