HAVING been recommended to us twice by different people, we thought we would give Il Padrino a try.

The Italian restaurant is based in Church Street and has been open for three years.

The restaurant gets its name from The Godfather film franchise, which is popular with owner Fausto Mazza, who worked at a number of restaurants before opening his own.

It focuses on meat, fish and pasta dishes and Fausto is planning to open up a pizzeria in The Old Court, several doors down from the current restaurant.

Il Padrino, split over three floors, is small but has a welcoming, homely feel to it.

We were quickly shown to a table, our candle was lit and we were given the comprehensive menu.

There was also a range of specials which were pointed out to us. Most of these were seafood dishes, including scallops, crab and mussels.

The menu itself had a good selection of pasta and meat dishes, including the classics like carbonara but also more traditional meals from Italy.

A good inclusion was the table of allergens in the food – a good reference for anyone with allergies.

There was a good selection of wine and beer available.

I ordered the chargrilled smoked mozzarella and my boyfriend had the scallops and bacon.

The mozzarella was delicious, served with a lovely tomato sauce that really brought out the flavour of the cheese but wasn’t too overpowering.

The scallop dish came with three of the molluscs served with their shells and a large chunk of bacon. The combination was a little odd, but the scallops had been cooked to perfection – not rubbery and nice and juicy.

For mains, I had the tagliatelle al salmone. There were large chunks of salmon in the tomato sauce and the whole dish was lovely, well seasoned and very impressive.

My boyfriend enjoyed his choice of fresh crab tagliatelle from the specials board. He was slightly disappointed by the amount of crab – I had much more salmon, but overall the dish was great.

For dessert, I had the chocolate and orange cake which was very nice and served with a generous amount of cream.

Overall, we were both incredibly impressed with the meal. The food was pretty much faultless, the staff were delightful and the restaurant was inviting.

I look forward to visiting the pizzeria.

KIRSTY HOUGH

Il Padrino
Church St
Colchester 
01206 366699

MENU
Chargrilled smoked mozzarella
Scallops and bacon
Tagliatelle al salmone
Fresh crab tagliatelle
Chocolate and orange cake

VERDICT

Atmosphere 4/5
Food 4/5
Decor 4/5
Value 3/5
Service 4/5
YES