Everything about Piccolo Kitchen was amazing – the food, staff and table settings – we’ll be back!
Piccolo Kitchen
The Lisburn Road in Belfast boasts some great food and drink spots, cafes and shops – and a new addition last week fits in perfectly.
Piccolo Kitchen, opened its doors on the Lisburn Road on November 27, and given it is linked to Newcastle’s incredible Villa Vinci, we had to try it out on its opening weekend. We are big lovers of pasta and pizza, and it would be our go-to takeaway on a Saturday evening.
We booked a table for two on the restaurants online booking system, which was really handy to navigate. We were given the option of restaurant or terrace dining. I wasn’t sure what that meant, so decided to phone the desk and the different seating sections were explained to us over the phone. The terrace option was in an area at the front of Piccolo, with windows surrounding to give a decent view of the Lisburn Road.
There were cosy blankets at each table, and heaters above us to keep us warm – and although we did wonder if we made the right choice to sit in the outer section, we didn’t once complain about the temperature. The heaters were just at the right position so we were toasty, but not overpowered by warmth.
The menu at Piccolo Kitchen
We were greeted by the most welcoming man, Beckham, who checked in on us throughout our meal. He was friendly and attentive and answered any questions we had about the menu, and about Piccolo Kitchen. He made us feel like we had known him for years.
The cocktail menu and food menu were both really impressive. There was plenty to choose from, and although I always say that I’ll give new cocktails a try, I can’t pass up on a bramble. It’s my favourite, and I was glad I did because it was really tasty. We booked our table for 2pm, so we hadn’t had breakfast, and were both starving.
We went for the Vesuvio pizza, which had pepperoni, nduja, hot honey, tomato and mozzarella on top. It did have a ‘hot’ warning on the menu, and it definitely had a good kick of spice to it. While there are plenty of incredible pizza spots about the city, in my opinion, it is hard to beat a woodfired pizza. Piccolo Kitchen’s pizza was 10 out of 10. We shared the pizza between two, but also added the chicken and bacon al forno dish. Wow. It was amazing.
The garlic and parmesan potatoes
It was oven baked Irish chicken and bacon, with creamy béchamel and parmesan sauce topped with mozzarella. The cheese pull on this dish was good – very TikTok worthy! And because we are in the season of ‘why not it’s Christmas’, we also added a side of parmesan and garlic crispy potatoes. Again, they were cooked to perfection, so crispy that you could have picked them up with your hands and broke them in two, with a crunch.
While it wasn’t our intention to try Piccolo Kitchen for a review, the service we had from Beckham and the other waiting staff, and food we tasted, was too good not to share. There wasn’t one single part of our visit where we could have said needed tweaking. The food was some of the best pizza and pasta we have ever had, and trust us, we’ve had our share of it.
Our meal at Piccolo Kitchen
Not a drop was left on our plates, and while it would have been good to try the dessert menu, there physically was no room anywhere for it. Our meal came to £47 which was for a cocktail, pizza, pasta dish and side – and for the portion sizes, we found this to be pretty reasonable.
Our pasta dish
We’re already planning a return visit to Piccolo Kitchen with friends, and all I can say is that it’ll be hard to try different items on their menu, because we haven’t stopped thinking about the dishes we had last weekend! It is a huge 10 out of 10 for Piccolo Kitchen from us, and we look forward to heading back over the Christmas period.
You can see more about Piccolo Kitchen including their menus and booking details here.
In the interest of fairness and transparency, we pay for all the meals and drinks we review. This ensures that we are giving accurate and honest representations of the food and service that we receive. So, unless we state otherwise that we were invited down, we have paid for the meal ourselves and visited without the knowledge of the eatery, so you can trust our opinions aren’t skewed by a freebie.
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Dining and Cooking