After hearing some positive things about this popular Italian restaurant, I decided to visit them and see what are the talk was all about. Due to the size of this restaurant, it’s apparently essential to book in advance, but we were lucky to get a table on the bank holiday Monday. This place has a nice, authentic Italian feel to it, with a nice service throughout the evening. I chose the past tubes with stuffed beef and pork, and a mixed seafood salad. My seafood salad was nice and fresh, but maybe abit too much of the zingy dressing and definitely generous in portion as the menu suggested! I thought my main was slightly disappointing though, maybe because I had high expectations. It was alright though, and the tomato sauce wasn’t overpowering, as experienced before in other Italian restaurants. I also had the fortune of trying their pizza, which I thought was nice. I prefer my pizzas to be authentic, so having the thin base and not overcrowded toppings. Overall it was a good experience, and I’d come back to try out other dishes, but based on the food I had in my first visit, only going to award you 3.5 stars.
Cobrie
Rating des Ortes: 2 York, United Kingdom
not good really a burnt chewy tasteless pizza squeezed in and poor plonk it in front of you service!! Would say avoid!
Nicnoc
Rating des Ortes: 5 York, United Kingdom
Fabulous! You must must must go! But make sure you book in plenty of time. The night that we went the amount of people being turned away could have filled this compact but cosy restaurant twice over. The food is amazing 3 of us had pasta with sea bream, it was the best pasta I have ever had! Although the carbonara comes a very close second or was it the pizza? I really can’t decide what was best because it is all wonderful! Fantastic prices too. 6 of us dined with plenty of wine for £80 definately have the tiramisu. It is nothing like the pretend stuff that some restaurants serve it’s the real italian thing and homemade every day. Service was brilliant too my mum was chatted up by the waiter! She enjoyed it so much that she booked to go the next week!
Danny
Rating des Ortes: 5 York, United Kingdom
Cheerful service and good food. First time last evening but it will now be a regular place for us. We visit york often and have often walked past unimpressed with the look of the place. A clear example of confusing packaging with contents. This part of town is a little run down, however it also has 4 good restaurants. Meltons Too, Khao San road, Il paradiso and last but by no means least the excellent Barbakan. Be aware of the no credit /debit cards rule at Il paradiso. However it speaks volumes of the place that there was a friendly trust(Of a tourist whom they had never seen before) that I would find a cashpoint and return on a cold wet night. I did. Finally noted that this is the place in town where Italians come to eat, also the constant stream of customers who had not booked being turned away. A great place run with love of food and people.
Leila_
Rating des Ortes: 5 York, United Kingdom
This is the kind of place you don’t want to tell any one else about, because if you do it’ll be more difficult for you to knab a table at lunch. The cooking is simple but very very very tasty Italian. But what really sets this place apart is the atmosphere. Do not come here if you want a quiet relaxing lunch hour. The TV is likely to be blaring some Italian cable channel or another. There is likely to be some member of the Italian or Spanish speaking community shouting at another. And this will all be echoing off the hard floor and formica tables. Recommended dishes are the carbonara, porcini pasta, mussels and clams, and more or less any of the roast specials. To drink, try the bitter orangade, aranciata amara.
Greff
Rating des Ortes: 5 Ledbury, United Kingdom
Il Paradiso del Cibo serves some of the finest Italian food I’ve tasted anywhere, even compared to ones in a completely different price league. The atmosphere is unpretentious and playful, and the pasta and pizza always tastes fresh and immensely flavourful. I want to make sauces like theirs myself. I particularly enjoy the spicy dishes with seafood, and they do have vegetarian options. It’s a good idea to come on the early side for lunch as Il Paradiso has been discovered and tends to fill up later in the lunch hour. I think Walmgate is the only neighbourhood with good lunch spots in town(a few doors down is the awesome Barbakan deli). Don’t even think about queuing at Pizza Hut when you could eat here.
Carava
Rating des Ortes: 5 York, United Kingdom
Probably the best restaurant in York, if truth be told — something akin to the kind of caffe you’d find in Italy itself, albeit with excellent food. Chipped lino floor, creaky toilet and Rai Uno/Calcio on the TV — all part of the atmosphere. If the pizza oven is going, the pizzas are fantastic. Otherwise, go for the specials on the blackboard which are always fantastic, and really incredibly good value. Homemade pastas, whole grilled fish, excellent steaks from milk-fed cattle. The chef Paolo is from Sardinia, very friendly and a real enthusiast for Italian food. Only open until 5pm(busy at lunchtime), unless you’ve got a group booking of 8+ when he’ll open in the evening specially and do a degustazione menu(apparently).
Charme
Rating des Ortes: 5 York, United Kingdom
This is the most amazing Italian Restaurant in England, possibly anywhere! We’ve travelled Italy extensively, and this restaurant is comparable, if not better, than many classic restaurants there! It is a small, local business, run by a charismatic Italian chef who always takes the time to get to know his customers. Everything on the menu is amazing, but I recommend the pumpkin ravioli and also the lamb. You must finish off your meal with a nice helping of Tiramisu. It is the finest Tiramisu in the world. Not joking! He also takes bookings for parties/dinners in the evenings, and I can’t recommend this enough. We’ve had two dinner parties there and both times our friends and coworkers left the restaurant raving about the food and feeling absolutely great.