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I'm not sure whether anyone else has eaten here yet, but I went here last night and ate, without a shadow of a doubt, the best food I've ever eaten in Swindon. It was un-fucking-believable. I'd even go as far as to say it's some of the best food I've ever eaten, it was out of this world. Portions were on the large side, but I don't mind a big bowl of Fish Ravioli (Ravioli di Pesce) or Tiramisu!

Also, I went to La Carbonara the other week, and what used to be a superb restaurant, now seems to be shit, so I'm quite relieved to have now found another great Italian.

If you fancy an Italian, please eat here, you won't regret it.

http://www.davinciswindon.co.uk/

(It was quite quiet as well, hence why I started this thread, as it really should be doing very, very well.)

That's the second recommendation I've seen for this place in as many weeks... I love a good Italian, looks like i'll have to give it a go.

Rated #2 on tripadvisor. Sounds good. Will have to try.

You should. It's a shame about the location (for them), but then La Carbonara's in a worse location and that gets rammed.

There were 6 of us and we all raved about our food. I plan to make it my default restaurant.

Is davinci the one on faringdon road? Or is it on curry island?

The one on faringdon road is decent whenever I've been.

Fleet Street. It used to be Fletchers.

I do love a good Italian too so will definitely give it a go some time.

I went about a year ago with the then wife & the food was wonderful, the only thing that let it down was how close you were to the next table ( there was a very loud lady at the next table ). But i would go there again. The price was quite good as well.

Da Vinci is top draw but go and try Dolce Vita.. it was fantastic when it first opened but then suffered terribly under new ownership for a few years, got a bad name and everyone stopped going, these days its being run by a new family and it's back to its best but the problem is people are still put off with the reputation it gained a few years back. Seriously good food. Give it a go.

Is it reasonably priced?

yeah, it's about average.. big portions aswell.

I'll give Da Vinci a go. I hate La Carbonara - flies everywhere and a Steve Martin look-alike hovering around our table all night.

havent been to la carbonara for a while now, but last time i went it was great, shame to hear its gone down hill, been planning a visit but might give it a miss now.

i had dinner at the rat trap today. Was very nice. Busy there which says alot really.

Food quality wise, LaCarbonara leaves every other Italian restaurant in the Swindon area for dead. I've done pretty much the lot several times over the summer and there is only one winner for me.

Lacarbonara is quite small and the tables are a tad too close to each other, but the food is consistently amazing - the Rossini fillet steaks are just off the scale, in spite of the high price.

I'm seriously gob-smacked that anyone would plump for Da Vinci - which is OK, but no where near the standards of LaCarbonara.

Mind, PDC is apparently a frequent patron of Fratello's, so maybe he knows something we don't?

While we're on the subject of restaurants; what the fuck has gone wrong with the 3 Crowns at Brinkworth? Took my Mrs there last week expecting the usual top quality fayre, but the new menu is wank - all the old favourites have gone - and the place was dead. WTF??

the owners sold it a little while ago as far as i was aware to concentrate on the weighbridge house.

I like cooking my own Italian food  :I'm a complete mofleakin Deak

Which is a real shame, because the one and only time I went to the weighbridge brewhouse the service was totally and utterly wank.
    - 10 minutes for seating until drinks order/food order was taken.
    - 1 hour from taking order to serve food - there were no starters on the menu then either.
    - Number of times asked if I'd like another drink :0 .
    - Only 15 minutes from order -> desert being served, a minor victory. Though note I said from order not from clearing of plates (you'd expect a gap between main and desert order, but by this time I was a little pissed off)

Wouldn't mind if it was at capacity (busy but not packed Saturday night), or if I was in a large party. But there were two of us.

Looking at tripadvisor it still seems a bit variable on service. Won't be risking it myself. The food was good, but not THAT good.

Keep meaning to try Fabio's in Old Town. Anyone been?

FWIW, we've tried Fratellos twice - the first time on Fathers' Day, we'd sat down, got drinks and ordered when they decided they'd run out of pizza dough. Which (once I'd recovered from the concept of an Italian restaurant running out of pizza dough) meant we had to leave and go to somewhere more prepared for the concept of serving customers after 4.30 in the afternoon. But then we tried again about a month ago and have to say it was fantastic, both the food and the service. So chalked the earlier visit up to amusing tale to tell and would def go again. Not cheap mind.

if im honest, i'd very rarely have a pizza at an italian, rather go up to pizza express.

Fratello's do a "Two Main Meals for £5" on all of their main pasta and pizza dishes so we sometimes go before the pub on home games.  Good service, food and price!

Bottelino's is still my favourite pizza in Swindon, with Frattelo's my favourite all-rounder.

I only went to Da Vinci years ago when it first opened and it was okay, nothing special, and the service wasn't great.  Could have been teething problems, though. I haven't been to Mario's or Fabio's in years, but went to Gaetano's a little while abck and it was good, if unspectacular.

I'm the opposite... I think pizza express is hugely overrated

Me neither. And if it had been me or the missus, we'd have just had something else, but it was the kids who wanted the pizza and they didn't fancy any of the "fancy-sounding" pasta. Basically the whole episode was a massive failure of parental discipline. It's people like me who've brought this country to it's knees

'Bon Journo'  ?????

I guess it's areevadurchee afterwards

Fratello's is definitely my favourite.  
Fabio's is a big fat NO for me, used to like Mario's but haven't been for about 3 years, Da Vinci went once early on and it was a bit blah, alright I suppose.  Never been to Dolce Vita as I got scared off by the bad rep but am intending to give it a try very soon...
Went to Carbonara once a few years ago when everyone was raving about it and was really disappointed - the food was distinctly average, didn't like the atmosphere at all and found the service really irritating, quite frankly!  One of the waiters kept singing as if he was in a tourist trap in Rome or something and it bugged the hell out of me.  But each to their own, I guess some people like that sort of thing... Needless to say, I never went back!

