IL sapore Italian 38 High Street, Bristol BS9 3DZ

"Had a table booked on Saturday (my partner had an email confirmation that he booked as a surprise for my birthday). We were staying in the local area and when we arrived I was excited as the place looked gorgeous. After four years of not being able to celebrate my birthday (for various reasons), I was looking forward to the experience as I love Italian food, the interior was lovely (especially the bar area), and we’d actually made it out to celebrate (hurrah!) We arrived five minutes before our booking at 7.30pm and were acknowledged by staff whilst we waited. When we were asked our name it was clear that a table hadn’t actually been reserved for us. Not a good start but a table was set for us, and after being seated were offered drinks. Took a while to come and the waitress came back three times to confirm what we wanted, but we were looking forward to a nice evening. I won’t go into all the details (there were so many mistakes made and we felt forgotten about the entire evening) but what was highlighted the most was the service. It was exceptionally poor. Our starter took ages to arrive and we didn’t get our main course until gone 9.10pm. The staff weren’t attentive at all. We felt like we’d inconvenienced them to be honest. It was fairly busy so can only put it down to lack of staff maybe? The really sticky table (which my napkin and clothes didn’t appreciate) was also strange. The stars are for the food, my pizza was lovely, my partner had the wild boar tagliatelle which he enjoyed. He wanted some Parmesan but no staff around to ask, then the table next to us (who were there before us and got served after) had some offered to them. It was the final disappointment for us, the experience just wasn’t as we’d hoped at all so we paid the bill, left and stopped at the local co op for dessert."

"We had a wonderful Christmas Day lunch at Il Sapore. The food was excellent and the staff, so attentive. Recommend I’ll Sapore to anyone looking for that little bit extra."

"What an amazing treat, a little hidden away gem . Food was absolutely first class . Friendly staff and the food was wonderful. Can't wait to return."

"My wife Jayne and myself have just had a great lunch at il sapore from starter to dessert would definitely recommend will be going back soon"

"Fantastic meal. Our second visit and every bit as good as the previous one. The dough petals are lovely, we ordered both types then split them. I then had the sea bass, undoubtedly the best I've ever had. My husband had the chicken breast with fried gnocchi and raved about it. Yummy profiteroles to follow. Staff friendly and efficient. I'd give more than 5 stars if I could."