Piccolinos Virginia Water Review

Due to the sudden but short-lived heatwave we decided to drive up to the beautiful location of Virginia Water and have a spot of lunch on Friday.

We chose to dine in a restaurant chain called Piccolinos. Amy had recently been to the Mayfair restaurant and raved about it so we thought we tried our nearest which was located in VW!

VENUE

Really impressive decor and layout. We were seated in the terrace/conservatory which was g o r g e o u s. The roof was retractable and the ceiling was open with the sun streaming in whilst we were seated. It literally felt like we were on holiday *dramatic sigh*

HOWEVER the sun was a little bit much after about an hour (once the whole 'omg I'm getting a tan how fabulous' phase had worn off) and the lady on the adjacent table requested the shutters be closed; luckily because we were way too polite to ask and would have burnt to a crisp in silence lol

There were round tables as well as sofa/bench type seats in blue leather. We loved sitting here as once we'd polished off our puddings we could lean back, get comfy and sip on our cocktails however it is a job to peel yourself off and get up.

To top it all off there was even a cute DJ playing on a raised balcony which definitely added to the atmosphere and obvious eye candy for the afternoon. We imagine the music will add even more to the vibe of the restaurant/bar during the evening, especially weekend.

SERVICE

All the waiters were lovely and had a sense of humour which made ordering our drinks and different courses a pleasure as well as leaving us laughing. All the gents that served us were also Italian which was quite cute and along with the heat and sunshine it actually felt like we were in Italy!

Having dined in various high priced (equally pompous) restaurants in London we've often found the hostess at the entrance to be quite rude or short however the lady that greeted us here and took us to our table was nothing but welcoming and lovely. Refreshing change.

Our waiter also kindly gave each of us ladies loyalty cards, upon paying for the bill. Each £1 spent equates to 1 point and purely registering the card allows £20 of your next meal - bonus that if we use all 3 of our cards during our next meal that'll be £60 off the bill hollaaaaa

Our only criticism would be the waiting staff were quite slow at clearing our plates.

FOOD

The menu consisted of classic italian dishes ranging from delicious typical antipastis such as carpaccio all the way to luxurious lobster.

Portion sizes were perfect for lunch:

ARAGOSTA £24.00/37.00 Half or whole lobster, garlic & parsley butter, house cut chips

INSALATA DI GRANCHIO £14.75 Hand-picked crab, avocado, gem lettuce & brown crab mayonnaise

ANATRA ALL’ARANCIO £17.00 Crispy duck, spinach, Grand Marnier & orange

CALAMARI FRITTI £8.00 Fried calamari, roast garlic mayonnaise & lemon

We apologize but we didn't manage to take any photos of our main meals as we got a little over excited and began to tuck in.

Now to the best part... dessert:

TORTA DI PASSIONE | Passion fruit cheesecake (v) £6.75

TORTA CAPRESE | Dark chocolate & almond tart, vanilla ice cream (v) (n) £6.75

TORTINO AL CIOCCOLATO | Warm chocolate fondant & caramel ice cream (v) £6.75

We were so shocked and it was such a pleasant surprise to see this little caption the dessert menu:

"All our ice creams are made using milk & cream from Gornall’s dairy, Goosnargh, in the Ribble Valley"  

We were born and raised in Preston and went for ice cream in Goosnargh SO many times during our summers so this was really cute and made the calories all the more worth it tehehe

COCKTAILS

Needless to say we had to feed our cocktail addiction and Piccolinos did not disappoint. Here are our recommendations:

KIM SHA £8.50 Finlandia vodka, pureéd white peach, raspberries, passion fruit, peach & pomegranate

MAI TAI £9.00 Bacardi Carta Oro rum with Cointreau, lime & almond syrup & finished with Gosling’s Black Seal rum

PORN STAR MARTINI £10.25 Stolichnaya vanilla vodka with passion fruit & pineapple - accompanied by a baby glass of Prosecco Lunetta

BRAMBLE £8.00 Bombay Sapphire gin with lemon and sugar - drizzled with French blackberry liqueur

ROSA SPRITZ £8.00 Cocchi Rosa with Prosecco Lunetta & sod

PRICE

Bill came to just over £150 which we think is fair considering the service and number of cocktails we ordered. Also definitely in line with restaurants of the same calibre.

OVERALL

Overall Piccolinos is very upmarket but relaxed. Perfect when in the mood for good food, delicious cocktails and a reason to dress up and have a classy meal out. We will most definitely be back!!