Review Botticelli Italian Restaurant - Takapuna

The night we went there was a lovely jazzy band playing next to the bar but it meant all the other tables and chairs were crammed really close. Good food as per photos. Personally I like my pizzas with more chunky toppings but these tasted great and the pizza base was just as I like it

Very enjoyable all the meals ,drinks and friendly team with live music,super great experience in the small restaurant, highly recommended to all.

Amazing food! Love the steak and the pasta, well curated italian dishes. ❤️ Amazing customer service as well, especially the filipino server Hannah who served our food. Will come back again. 🙏❤️

Nice and warm, I enjoyed handmade ravioli which sauce made from porcini and Botticelli pizza. Very good

The place it's really nice! The owner served us and she was really kind. The pizza was yummy and the tiramisù also well served. From an Italian: Approved! 👍 The wine also, Montepulciano reserva it's really good. Chck for live music, that night was really nice. Also I liked the environment, quite dark but not to much, it's my favourite.

Food was really nice, a real trattoria type experience. Noisy and homey but in a good way. Family friendly - kids meals available along with fancy stuff. Puttanesca was excellent and flavorful

Was a splendid date. They catered so my meal was exactly what I wanted and tasted amazing!

Great food and service excellent, we arrived with no booking and we still get accommodated as normal. Best pizza ever.

From out of town for a medical visit - loved the food - prices out there but that is the way things are today. Staff helpful and friendly - bit noisy for us older country food but most enjoyable so would definitely recommend

Incredible place. Delicious food, lovely friendly atmosphere. Highly recommend and I'll be going back for sure.

Service was lovely , friendly staff, but my food was not as tasty. It was bland. I have had food there before and loved it though so it may have been an off day.

Went for dinner last night and had the snapper. The portion was of good size, the sauce well balanced and the fish fresh. The vegetables alongside were also, whilst simply presented, fresh and perfectly cooked. Very enjoyable.

Beautifully authentic Italian local with a great vibe. Incredible gluten free options and very accomodating. Be sure to check out their music events too.

Excellent restaurant to meet with friends, friends service and great atmosphere. I like the idea of them supporting local artist and international. Great vibe....

Friendly manager, delicious food, warm and friendly. 5 out of 5.

The pizza base was mushy while the edges were slightly burnt, the service was slow with staff talking and not serving customers and brought a wrong dish to the table. However our table was unbalanced and they fixed it without us asking

Love this place !!! The lasagne is absolutely amazing and so is the steak. My latest lasagne was a bit cold at the core but I have never experienced this before at this restaurant as I have been here many many times before. Can be a tiny bit expensive though.

Went here last night. Been before and i will definitely return. The Eye Fillet was perfect!! Great food and great atmosphere. The pricing is very reasonable for the quality of food you get. Highly recommend!!

Absolutely in shock by our treatment on Saturday night.<br/>Went here with 3 friends (all mid 20s) got put on a tiny table while we waited for a larger table. <br/><br/>We waited ages with no one even asking if we wanted to order drinks so I asked a waitress who walked past if there was a possibility of a proper table to eat at. She took us to a bigger table which the owner then ran over and yelled at her that that table was not meant for us and made us go back to the tiny table, I asked when we would get a larger table, the owners response was “eventually”.<br/><br/>We ordered a bottle of wine which she poured us all glasses and afterwards asked for our IDs which she then took to some random guys at the bar. We asked if they work there, she said “no, I just couldn’t read it as I don’t have my glasses”. Don’t really appreciate showing my and my friends personal details (full name, DOB & address) to strangers at a bar..<br/><br/>When we finally got upgraded to a proper table, the food was not great. She offered us a garlic bread which was just oily bread and tasteless.<br/><br/>While we were there we also saw another couple get up to leave as they had got so fed up with the wait for food. The place is overcrowded with as many tables as possible as they can fit but not enough staff servicing or food coming out quick enough to cater to it.<br/><br/>Do not recommend going here.

Such a good find in takapuna. The staff is very attentive and patiently explains you the ingredients and also customises if you need to. Our pasta was delicious. The waiter recommended us a spinach pasta and we loved it- so buttery and delicious 4.5/5 for service. 4/5 for food

I went here on my birthday, and it was lovely! We got wine recommended to us based on our dishes and courses. My annoying food allergies were catered to and they created a completely bespoke dish for me, which I thought was such a treat! Our server was also super nice and attentive. It was a great place to spend a birthday dinner :)

Super yum food, the fettuccine was real fresh and hot. The lasagne was piping hot but also everything you want, cheesy and fresh. Will be back again!

