La Romantica Restaurant

Food and service was great. Massive portions and good prices.

By far the best Italian in Rayleigh, not just the food but the atmosphere too. Well worth a visit.

Visited on a Sunday lunchtime for a family birthday. We had a mix of set menu and a la carte. All food was lovely. Fresh ingredients, generous portions and well cooked. Loved the service, great mix of characters that made us feel so welcome. Would definitely recommend!

Spur of the moment dinner out but what a great place to have gone!
Family friendly atmosphere with beautiful tasting food. Service was faultless and would happily come back here again.

We booked a table at La Romantica Restaurant in Rayleigh High Street for our Christmas day dinner. Obviously with the popularity of this restaurant we had to book several months in advance. On entering the restaurant we were greeted with that lovely Italian warmth and hospitality, a certain something special, that only the very best restaurants seem to be able to achieve. We were shown to our table and offered drinks. Considering the fact that every table was taken, it didnt feel over occupied or claustrophobic. The food we ordered and it's arrival was amazingly quick, boiling hot and the flavour was so good I can't even put it into words. Portion sizes are extremely generous. We don't consider ourselves as food experts, but honestly the flavours in this restaurant really are magnificent, even simple vegetables seem to taste a 100 times better. There was no rushing us to order our desserts or coffees and baring in mind that all the staff were working on Christmas day, they all seemed happy, attentive and looked like they actually enjoyed what they were doing. I genuinely can't praise this place, it's staff and the chef's high enough. Thanks to all the staff, the Chefs etc for a really wonderful Christmas experience, we will definitely be back soon. I'd give this place a rating of 10 if I could but I can only give it 5 stars but it's honestly worth more. Please see my pictures, thanks for reading 🙂 👍 🇮🇹

Had a lovely anniversary dinner there tonight, food and staff were excellent, the mushrooms stuffed with brie with bacon and chilli jam were so tasty, could have eaten a whole plateful. Hubby had asparagus and goats cheese wrapped in parma ham which he said was very tasty. Mains, again first class, were cod with roasted pepper and paprika and chicken in a port and mushroom sauce, both accompanied by saute potatoes and veg which were perfectly cooked (nice to have savoy cabbage, broccoli and carrots instead of the usual green beans). For dessert we shared the pistachio cheesecake as we were quite full by then, which again was so yummy, all washed down with Baileys coffee and rum coffee, again delicious. Will definitely return, restaurants like this are hard to come by. Thank you to the staff for such a delicious meal and lovely evening.

Lovely little restaurant, with a big atmosphere!. Staff were really friendly. We didn’t feel rushed to order or leave our table after deserts. Food we ordered was lovely, big portion sizes. Felt bad not finishing it all. Would highy recommend.

Marco the only Italian in the village!!! What a great place to eat, great atmosphere, amazing service; such good quality food. The pizza was the best I’ve had in a long time. I definitely recommend this place

Ive lived in Rayleigh since 1966. Never visited this place before. Its amazing. I actually had lobster bisque soup and loved it. Will go again for sure.

Fantastic restaurant .. lovely staff and brilliant food
They didn't bring the mains up straight away after the starters gave us a breather
Will be going back 👍

Love this restaurant, great atmosphere, food and a great crew, I accidentally smashed a glass, I felt so bad but they made a joke saying "were Italian not Greek" so sorry fellas! And for all those thinking it's OK to smash glasses it's not, it's very naughty!

1st time visiting here ,, should have done it a long time ago they have been here since 1969 took my mum for her birthday so glad we did the staff are really friendly and attentive made it very special the food was excellent, remembered to take a picture half way through eating so apologise for that but hopefully you can see very good quantities all really well cooked the starters were delicious and large gladvi shared mine with mum will be booking again for our anniversary in a couple of weeks, thanks for a really lovely evening guys see you soon

Beautiful food, perfectly cooked and great customer service. Made a wonderful night for my entire family. I couldn't reccomend this place enough. Best meal I've had in my life.

Awesome visit. First time. Just googled local Italian and went. So so glad that we did. Party of six. Starters and mains. All dishes as good or better than we've ever had in any other place. We're all vegetarians. Chef was happy to alter some dishes to suit.
Leaving town. So no chance to go again soon. But would if I could.

This was our 1st visit to La Romantica for our wedding anniversary & didn't fail to disappoint the food was filling & freshly home cooked. Service was great & attentive. It was like visited my Nonna's house, very traditional & authentic

La Romantica has been in Rayleigh since 1969. As such it serves classic italian restaurant food, with all the usual cuts and sauces you expect: veal, bistecca, pasta, pizza etc. The Sunday roast is worth the trip, and the two course fixed menu is great value. It's a little dark inside and a little cramped but this adds to the atmosphere. A real cornerstone of Rayleigh high street.

Had a wonderful meal and service was fab. Friendly people. Only two of us and well looked after.

Always good. Since I've moved to essex this is my favourite italian, the food is great, staff are amazing and portions are perfect.

Wonderful traditional trattoria that has been around for 50+ years. Highly recommended

Had an amazing waiter who made our experience the best it could possibly be, even letting us borrow some spear glasses to read the menu! Food was delicious and good portions. They even blasted happy birthday through the speakers and put a candle in our dessert for our birthday celebration. Couldn't recommend more, will be returning!