Mezzaluna Italian Restaurant & Pizzeria

Venue:-            Mezzaluna Italian Restaurant & Pizzeria 

Telephone:-            01344 876200 

Web:-              http://www.ristorantemezzaluna.com/

Mezzaluna is situated at one end of the High Street in the village of Sunninghill, although it has no parking of its own there is ample street parking just outside or very nearby. The restaurant is family run, seats around 40/50 people and has a nice mix of tables for large or small parties with a few round tables which I believe all restaurants should have. The inside is very Italian with a terrazzo tiled floor, beamed ceiling and walls adorned with modern art and several large bottles of Italian wine set into small mirrored alcoves that make the restaurant appear larger than it is – it looks very nice, you are not really aware  that the mirrors are there. The seats are very comfortable Edwardian style with a few leather bound seats and a a few carver chairs. Two waitresses were on this evening and both were of a jolly disposition, unhurried yet attentive, one of the two was a newcomer learning the ropes but was obviously liking  her job. We had a lot of good friendly banter with both. Nice ambience, good background music not so intrusive that you couldn’t hold a conversation.

So on to the food.

Three guests, three courses, apperifs, wine and coffee - £127.50

There is a good menu with a range of 21 starters with an average price of £7.95, 16 pastas £7.95 to  £9.95 average, mains £13.95 - £21.50,  and a dessert trolley at £4.50 a throw. My, my a dessert trolley! That’s takes me back to a bygone age of flambes at the table and Mateus Rose – you just don’t seem to get them anymore, Don’t particulary want the Mateus! There is also a pizza menu and a few daily specials. The wine list has all the usual Italian suspects with house wine coming in at £12.95 a bottle.

NOTE:- Crusty bread & butter, a bowl of mixed olives are not charged for and ALL mains come with either a side salad or veggies and potatoes.

Our food:-

Starters:-

Avocado Mezzaluna  (£7.95) – avocado, tomato and Mozzarella – typical Italian ‘tricolore’ which down well as a light starter, but was a good sized portion.

Spag. All Marinara (£9.95 – probably cheaper as it was a starter) – excellent spag with tomato, garlic and chilli with mixed seafood of mussels, clams, prawns and squid. Large portion which was greeted with ‘excellent’

I had the Calamari Fritti (£7.95) – delicious squid rings done to perfection in a light crispy tempura batter with a small rocket salad and a single cherry tomato – perfect starter.

Mains :-

Penne Primavera (£8.50) – pasta tubes with mushrooms, onions, peppers, garlic, olives and tomato sauce – excellent pasta, completely devoured by my partner. Plus a very nice mixed salad (£3.50).

Fegato all Veneziana (£14.95) – calves liver with onion and red wine sauce. Once again a faultless choice, plenty of calves liver braised in a rich red wine with plenty of onions, again the choice of accompaniment was a mixed salad.

My choice – Lemon sole wrapped around smoked salmon in a rich butter sauce on a bed of wilted spinach. One of the days specials. I had this with a side of spinach. Excellent fish cooked to perfection and very tasty spinach with an added touch of garlic. Must drop them a point here as the fish came with spinach and I ordered extra spinach, had I known the fish already came with  spinach I would have ordered a different side.

Dessert :-

All at £4.50 from the trolley, oranges soaked in Grand Marnier and syrup with some strawberries and raspberries for good measure topped off with fresh cream. The there was apple pie with cinnamon , more strawberries and raspberries and more cream. I was puffing so settled for a very nice crème brulee. Other desserts we did not try included profiterooles, lemon meringue, Tiramisu (of course!) and a choclately thingy.

This was all washed down with a couple of Peronis to start and an orange juice, a bottle of Chianti Classico Reserva 2008 at a whopping (I thought) £23.95 – but it was very nice. The coffee was Busonero, which I have never heard off but apparently is a gourmet coffee served in Italy. The double expressos ( 4 of them!) were strong and smooth without the  hint of bitterness that some expressos have. The other coffee was a regular white coffee which was perfectly ok, if not a little strong.

Overall this was an excellent meal and we would definitely revisit, my gripes were minor and the two other guests had no gripes at all. I would recommend this restaurant to anybody that likes Italian cuisine.