It was okay, the entree was nice and the carbonara was delicious but the duck was sickly sweet and we both couldn’t finish it. Lovely staff but over priced drinks, spent about $95 on our first proper date since we had a baby and it was underwhelming.

Friendly staff, delicious food, but our latte was too water down. We will be back for the food and the services, perhaps we’ll tell the wait staff about the coffee

Visited after rave reviews from my family, and Botticelli met my high expectations. My pasta was perfectly cooked with fresh seafood and a delicious sauce. Friendly, knowledgeable staff and great atmosphere.

Awsome food as always, a great Fan of their fresh pasta, excellent customer Service ,Best of luck for the Bar worl Guys 👍🏻👍🏻👍🏻👍🏻👌🏻👌🏻👌🏻👌🏻

wonderful food, friendly staff. Not our first visit and won't be the last. Introduced my son and his partner to it and they say it's now their favorite restaurant ... And my son is very fussy!<br/><br/>Go there!

We managed to make a last minute booking for 3 on a busy Friday night. Overall, we enjoyed our meals and walked out happy and full. The wait time was average and the service was nice (but not outstanding).<br/><br/>We started off with their Pani (pizza bread) with garlic butter. Not much to say here; it was a bit dry and bland for my liking but a nice starter to munch on while we waited for our mains.<br/><br/>One friend had the salmon fettuccine and the other chose the chicken version. I tried a bit of the salmon one and found the smoked salmon to be quite salty – but otherwise I enjoyed the creamy sauce and pasta.<br/><br/>For my own main, I ordered the duck ravioli with porcini mushroom sauce – which was fantastic! I liked the pasta's texture (I think all their pasta is handmade) and the sweet caramelised onion which balanced out the sauce. My only complaint would be that the pasta filling cooled quite quickly – but I don’t know if that’s something they can even fix.<br/><br/>Portions were surprisingly filling, but the prices aren’t low either so I guess it balances out. I’d be happy to come back in future.

When you are around Takapuna area and have no idea what to have for dinner, then Botticelli is a nice option.<br/><br/>As an Italian food-holic, I must say that this won't let you down except you should possess great patience while waiting for your food to come. Just sit down, have a sip of some Prosecco or Peroni, set your nerve at ease. If you are starving, then better not come here.<br/><br/>From the entree to Pasta and Pizza, even the main course, all the items on the menu is quite Italian. Calamari with veggie salad is delightful to start, something chewy by the tongue, something not too guilty for your stomach.<br/><br/>As for the pasta, which is what we are here looking for, I always choose the basic but classic one-Spaghetti Bolognese. Dense flavor from the beef mince, combined nicely with tomato sauce with a bit of Parmesan cheese and parsley, just hearty on both the taste bud and mind. It warms you up!<br/><br/>And what is more, Fettuccine alla panna is a choice never go wrong. Smoked bacon, mushroom, cream... That's the rule of being delicious. Al dente is for the fettuccine, savory is for the sauce, homey&simple is for the whole plate.<br/><br/>Well, Tiramisu is just left for next time's imagination, and Pizza Margarita as well. Or maybe try every pasta on the menu. Just wish next time they put on some proper music for the scenery. It will be more helpful for the ambience.

The 'go to' Italian in the North Shore. In fact a 'go to' for most occasions. Run by an obviously passionate team, for both food and service, this is rarely anything but excellent. If you want to get away from the grind of the world and have a brilliant, relaxed, friendly, tasty and pleasurable experience then urn up here. We're hard to impress, experienced, Auckland diners and Botticelli's scores every time. Love it ☺

Visited last night with a group of friends...we had to wait an hour for our orders to be taken, but our table had extra seats so perhaps they were waiting for more of us to arrive? And they were quite busy. It would have nice to be able to have a glass of wine or two while we waited though. The waiter was really nice, but we had to call him over when we wanted to order and didnt pop back to see how our meals were. I was impressed that so much of their menu could be gluten free...I had the fettuccine, nice flavour....some others in our group had the risotto which was apparantly amazing...I have to say, the garlic bread they started with (I didn't have any) smelled amazing! I will def go back...but will take my own wine next time :)

