Not worth the expense! - Pleasant atmosphere and food was nice, but complete rip-off prices for basic Italian food so very disappointed!

  The place to eat fantastic  - Excellent venue. Great staff can't do enough for you, no rushing Excellent service food is fantastic,
Also priced just right, keep it up.

  Fantastic - We were given a warm welcome upon arrival and service throughout was impeccable, attentive, friendly and unrushed. We were given a fabulous window table overlooking the garden. The food was... read more simply delicious, I still can’t stop talking about their rump of lamb. My partner had the scallops special starter and the skate wing to follow. To tempt us further a desert trolley was wheeled to us showing the deserts of the day. Will definitely be back soon.

  Elegance and perfection - The best service we have ever had. Super attention to detail on every level and the food was charming.

  Nothing SHORT of perfect - During the day I recieved a welcome text confirming of our table reservation. Dress code was mentioned which I scanned over. Very hot day so wore smart shorts. When arrived... read more the waitress said you can't where shorts but said she would check, totally my fault. However chef/owner came out, made light of it and guided us to our table. The food, wine and service was fantastic, really fantastic. When the waiter presented us with the bill he said we have only charged you £50 for the shorts, great touch and cracked me up.

  A little gem of a place  - I've been going to this family run restaurant for a few years now. The food is excellent and the wine list is as varied as it is reasonably priced. The... read more ongoing selection of daily fish specials is to be applauded and they are cooked to perfection. Giacomo takes pride in his cooking and the staff are attentive, friendly and helpful without being overbearing. Theme nights with music and entertainment are huge fun. Bookings essential especially for the weekend. Looking forward to my next visit.

  The best Italian restaurant in the area. - Yet again a very enjoyable evening with very good quality food and excellent service. Your consistency is a credit to you. Thankyou to you all.

  Quality assured. Service excellent - We regularly eat at Giacomos. Our favourite restaurant in the Sevenoaks area. The food is fabulous Italian, no nonsense and first class . Over the years we have eaten here... read more we have never had a course which was any less than delicious. The wines too are very good the house fiano and Giacomos prestige red are top rate. The staff are always friendly and happy to engage in conversation when they sense it is appreciated.
The prices have moved with the times but we find it still offers great value for money.
A lovely real Italian restaurant with great food which is always busy.
We will continue to visit whilst standards are maintained.

  40th wedding anniversary lunch - Fantastic restaurant.
Food is a delight and excellent wine served as well.
A really good restaurant for that special meal.

  Get a grip, chef….. - Two of us arrived for lunch today (waiting for another couple) and were warmly and charmingly greeted by the wait staff. Then - the chef appeared and immediately started a... read more rant about the four of us arriving in separate cars (we all arrived from different directions but that's none of his business) and 'taking up all his parking spaces'. I did think it was maybe a bit of a joke, but it soon became clear he was absolutely serious. We waited for our friends to arrive, having decided not to go elsewhere (as he had suggested). He was asked to apologise and he made a reluctant and blatantly insincere apology. His staff appeared to also be rather embarrassed by his self-styled 'impetuosity’ and it seemed that this might not have been an isolated incidence. Everything else was nothing short of perfect - service, food, ambience - but the chef's outburst did spoil our experience. Very unlikely to recommend to anyone again, and highly likely to go elsewhere, as chef suggested. Such a shame.

  Outstanding italian restaurant in all respects: food, ambiance, service.  - This is my second review of this excellent restaurant, and since 5 years, and a global pandemic have passed since I last commented, it seemed as though time was right... read more for a follow up.

I am pleased to report that this restaurant has remained extremely consistent over the years, and, although I live in the US, I eat here at least a couple of times a year when visiting family. It has never disappointed, from the effusive and warm welcome to the outstanding food and service. I don't have a whole lot to add to my review from 2016 as the consistency is so noticeable.

The menu does change slightly and there are always specials that are brought to the table and discussed with you. I like that the favorites I have ordered here over the years remain on the menu so that the experience can be relived should one so desire. Arancini is excellent as always but on my latest visit I sampled the anti-pasti plate which was replete with wonderful cuts of flavorsome meats with a very generous portion to boot. There was a different veal on the menu this time but it was excellent and served with slightly spiced bolognese side which complemented the flavors on offer very well.

Service, as ever, attentive and friendly and this seems to be very much a family affair. I am delighted it weathered the pandemic and one can still appreciate the delightful dining room that is airy and leads out onto a patio where several diners were enjoying their lunch on a lovely summers day. Lunch is a good bet here but note they have an admirable policy of closing the dining room at 3 to allow staff time to relax and reset for evening service. If you are a late lunch diner, bear this in mind before booking.

