Zizzi are a chain of Italian Restaurants in a similar style to Bella Pasta in that every one pretty much carries an identical menu and thus as a consumer you would expect to get a consistent experience differentiated only by the level of service and the décor of the restaurant. I have visited the Zizzi in the heart of Milton Keynes Theatre District on a number of occasions now and I have to be honest it is more out of convenience rather than any undying loyalty to the place. This is due to the fact that every three months or so a group of former work colleagues meet up and Milton Keynes is a central place and in the group there are two vegetarians so as Italian always has some good options we tend to stick with it.

This restaurant is a large cavernous glass fronted building with the seating covering two floors, there is a large open plan ground floor, as you enter the bar is to your right with a waiting area adjacent to it (during our visit just prior to xmas the waiting area had been replaced by tables in anticipation of extra bookings). Straight ahead of you is an open plan kitchen arrangement from which the food is issued and to your left is a flight of stairs that leads to an upstairs balcony which overlooks the ground floor and has additional seating and the rest rooms.

The front of the restaurant is made up of retractable glass frames so that in summer these can be folded back and there is additional seating outside which can be quite nice to take advantage of on a hot summer night as it is located within a pedestrian area and surrounded by similar bars and restaurants. However in winter this design causes a problem. If you the add the fact that it has a high ceiling which goes with an exposed pipe work design and the place is just too cold, you get draughts from the windows and the door being constantly opened and shut as people arrive and leave. Now I do not feel the cold as bad as some but other members of my group were not so fortunate, one person actually sat with their hands over the candle on the table at one point and the staff informed us that there was nothing they could do but would pass our concerns on to the management.

As far as the food goes, well it was competent without having anything about it to make me recommend it over similar venues, The menu is predominantly pasta and pizza dishes and there is plenty of choice. I was rather disappointed with the range of starters on offer with other half being some bread based option, on a previous visit I had opted for the Bruschetta Genovese which combined chicken, pesto and spring onions and was quite nice and a friend said that the Crostini Formaggio di Capra which was grilled goats cheese and balsamic onions was nice as well.

The choice of main course was much better with a wide range of pizza options, I ordered a Pollo al Rosamarino which was chicken and mushroom with fresh rosemary, there were about six large strips of chicken breast on it and it was very tasty and quite large, certainly more than enough, the only problem was that even if I had wanted to I would not have eaten it all because my the time I got half way through it was already cold, it arrived hot it just did not retain the heat, now I'm not the fastest eater but this was not good in my opinion. They have a good range of pasta and salad options and on previous visits I have enjoyed the risotto options in particular the Rissoto Di Gamberi di Broccoli which at £10.95 is the most expensive main course on the menu. Most of the pizzas are in the £8.25 price range with the starters around the £4 mark and none above £5.

One area the restaurant does excel in is the desserts and the Torta Limone is to die for, with a zesty fresh lemon taste that is very refreshing to the palate. If you want to load on the calories then go for the Banana Con Cioccolata, layers of banana, chocolate and toffee sauce on a Belgian Waffle. There is a decent wine selection, by the glass it is about £5 while the average bottle will set you back about £14 on average.

The service was polite and pretty efficient although it does seem to have a fairly steady turnover of staff as on the last two occasions we have been served by someone in training. The one thing it does have going for it is that there is plenty of room so accommodating large groups is not a problem and there is a decent amount of spacing between the tables. We have always visited during the week so have never bothered with booking however at weekends or for large groups this would be essential.

Access to the restaurant does not involve any steps so it s suitable for those in wheel chairs and I assume there are disabled toilets on the ground floor as there is no loft up to the balcony area. The toilets are clean which is always a good sign and seem to be checked on a regular basis.

In summary this is an acceptable place to go in the summer as you can take advantage of some al fresco dining however for our last visit the lack of heat did affect our enjoyment of the meal and I can honestly say that the dessert with a nice warm coffee was the highlight of the evening, that and some excellent company.

If you want to check out the menu then click on the link


http://www.zizzi.com/zizzimenu.html

Thanks for reading and rating my review.