Yum yum yum <br/>I had the lamb ragu and my boyfriend had the pene pollo chicken<br/>Soooo good. Only downside was that they didn't offer extra pamersan and the pasta was slightly overlooked and stuck together

I decided to come here for my birthday dinner with the family as I have been craving good Italian food. I didn’t want to go anywhere fancy or pretentious so I thought Botticelli would be the perfect option (after seeing this restaurant pop up in Zomato’s ‘Authentic Italian’ Collection). <br/><br/>Botticelli is a small, humble, family-friendly restaurant with a cosy feel and friendly staff, in particular the Bulgarian lady who provided outstanding service! We came in a group of 8, and it was our first time dining here. We started with 2 pizzas to share, the pepperoni and Botticelli pizza which were both great but not as good as traditional Wood-fired pizzas taste. For main I ordered the Eye Fillet Mignon, which was cooked medium-rare as I like it, not the most amazing piece of steak I’ve had, but I loved the sauce it came with, it was a creamy, buttery, garlic sauce with bits of bacon and mushroom throughout. I also had a bite of the crumbed chicken gorgonzola with blue cheese, which was absolutely divine! <br/><br/>We did wait 45 minutes for our mains, but we didn’t mind so much. There were 3 other people with birthdays and the staff switch the lights off and sing happy birthday while everyone else in the restaurant joins in! Must be a tradition for the restaurant, I felt so special when they did the same for me. <br/><br/>Overall Botticelli is a great place for families and groups to come together for comforting, homely, Italian food!

Walking through Takapuna doing the sniff test to see where we wanted to eat.<br/><br/>Over the years I have been here so many times. <br/><br/>Greeted by a friendly staff member as we entered and seated immediately. It was a Saturday night and the vibe in the restaurant was the perfect mixed of busy without the noise. <br/><br/><br/>My wife and I ordered the entrée beef ravioli. ....wow! Seriously I wish i had a big enough stomach to order two mains this was superb. <br/><br/>Trusting the staff I differed from my usual central Otago Pinot noir to try a recommended Italian red sorry unsure of the name. But I would suggest trusting the staff. It was really good! <br/><br/>Our mains we the same 2 X. Eye fillet. Both cooked as we asked... And cooked perfectly to our liking. The creamy sauce with bits of bacon was really something special. Both meals were of a surprisingly high standard.<br/><br/>This was such a good night, every staff member we came across was so polite. And to top it off the food was fault less. <br/><br/>I hope the staff and chefs read this. You really do deserve the 5. <br/><br/>Thanks for such a great meal and experience

Dined here on a quiet rainy Thursday night. Italian food is not something i would normally search out, but the wife insisted and actually, I was blown away. All 3 dishes we tried were excellent and rammed with flavour. We had the salmon and scallop fettuccine to start - the stand-out dish. Just beautiful intense flavours. The duck raviolli and gorgonzola schnitzel with veges we had for main were both outstanding. Good service and a couple of glasses of excellent italian red to accompany the meal made an overall excellent experience. We'll definitely be back soon!

Garlic bread is amazing<br/>Cozze picante is a beautiful entree and the Filet Mignon I've had probably a dozen times.  Veges are always fresh and not overcooked.<br/><br/>Great service, fresh, well cooked food and lovely atmosphere

Super fast service considering how busy they were. Food was outstanding I'm such a fuss pot when it comes to serving me I will be back soon.

The best sign is that this place is consistently busy with returning locals. My cannolloni was great and filled with lots of meat topped with a rich cheese and tomato sauce. The service was a bit slow and chaotic but very friendly.<br/><br/>A great place for mid week stop.

If you're looking for authentic Italian food this is the place to go. I had the chicken breast with blue cheese sauce and veges@ and it definitely met expectations. The service was quite slow but the place was very busy. Another staff member arrived later which was needed. A bit of yelling coming out of the kitchen but hey, I guess that makes for an authentic Italian experience!

I go here all the time and no matter what time I go or what I order it's always good! They are always really busy but I never have to book the staff are excellent and the price is great too! Love it!

