As the son of a hotel manager and a keen cook myself at home I have always been extremely discerning when it comes to eating out. I generally go for Indian, Chinese or Thai because these are cuisines that I can't really do justice to at home and generally speaking I am seldom disappointed.
It is refreshing therefore to find a a european restaurant that not only meets but exceeds my expectations especially when it comes to Italian cuisine, in my opinion the best in Europe (yes, sorry, better than French).
My eldest son recently was offered his first full time job as a qualified teacher and in family tradition he was entitled to a meal out - he chose Olivetto's.
I am probably biased I admit, because they are on this site and by definition are expected to be reasonably good - however I must say the food was absolutely spot on!
We arrived reasonable early and received a very warm welcome from Fulvio and his crew - service was very friendly and the wine, Italian of course was very reasonable. I ordered a liver and bacon dish which was beautifully tender and full of mediterranean flavours whilst my son had a steak and my wife a seafood risotto. All of us, without exception raved about our meal to the extent that our neighbours, on our advice went the following week and came back raving about it also - hows's that for network marketing !
It is easy to say nice things without really meaning it, but I do believe strongly that most 'european' restaurants fall well short of the mark - for example I recently had a meal at a well known restaurant in Newbury which carries the name of a famous chef and was bitterly disappointed by tiny pretentious portions of boring ordinary food not cooked particularly well all of which was provided for an extortionate price.
I'm pleased to say that Olivetto offers traditional, wholesome Italian food in a great location at reasonable prices.
If you fancy trying somewhere new why not give Olivetto or indeed Olivo (although I haven't tried Olivo yet) a go - feel free to comment ....
