Da Vinci Restaurant

[4D]

I like cooking my own Italian food 

[Batch]

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

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.

[Freddies Ferret]

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

[pauld]

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.

[Chubbs]

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

[timmyg]

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.

[LucienSanchez]

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

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

[pauld]

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

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

[ron dodgers]

'Bon Journo'  ??

I guess it's areevadurchee afterwards

[Forza_Swindon]

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!

[Ardiles]

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?

[corner]

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

[ronnie21]

It's people like me who've brought this country to it's knees

You voted Tory Paul?

[leefer]

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.)

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..

[reeves4england]

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!