i had my first experience at va pensiero in december as a few friends had suggested it as a great place to have a small gathering for my birthday and fortunately, i was impressed especially considering that it ended up being a not so small gathering of 15 people! as we arrived, we had a lovely welcome from the staff and our table was ready on time even though we had some last minute additions. our waitress' were really helpful when taking our orders and delivered all our food together and still hot (another great factor when having so many orders). the food tasted amazing and my satisfaction was shared by the whole party. unknown to me, my friends had organised a cake and when it arrived, all the staff came together to sing happy birthday sparking an encore from the entire restaurant! embarrasing as it may be it was a really nice gesture! overall, i was so pleased with my experience that i decided to return last week with my husband and yet again we were both thoroughly satisfied with our food and service! i'm sure that i will be returning again at the next available opportunity! va pensiero is overall a wonderful restaurant that i would thoroughly recommend! read more