Visited tonight, 7 June for the first time as our usual Italian restaurant in Milford has had some recent bad reviews. Well, let me say we will definitely be returning here. We found the atmosphere buzzy, the food was flavoursome and the service friendly and prompt. It was a pleasure to be there. Thanks

We have been here twice with friends over the past few months and not been disappointed. The food and service is great and always nice meal choices. All our meals were beautiful and we will definitely be back.

This restaurant had been in Takapuna for quite long time ,we have good exp every time we dine there. Pizza bread is definitely a must for starter.we tried chargrilled steak today for a change .absolutely delicious! Its a very cosy family restaurant.

Will be coming back here as soon as possible! Delicious food, the pastas and pizzas are amazing. My 2 favourite dishes are the beef ravioli &amp; the fillet mignon. <br/>Service good, a little slow when busy but nothing major<br/>Great atmosphere, warm during winter.

Delicious Food, the 3 of us that dined all had pasta dishes which were first class! Garlic pizza entree delicious. Warm atmosphere, it was a buzzing environment, the restaurant was packed full. Service great. Will definitely be back. New fav Italian restaurant

First time I went there it was terrible food and service. Decided to give them a second chance (as someone else choose the location) and regret it food was almost in edible and service wasn't any better, think they were more interested in looking after a table of what I guess was friends! Also think its a bit inappropriate having waitress in cut off shorts? They certainly won't be getting a third chance!!!

The food is beyond amazing and the serving sizes are generous. Service is efficient and friendly, always checking to see if you need anything else. <br/><br/>Pasta dishes are highly recommended!<br/><br/>Botticelli's is an amazing italian restaurant (:

Started with a menu that had been melted over a candle at some stage. The wine list was ripped.<br/>Followed shortly by not being asked what we would like to drink.<br/>Ordered garlic bread as a starter. The mains arrived while we were still eating.<br/>The lasagne was all cheese and no filling. The spaghetti bolognese was tasteless and watery.<br/>On leaving unsurprisingly noone asked us if we enjoyed our meal. <br/>We happily spent our money on wine and dessert at the pub around the corner.

Have visited Botticellis many times and have always had an excellent meal with friendly service. Have recently been to Queenstown and had some terrible meals which were also very expensive. The meals down there were in no way comparable to Botticellis. Having read some of the reviews here, I guess some people can never be satisfied and get what they deserve. I would recommend Botticellis to anyone who wants a good meal at reasonable prices.

My friend took me out to dinner to celebrate my birthday, and while walking around Takapuna searching for a restaurant, we stumbled upon this little gem. The restaurant was incredibly busy and at first we didn't think we would find a place, but we dared to going in and ask and, fortunately, there was one table left - just for us! All the waiters were incredibly friendly and served us promptly and with a smile. I was particularly impressed by one lady, whom I believe was the owner; she was very attentive and involved with her customers - she even served us free drinks and told us they were on the house! The food was absolutely delicious, from the pizza bread we had for the entree (which was the most nicely presented one I've ever had), through to the beautiful mains, and the fantastic dessert (you must try their Torta Botticcelli - it's DELICIOUS!). Overall I had a wonderful experience at this restaurant and I would not hesitate to recommend it.

Went there last night with a group of friends and can say the entrees &amp; mains were enjoyed. <br/><br/>Service might be the only thing they let themselves down. <br/><br/>I hate having to approach staff to get service (such as desert menu's etc) this is why you go out for dinner in the first place. It's the whole experience of the people service along with the food and environment that gets you to go back again. <br/><br/>It is a bit noisy due to closeness of tables of diners, but that pretty much standard fare around that area of Takapuna. <br/><br/>Would I go back? Probably not, that's mainly because the wife and I don't dine out a lot and when we do. We like to try different places. <br/><br/>Out of a scale of 1 to 10. I give it a 7.

I have always enjoyed the great service and find food is of great quality. Our guests always enjoy themselves. Thanks a lot!

This is a favourite restaurant. I have never had a bad meal - the food is great authentic Italian. It can be noisy when full but is worth putting up with for the food. Staff are friendly and pleasant.

