piccolo ristorante italiano

first went to this restaurant when it opened - no liquor license at the time which wasn't a problem but never offered anything else to drink, food was average and service reminded me of faulty towers! not sure why we decided to go back but thought we would give them another try - especially being close to home and being huge italian foodies!

not sure why we bothered - food was very average - pizza bread for starters - well manufactured (if u know what i mean), lasagna tasted like it was overheated in a microwave and lacked flavour, my partner had apastadish which tasted like a tin of tomatoes tipped over somepasta- not good. i must say on a positive note the tiramisu was good which we shared.

we dine out alot and like to support our locals also - but come on - if you are going to survive you need to pick your game up - we won't be back unfortunately as much better options to dine at in chch.

we had a takeaway from here apastaand a pizza.
extremely disappointed- pizza was stone cold when i got home- only live 5 min away.
very very overpriced for what you get. if you order a medium pizza - you are getting a childs size.

we were first time diners at your restaurant last night. it was our anniversary and we have been wanting to try your place for quite some time now. the wait was definitely worth it. the garlic flat bread had oodles of delicious garlic on top of a beautiful base. we shared a pizza and a pasta. again the food was delicious, the sauce on thepastawas so delicious i was tempted to use my finger to get every last drop. the pizza was so tasty and the amount of toppings was perfect. we loved the quaint and cosy atmosphere.

only one 'fault' and that is that you tables are small and we couldn't fit it all on :)

great meal and we will most definitely be back again.
thanks

we were a small group from taipei, and had been told we should go to this italian restaurant when in new zealand christchurch. we enjoyed the pizza, and pasta, we try tomato typepastaand very good. as we are restaurant people in taipei, we are very happy. two people in group say it just taste like when in italy.

what an amazing place, good staff, good food and an interesting clientele...staff very well mannered and a very friendly operator. nice thin base pizza with at least 12 or so to choose from and a very goodpastamenu.
talk to harry for an update on youth affairs- he seems to know it all; the italian waiter is quite a character and the female staff are very efficient.
shall return again.

am finally getting around to reviewing this handy wee neighborhood bistro that we go to quite often. it's unpretentious and very authentic in style. many new zealanders may not know that about an italian bistro. they do pizza andpastaand that's it. the sauces are all simple and fresh and the pizza and garlic bread is all obviously done in a brick oven. they serve authentic italian wines, including something really special that is from the cashmere neighborhood! cracroft chase make (as in grow and bottle) an italian style pinot gris and it's fab! it's grown just up the road in the cracroft valley! go and see the winery in summer and meet the italian owners! but anyway, back to piccolo, yes the chef is a colourful character who isn't italian, but maybe should be! we love the young staff, especially the young italian guy they had in there for a while - he added to the whole atmosphere. i have worked my way through the menu and liked everything i've had. the prices indicate that this is bistro quality, not fine dining. the table salad is basic but fresh and everything else is like 'mama' would make. we love the place and we hope like heck it stays around.

i went there last night and thought it was great! food was good, service good and a nice atmosphere. goodpastadishes, simple but good wine selection and great dessert -- and even the green salad was good -- fresh and simply dressed. we'd ordered take away pizzas before but this time ate in. very please.
felt we had 'value for money'! we'll be back.

what a fantastic place! i saw the recent review that didn't recommend the restaurant highly, so we didn't expect a lot, but since we had already booked in, we thought we would still give it a go. i'm so glad that we did! we started off with a large garlic/herb bread to share between four of us, and it was delicious! there was a large and appetising selection of pizza andpastato choose from. in the end, we ordered a large margarita pizza, a lasange, fettucine smoked chicken and the spagetti arrabiata. they were all presented beautifully, and tasted amazing! the pizza had a great thin base and the tomato sauce on the arrabiata was superb, and we could tell that the ingredients were of high quality. somehow, we managed to fit in desserts! the tiramisu was to die for! but it is a case of 'first in first served' as it is in such high demand. we also got a cassata ice-cream and an affagato, both of which were very pleasent, with a good amount of dried fruits in the cassata. the meals are very well priced, $20 for each main, and reasonably priced alcohol (even though we brought our own, we couldn't help try the italian house red!) we had two lovely girls serving us, who we found to be very friendly, helpful, prompt and professional, just lovely!. they even laughed at my husbands bad jokes! they looked like they were in control of all the tables, while catering to everybodys needs. overall, i would highly recommend this restaurant, whether dining in or for take away, but make sure you book as they are they are very popular with the local community! 5 stars!!

fantastic pizza. beautiful authenticpasta- especially the mushroom tortellini! friendly host and the service was prompt and efficient. we took 2 children who also enjoyed the experience. would certainly recommend. delizioso!

we went to to this restaurant in hope to find a new local however we were greatly disappointed in about everything about this place.
we had made a booking the previous week and turned up on time.
there was no smile and welcome we were just shown to our table without any pleasantries.
the waitress who appears to be the daughter of the owner/chef was thrown with some problem they had with the booking and spent the next five minutes ignoring her two tables with guests focusing on her bookings. when we told her we were ready to order we were told we had to wait? we asked for still water for our daughter but there was none to be had due to health concerns with drinking christchurch tap water at this time. it is certainly a restaurants duty to have water for their customers.
the meals turned up reasonably fast, thepastawas served on flat plates (this is a first) and the presentation was terrible. the sauce of the penne arrabiata was watery and made from poor ingredients and thepastawas overcooked. the pizza was ok but just that.
there was no pepper or parmesan to be seen. as a lover of italian food this was overall i very disappointing experience and i doubt these people have any affiliation to italy at all. i would like to add that we did not have unrealistic expectations, we hoped to get friendly service and well cooked food presented in a nice manner.
we would certainly not recommend this place as we thought the service was poor and the food was average and overpriced.

it's great to have such a great little restaurant just down the road. four of us shared a pizza and each had a differentpastadish + a bottle of red(italian)we all agreed that the food was delicious, fresh and hot and that the portions were just right. for all that and the great service it cost us around $30 each. we will be back!