Zizzi

Always a pleasure to eat here :) fair prices, good size on the food, but we have not been too happy with the fish and chicken dishes. But the pizza and pasta have never let us down.

Having eaten in quite a few Zizzis around the country, I’m a big fan of their initiative and ethos, and their pasta is always superb.
However, I didn’t feel that this one was quite up to the exceptional standard of other branches I’ve visited — or maybe a Monday night wasn’t the best time to visit.
We were greeted courteously and quickly shown to a table — although it was hardly busy so the staff were practically falling over themselves to serve us.
The first problem I had was with the atmospheric lighting, which in the front section seemed to come solely from tiny wall fittings. It was so dim that I had to use the torch app on my phone in order to read the specials menu, which was printed on a brown card insert in the menu. I also struggled to read the red wine choices, which were printed on a red background. Admittedly at my age I do sometimes struggle a bit in dim lighting, but even my colleague thought that this did seem a bit extreme!
I ordered the seafood linguine, which is a fairly standard choice for me in Zizzi, and a side order of garlic bread. That was the second problem — the garlic bread arrived covered in cheese, although I hadn’t asked for the cheesy version. However, it was soon replaced and the rest of the meal was as delicious as expected from Zizzis.
Perhaps I was just a bit tired, but the overall experience this evening just served to take the edge off my love of this chain, and reduced the star rating of this particular branch. Sorry Zizzi — I still love you really.

I was pleasantly surprised by this Zizzi.
Firstly it was huuuge! It looked like a small room from the street, so we were amazed to find out it opens out and continues into a vast space around the back, with plenty of room for us away from the large party of excited pre-​teens happily eating pizza at the front.
There were quite a few delicious sounding things on the menu, and my friend and I were not disappointed by the taste. I was also impressed by the range of vegetarian, gluten free and other allergen free options. The menu also has little hearts to show which items are under 650 (?) calories. (I happily ignored this and went for delicious, calorific linguine with balls of spinach and ricotta, buttery courgette and chillies. Yum!) It seems like it’d be an excellent restaurant if you have fussy friends, or friends that are allergic to certain foods or on a diet.

We’ve now eaten at various Zizzi’s over the last six months and this one, like the others, was utterly superb. They must have some initiative to do well right now, because every single waiter and waitress in any site has been exceptional. Here too!
The menu offers a few lovely differentations from the norm. The food has always been perfect in presentation and taste. I’ve always had pastas, but my wife’s pizzas have seen her very happy indeed.
They look after our little boy well. He loves their dough-​sticks. Desserts were exquisite.
It was our second visit to this Winchester branch. Clean, characterful if sometimes dark as a location. Very popular, so we get in and get seated promptly.
Top marks for everything. Almost rude to use vouchers here, but we did.
Only comment as a joke And it’s not just this branch! Somebody needs to sharpen the coloured pencils for the toddlers now and again. We always get a cup full of pencils worn down so completely, our boy can’t use them! Haha.
Perfect otherwise. A safe bet each time.

I can’t believe no one has left a review for this place. I only became a fan of Italian food (other than pizza) a few years ago but haven’t had the chance to explore many Italian restaurants. We went to visit my stepson and his wife and they took us to Zizzis. I did not realise this was part of a chainand I have to confess I am looking forward to visiting our local restaurant as the food was first class. My wife had the lasagne which I tasted and this was great but I had Vodka linguini with prawns which was totally delicious.
I believe that over time I will sample every dish on offer just to check out the quality.