Review of Giardini Di Naxos Downham Market: Authentic Italian restaurant offers beautiful cuisine in market town

If you’re looking for a tasty genuine Italian restaurant with a cosy and intimate feel to it, this is definitely the one to try.

It’s the perfect place if you’re looking for somewhere a little bit more upmarket, perhaps if you’re hosting family or friends who are harder to impress.

Myself and my friend Liv decided to head down to Naxos in Downham one Thursday evening after getting a couple of recommendations to give it a try.

On arrival, we were greeted by two friendly members of staff who showed us to our table.

The restaurant was already fairly busy, which I always take as a good sign, and we got seated by the window looking out onto High Street.

After some discussion, we decided to opt for having a starter and a main, but first on the agenda was drinks.

Liv decided to have an aperol spritz (£6.50) and I opted for a negroni (£8) after wanting to try the gin based cocktail for some time.

We both really enjoyed our drinks and they were well presented.

Now on to starters, I opted for bread, olives and hummus (£7) and Liv went for steamed mussels with black pepper and lemon (£8).

We were both pleasantly surprised when our starters came out with how generous the portion size was. I think Liv’s certainly could have been a main course if it was served with some fries! Liv said she really enjoyed the mussels.

I’ve only really tried olives from a supermarket before and were blown away at the difference of having them from Naxos. It was served perfectly with the creamy hummus and lightly toasted bread.

Moving onto mains, Liv opted for the paccheri ragu (£16) which consisted of beef in a ragu based sauce on a bed of pasta. She complimented how much meat she got with the dish and said it was delicious.

She asked the lady who served us for a recommendation on what to have, who happily gave her advice.

I decided to have the linguine vongole (£17) which consisted of clams and asparagus served in a creamy sauce with linguine pasta.

After not having seafood for quite some time, I really enjoyed it. It was unbelievably tasty and the portion size was generous.

We both agreed that it was by far the best Italian food we’ve had in a while after going to numerous chain Italian restaurants in the area.

The only thing I could critique is the difference in menus in the restaurant and on their website. Personally, I like to have a look online before I go and already semi decided what I wanted - only on arrival to find it wasn’t on their menu. But perhaps I should’ve asked.

Ratings out of five:

Food: We both said it was faultless and absolutely delicious *****

Drink: A good variety of cocktails, wines and other alcoholic drinks ****

Staff: Top friendly service who gave their recommendations on what to have when asked. *****

Decor: Lovely fairy lights on the back wall bought a lovely ambiance and had a cosy feel *****

Price: Our total came to just over £60, but we left feeling full and all of our food was delicious ****