Prezzo - Ely

'The busy, mid-week atmosphere had an element of 'new restaurant' about it; and yet the venue has been open since 2006.'

There's a warm and welcoming appeal to Prezzo as you leave the outdoors and go into the inviting interior of the Italian restaurant, situated on Ely's quiet High Street. Entering from a modest side street, overlooked by Ely's imposing Cathedral, you're faced immediately with an impressive, modern pizza oven, and an open kitchen with the occasional burst of flame. If you haven't booked, comfortable seating is arranged by the entrance, allowing you a view across the restaurant, which offers a subtly lit, intimate but alive ambience.

As part of a chain of restaurants that hit London's West End in 2000, the busy, mid-week atmosphere had an element of 'new restaurant' about it; and yet the venue has been open since December 2006. The restaurant is well established in Ely, and obviously very popular, set amongst competing chains further along the High Street. Indeed, very little about the interior of the restaurant stands out as being part of a chain, with contemporary furniture filling the deep-rooted architecture, a floor to ceiling window and thoughtfully selected artwork on the walls.

The menu itself is perhaps what you would expect; offering a variety of traditional Italian cuisine which, at least here, heavily relies on white meat and fish. Main courses can be chosen from a selection of pizzas, calzone, pasta, risotto or specials, all of which offer extremely good value. The menu is complemented by a selection of salads and side dishes, which the sociable waitresses skilfully drop into your own choice. Nor do you need to worry about your pronunciation of the sometimes unfamiliar Italian dishes, as the staff are well informed and quick to help you out. Although the wine list is limited, the house wine was excellent - warm and full - and complemented our choice of meal throughout.

Three, butterfly roasted king prawns were served on lightly toasted ciabatta pieces with a fresh, leafy salad and fragrant flavouring; and two soft crab croquettes came with a lime and dill dressing for starter. Although small, the starters were an excellent appetiser, and made up for their size in taste. Although we chose to eat a starter each, the Italians prefer to choose and share a variety of dishes as antipasti, and there is plenty on the menu to make this a great option.

Plenty of steaming pizza and calzone were coming out of the oven behind us, making it look a popular choice, but we both chose pasta for main course, and enjoyed the well prepared, al dente pasta with refreshing, light sauces that made the overwhelming portions manageable.

As with the rest of the menu, the dessert selection was somewhat predictable, but did not let itself down in quality, with an again delicately flavoured chocolate biscuit cake completing our meal. There weren't even any complaints when we asked for cream as well as ice cream - a consequence of sharing the dessert! We left the restaurant pleasantly full and quietly impressed.


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