Not having been to an Italian in Swindon for nearly 15 years, I've never heard of most of these places.  Seems interesting that most of them are in town though (as opposed to Old Town which, maybe, would seem a more natural home for the better restaurants).

The only town centre Italian that I can remember from 'back in my day' was Franco's, which I did like...especially when work was paying.  Assume that it's not there any more?

Fratellos for me, you can't beat that 2 for £10 deal!!!  However Pinos in Marlborough is also very very good.

You voted Tory Paul?

Go there regular as well as Fratello's....sadly the hygiene men gave De Vinci's a bad mark a few years back which i dont think helped there cause....the staff in both these places work really hard to make sure you get a good meal and a good atmosphere..

Fratello's was pretty good on my one visit. Also liked Fabios on my few visits there - enjoyed the food and had fantastic service.

Agree with the comment about Botellinos. Only been once but had a fantastic seafood spaghetti dish which has stuck in the memory!

Has any one been to Casa Paolo over at Common Platt? think it used to be the foresters arms

 
No keep meaning to, tried to once but it was closed because the owner was on holiday! I think that's what they said, seemed a little odd at the time.

Bottelino's is good, I'm particularly fond of their vegetable cannelloni (and I'm by no means vegetarian). They do a £5.99 any pizza or pasta offer most lunchtimes (and weekday early evenings I think) which is exceptional value, provided you steer clear of the overpriced drinks!

Yes a few times and really rate it. Tried to get in recently and it was fully booked. If you want lashings of tinned tomatoes with herbs covering poor quality meat and a four foot wide pizza, best go somewhere else. Otherwise be prepared to pay a little more but get something more akin to real Italian cooking.

Went to Da Vinvi for lunch. Quick menu quite nice, will be back to try a-la-carte some time.

The guy (owner) seemed a character. Son #2 had a Town top on, turns out the owners son played for Oxford (yes I commiserated) at youth level  until he did his knee. Said a few Town players go in. Was also talking about when he lived up in Southport working in a restaurant and know Dalglish, Grobberlaar, et al. Yeah it was name dropping, but didn't come across boastful.

Trying Isola Bella in Devizes for the first time tonight.

We really are spolit for Italian restaurants in Swindon. I've not been to La Carbonara for about 6 months but it really was fantastic.

Me and the mrs went to La Dolce Vita about 3 weeks ago and I had a blue cheese topped steak which was cooked to perfection. Medium/rare, deep pink on the inside but no blood and had the texture of Angel Delight... fucking marvellous.

Gaetano's is probably my third favourite, closely followed by Mario's. Da Vinci is well down the list, I found the food to be very greasy and rich.

Oh if you're feeling lazy and want a take away, San Marco do home delivery are are very decent.

The only thing we are really missing is a proper pizza place that do white pizzas, but they are pretty rare across the whole of the UK.

The best pizza's i have ever eaten have been in NYC, anything in the UK doesnt come close.

Rome for me.

I wonder why

http://www.newscientist.com/article/mg21628874.600-drugs-in-the-italian-air-are-nothing-to-snort-at.html

Had pizza in Modena the other week. To say it's different is an understatement. It was like a tortilla, it was so thin, and the pizza itself was light and not remotely bloating. It actually tasted and looked healthy. We even got a takeaway one night and although that was closer to what we see as pizza, it was still worlds apart.

I have organised our work Christmas meal here, it better be good Barry ;)

My Dad went and said it was pretty average the other day and not everyone in the thread is quite so full of praise - I await your wrath. :)

I'm going there Friday though, so we'll see if I still think it's sexual.

Yes go there a bit when in Town as its part owned by a friend. Can't complain but then I do usually get a free bottle of wine.

Casa Paolo for me every time. 5 Minute walking distance, superb food, nice atmosphere, non rowdy pissed up customers and an owner who does not think that tinned tomatoes with some erbs constitutes Italian cooking. Chicken and mushroom soup liberally splashed about your plate makes them a michelin star restaurant either.

Sorry but Italian wise Swindon is a gastronomic desert, above example excluded.

No, I don't know them nor am I paid by them, it is just as I have found them every time I have eaten there.

As for Christmas parties in my experience with a variety of establishments over the years......I would not bother.

If you must, wait till January.

Bon appetite!

The Olive Tree in Calne did a superb Neopolitano pizza and the service was impeccable. Lament its demise.

The kind of service I don't like is that which I often encounter in Indian restaurants, so very insincere, overall my experience of Italian waiters/waitresses in eateries in the UK is that they exude style and unaffected cheeriness. Easily my favourite foreign cuisine.

Going to La Carbonara this weekend, I know people havent been raving abuot it of late but last time i went there i was impressedm but thats was some time ago, will see how its changed, if at all

Let me know chubbs, thinking of taking the mrs out again sometime soon and she has never been.

Just got back from la carbonara and I could not fault it, service was great, foot was amazing. I had muscles for starter, never had them before so didnt have anything to compare them to but I enjoyed them. For main I had sea bass with prawns in lobster sauce  and again it was amazing, the fish just fell away from the skin and was so tastey.
Other half had scallops in Parma ham and they were amazing too.

We had a 6 year old with us who, like any 6 year old is a bit picky and when we asked if something could be left off or changed to her liking everything was accommodated. Could not fault it at all.

Fit waitresses too:-)

Never eaten foot before,hope they removed any excess nails before serving. :D

The muscles make them very tasty....especially if they're pigs feet.