Highly recommend it. They have certainly not lost their touch over the years.

  Lunch was a delightful surprise - My wife and I had been to Giacomo’s well before the pandemic and the visit had not encouraged us to return. However, this time we were invited guests to a... read more lunch party and it was a delightful surprise to really enjoy the service, ambience and food. My brother was the host and he treated our small family group of 6 to Bollinger Special Cuvee champagne on arrival at 12noon (the restaurant had sensibly suggested a 12noon start rather than 12.30pm to ensure good service).
The menu was full of popular dishes that found favour with everyone. Perhaps the best was the surprise bowl of tempura battered fresh jumbo prawns delivered to the table as an antipasto for all. Eaten with a squeeze of lemon they were crisp, flavourful and simply delicious and enough for 4 or 5 each. Could not have been bettered at a Michelin star restaurant in London!
I had the Shetland mussels. Large fleshy and fresh steamed with garlic, white wine, parsley, tomatoes with and a hint of fresh chilli. The remaining tomato broth with slivers of onion and fennel was rich and unctuous – a great change from the mariniere version. The ladies enjoyed the Crab & Avocado Crostini made with lemon-seasoned crushed avocado with a touch of tabasco and Worcestershire sauce lavished on to Apulian toasted bread topped with handpicked Brixham white crab meat.
For my main course, I chose the Fegato alla Veneziana - calves liver pan fried with sage, onions, white wine on a bed of creamy mash with crispy pancetta and a side of the restaurant’s famous zucchine fritte. More wonderfully light and crisp tempura batter encasing small pieces of courgette.
By the time the pudding trolley was trundled across the restaurant, most of us were feeling quite full but my brother, game to the finish, had the sticky and sweet rum babas and the birthday girl had a slice of cheesecake which arrived with a candle.
This was a marvellous lunch, professionally presented and served and I would not now hesitate to return. Well done to all at Giacomos.

  Embarrassing! - Can’t comment on the food. Arrived on a very quiet Wednesday night and my husband and I got turned away as my husband was wearing shorts. Apparently they have a... read more dress code of smart causal which wasn’t mentioned when we emailed to book. My husband was wearing chino shorts and a smart shirt and boat shoes, so smart causal. Also let’s not forget it’s the middle of summer. But because he was wearing shorts we were turned away.
We won’t bother going back!

  Turned up for our booking to be told they had given our table away - After numerous visits to this restaurant (and, indeed, doing our bit to keep them afloat during lockdown by collecting regular takeaways from them), we won't be going back after being... read more treated terribly by the owners on our last visit. I had booked a table for four people via their website for a Saturday evening and included a comment that it was to celebrate both myself and my mother's birthday. I received a reply that started "Thank you for your email, no problem for a table for 4 people at 7.15pm on Saturday" (see attached photo). Saturday came a few days later and we headed, all dressed up, to the restaurant to be told by a lady working there that they had given our table away since we "did not pay the £10 per person deposit"! So we were left high and dry on a Saturday night, ringing around local restaurants trying to find availability somewhere - not an easy feat on a Saturday night and indeed, we didn't find anywhere local that had availability.

I emailed the restaurant a few days later so say how disappointed we were to be treated this way after supporting this business numerous times over the years and that my parents had travelled a long distance to come to this restaurant since it has so many happy memories for us. I explained, sending them the same screenshot I've included here, that their email appeared as so in my inbox so I didn't 'click into it' since it appeared there was no need to given they'd confirmed the table in the first sentence. I also mentioned that they could have called me to check we were still coming if they were worried, and I'd have been happy to pay any deposit they wanted. I pointed out that their deposit rule was clearly new, but yet they had not updated their website to require that credit card details are inputted at the time of booking. On not being prompted to input my card details on their website, and after years of bookings at this restaurant without being asked for a deposit, I had no reason to believe this had suddenly changed.

Instead of taking any responsibility for what they did to us, the owner replied to my email to say that they had introduced the deposit scheme 2 years ago (which is untrue as we last visited last year - also for a family birthday - and I had not been asked to pay a deposit then) and passive-aggressively said: "I'm sorry you didn't read the email properly". They also pointed out "We are not here to lose business". Unbelievable! Lose business is exactly what they will do - and have done - with an attitude like this.

Had they offered us a genuine apology and some way of making us feel better about the fact they didn't bother to call us when they assumed, wrongly, that we no longer wanted a table we had booked in good faith in the same way we had booked on numerous other occasions, then we'd have considered dining with them again.

  Excellent food and service - Warm welcome by attentive and friendly staff. Fresh and delicious food. White tablecloths and napkins. A great restaurant.