Another dinner post. This time we collected our exhausted kids straight off the bus from a residential school trip and dragged them to Zio’s in Walton-on-Thames for some Italian food. On the ‘island’ of the one way system. Small car park.

A Sicilian family restaurant for 30 years, Zio’s is the oldest restaurant in Walton-on-Thames.

Inside is a reasonably large dining area with well spaced tables. It’s nicely finished and has the statues of naked women required of any true Italian restaurant. Don’t be fooled by appearances, Zio’s, being Italian and all, is very welcoming of children and will alter dishes to suit them (pasta with butter anyone?)

There’s a pleasant outdoor terrace to the left of the cash area.

Pizza is made on display. Our kids were too tired to contemplate eating pizza. The teachers had clearly worn them out on the trip, and we were clearly bad parents for not taking them straight home to bed.

Best of all is the dessert trolley. How cruel to have your children see glorious looking desserts wheeled around all the tables and then not get them any. Sweet revenge for their grumpiness.

Sometimes it can be quiet but on this night (Friday) it was nice and busy, giving the place a good vibe.

It’s a fairly standard Italian menu of pizza, pasta and a variety of meat and fish dishes.

Ann’s bruschetta was good, made with pizza dough and cooked in the pizza oven.

Marie’s grilled vegetable salad was insanely delicious. Her enthusiasm for it was enough to drive anyone mad, who gets so excited about vegetables?

We both had pasta for our main, Ann a spaghetti Bolognese and Marie a penne Arrabiata.

The pasta was cooked el dente and the sauces were pleasant. The large pasta plate is huge, the small is sufficient for us for dinner, especially when paired with a starter or side. The pasta is very good value (a small spag bol is £5.95.)

The white table linen seems to, erroneously, lead people to believe that Zio’s is only a restaurant for special occasions. While the decor is lovely and many people go for birthdays or wedding anniversaries, Zio’s is perfectly suited for family night out reasonably priced pizza or pasta before a movie at the nearby Everyman Cinema.

Ratings based on this visit:

Menu	3
Food	4
Decor/Ambiance	4
Service	3
Value	5
Total	19/25

9 Ashley Road Walton on Thames Surrey KT12 1HY www.ziosristorante.co.uk