The Italian Sul Lago Milton Keynes - (Near Buckinghamshire, South East)

5 /5 Me ToYou: Italian Sul Lago is, without question, the finest Italian restaurant in Milton Keynes today. Set in a beautiful part of town, it benefits from ample free parking and occupies a stylish, thoughtfully designed space with elegant furnishings and a welcoming atmosphere. The service is excellent throughout, and the food is superbly cooked, carefully prepared, and beautifully presented. We dined as a party of three and shared the chef’s ribeye on the bone for two, alongside a Pollo Milanese and a pizza (the name escapes me, though its quality certainly does not), accompanied by a large bottle of sparkling water. Quite simply, the food was outstanding. I cannot speak highly enough of the experience.

2 /5 Rafa Lobo: As a rule of thumb I never choose a place if it rated 4.5 or less. Most of the times I am right and this has not been an exception, actually this has been short of a disaster. I not only found the menu very expensive, I have paid £55 for 4 prawns, pil pil prawns, and 5 pieces of lamb on a very "generous" bed of mash potatos and three pints, it is how long we have waited from starters to mains, circa 1 hour. I feel swindled, to be honest, after finding out you add 10% for service on top of everything else. Pizzas were more dough than anything else, and the chicken paninni my wife had was a calzone where the chicken had deserted the plate. You also wanted to charge us for a la carte dessert, when the only desserts were ordered by people ordering from the menu. I understand sometimes things do not go as you intend to and this has been just a one off unlucky experience, but with all due respect I will save myself from finding out when things do go right at your place.

2 /5 Loredana andreea: We visited Sul Lago this evening to celebrate International Women’s Day with a group of mums. Unfortunately, the experience didn’t meet our expectations. The atmosphere upstairs was very quiet, so we politely asked if some music could be turned on, but nothing really changed until we finished our meals, then they have stopped playing it. At one point we also noticed waiters whispering behind our table, which made us feel uncomfortable. Throughout the evening several things we asked for, such as chips, cocktails and bottles of water, never arrived despite reminding staff. One of the desserts that was brought to the table appeared to already have a small piece missing. When I politely pointed this out and asked if it could be replaced, the waiter rolled her eyes and asked if I was serious, which felt quite unprofessional, and.. left!! After mentioning I will write a review about this matter. Later we asked if we could move downstairs where the atmosphere was livelier, but after being moved we were left waiting for over 15 minutes without anyone coming to take our order. I then got up to leave, and one lady saw my intention and finally came to ask us about drinks, mentioned the excuse about having issues with another table. Considering our bill was close to £500, we expected a much higher level of service and attention. It was disappointing as we were really looking forward to celebrating together. Kind Regards L

4 /5 Andrei Berty: Second review (please see initial review below): After a nice first experience, I decided to return for dinner — unfortunately, it turned into a big disappointment. The pizza menu had changed, so I ordered a Diavola and specifically asked for no chilli. I didn’t realise that ’nduja is extremely spicy and contains a large amount of chilli. While I can handle spicy food, that evening I simply didn’t want it. I still stand by the fact that this restaurant makes some of the best pizza I’ve had in the UK in the past five years, so the issue wasn’t the quality. The real problem was the lack of guidance. When a customer clearly requests “no chilli”, the waitress should flag that ’nduja is inherently spicy and offer an alternative topping. I had no idea how chilli-heavy it was until I tasted it and had to look it up on my phone mid-meal. When I asked for clarification, the waitress responded with a sassy and condescending attitude. During the conversation, she picked her teeth with her pinky finger, shortly after tying her shoelaces, and then proceeded to serve food without washing her hands, which I found extremely unhygienic and unacceptable. The music was also far too loud. The restaurant was full of people trying to talk over it, and we had to almost shout just to have a conversation. A 10% service charge was added. Given the poor service, I politely asked for it to be removed, which resulted in yet another rude and dismissive response from the same waitress. To top it off, the waitress briefly started twerking at the bar next to our table, which felt completely unprofessional and out of place in a restaurant setting. Thank you to the receptionist, who was the only genuinely kind and helpful staff member and managed to find us a table despite not having a booking. Unfortunately, what should have been a nice evening was completely ruined. Initial review: Nice place for a dinner and a sunset. Disappointed that I got there at 3 pm (travelling from France to home) and found out that the kitchen was closed until 5 pm. Took a walk around the lake and came back because I really wanted to try their pizza. Pizza was probably the best and most close to authentic Italian pizza I’ve ever had around UK, but £18 for “Royal Pizza” which besides the base, chicken, mozzarella and some basil leaves had nothing else so I would say on the pricey side; prosciutto and burrata was lovely. We also had desserts which were good. Service at the table was ok but I would suggest that only one person serves at a table not 4 different people.