Always full of people and atmosphere. Have been here twice. Second time was to give them the benefit of doubt when first visit felt like it could have been lots better save for a couple of errors. Sadly was not as good as the first visit.<br/><br/>On our 2nd visit, slow for drinks to be offered and to arrive; serve 3 meals to the table, then hand the last one over when everyone else has finished theirs (which continued to boil on the plate in front of me for a good 5 minutes), with an apology of "we are busy' (busy not doing the job properly luv), then a waitress hands out dessert menus while I am just starting to eat my main! We got served by 3 different waiters and 2 different wine waiters during the night which was clearly a big part of the problem, although that may have stemmed from a disorganised kitchen.<br/>Fairly ordinary tasting pasta, inattentive waiters (despite the quantity of them), empty bottles and used glasses left on table for entire meal (there is not a lot of room on tables) make me feel like I am eating at the kitchen bench.<br/>The owners clearly have not read their reviews lately. We will not be trying for third time lucky

We were a group of 15 or 4 tables if you like. Saturday night and the restaurant was half full. Nice decor, looked genuine enough. <br/><br/>We were served for drinks about 20 minutes after we arrived and ordered breads. One lot of bread came out 10 minutes and then 20 minutes later the other 3 arrived sporadically, we were told they had run out of dough, on a Saturday night?<br/><br/>Some of our party had to get up and order their own drinks as the staff seemed to forget we were there.<br/><br/>After sitting there for an hour one of our party had to ask the waitress/manager if we could get served for our meals fter watching people come in and get served before us. She was told that they were busy and that another waiter, pointing toward him was an hour late, like that was our problem.<br/><br/>Over 2 hours after first arriving we got our main meals and of those I took interest in they tasted not dissimilar to canned or packet food. Appalling service, not overly cheap and below average food.<br/><br/>Avoid!!

Dined at Botticelli a year or so ago and never again.<br/>We both ordered an eye fillet. We were delivered scotch steak. We pointed this out to the waitress who checked with the chef and then rudely told us it was eye fillet. We pointed out that eye fillet a) never had sinews running through it and b) that it was generally rounder in shape. She checked again and we were told it was 'butterflied'. <br/>After too-ing and fro-ing we finally managed to order two different meal (without being charged - one bonus), but they arrived and were bland and uninspiring.<br/>We are not picky people, but we do know our cuts of meat.<br/>Have not been back and have told many people not to bother.

I've been twice in the last year. The first time was very good, the second the food seemed to be of a lower quality, but was still ok.

Was once an excellent Italian restaurant. Don't even bother giving them the benefit of the doubt.

i have eaten in more than 350 restaurants and cafes. <br/><br/>this restaurant is one of the worse.<br/>really the food was edible. it was ok. but for the money i paid, the pasta was same stuff you get from the supermarket, even worse! it was hard and not tasty at all. the sauce seemed like it was from a dolmio jar, how this place is fully booked every weekend is beyond me!<br/>maybe people should go out more and try other places. <br/><br/>it felt like i could have cooked the food i bought for 4 dollars from the supermarket in 15 mins

I can honestly say that this is one of the worst Italian restaurants ever. I really hate paying $21 for a meal that I could have made myself in 15 minutes at the third of the price. My partner and I ordered the tortellini and ravioli, it was very substandard. The Ravioli was so poor, it tasted if they hardly boiled it and just added it to bottled pasta sauce. I guess being able to cook sauces and make pasta from scratch myself, I feel very ripped off. Not only did we waste $21 each on a meal, but I feel like eating this meal wasted space in my stomach which I could have had something much more tasty. I would really recommend Francoli in Ellerslie, their pasta's are $4 more and are freshly made! I will discourage anyone from going to this place, unless you like supermarket pasta and bottled sauces for $21, then this is the place for you.

We were seated and given menus which was great, but had to ask for a drinks menu...when the waiter came back to take our food order. We ordered our food and once we got the drinks menu ordered a glass of wine straight away. We received our pizza bread and asked if we could perhaps receive our wine, which came eventually via someone else asking if we were okay...gasping by this stage!<br/><br/>Our mains came before we had finished the pizza bread, but that was fine with us and the food was their saving grace as it was very hot (and I like my meals quite hot) and delicious. The food is the only reason I would go from a 1 to a 2 star.<br/><br/>We were also seated by a cold draughty window so I had to swap seats with my partner as I was freezing. I didn't really warm up all night.<br/><br/>So the food is good, but the service and temperature need work.

Mmmmm mmmm, I've done Botticelli a few times. Great food. Nice atmosphere.