Zio Pin Lucianos

Hi this is one of my favourite restaurants in the Roath area of Cardiff. you can find my full review on it here

First off let me just say I LOVE ITALIAN FOOD! And very happily Zio Pin is a brilliant italian with great authentic food. I have lived on or just off Albany Road for 6 years now since moving to Cardiff for University. And living right by Zio Pin means we ventured there quite early on after moving here and it has steadily become one of our favourite restaurants, especially with my parents who love having lunch there when they come to visit. From the outside it doesn’t have the best of looks but things like that don’t tend to bother me too much. The interior is traditionally italian, but with a charming cozy family kind of sense, mismatched chairs and tables and the like. There is a well stocked littel bar at the front where you can wait to be seated if you wish (although we have always been seated immediatly). And it is always clean there! During the day there is a set menu option if you wish with 2 courses and a tea or coffee for £7.95. This is usually what we opt for as it is such good value and know we like nearly all the dishes. For us specifically the Pâté and Grilled Brie are the starters we opt for, then a pizza (as they are amazing and made fresh) or the Lasana or Chicken with mushrooms and white wine served with a side portion of seasonal veg and choice of potatoes (go with the sautee! they are lovely!) The evening menu includes all the day options and a great selection of other dishes and the specials are always worth a look. Plus with mains only costing around £8-£10 the price is very reasonable! The food is always well cooked and tastes beautiful, plus the portion size is great, I always leave feeling full and satisfied. But I think possibly one of my favourite things about this place is the staff! As I usually go in the day time I am served by either the elderly gentleman that works there (I assume the owner!!! Correct me if I’m wrong) who is an italian and a really lovely man or the younger very italian man with a gottee (or beard sometimes!) who I’m pretty sure is called Jean Paul! (Again I could be wrong) he is brilliant! Always happy to have a chat if you wish, very friendly, polite and helpfull. He will offer suggestions with what they have specials wish and make suggestions on choseing wine to accompany if you wish. He is so used to seeing us now that he always says hello even when we are out of the restaurant and stops for a chat. So I will give it a 5 star all round and advise anyone if they are wanting an authentic italian meal at a good price, and dont want to be in a big chain to visit Zio Pin!

This is a very Italian restaurant, with cheery Italian staff and simple Italian-​themed décor, including terracotta tiles and pieces of art work hung along the walls.
Just inside the entrance there’s a little bar where you can have a drink before you’re seated at your table, which include booths for larger groups.
Since the stone baked pizzas at this place are so good (and excellent value) I find it hard to try anything else on the menu — and time and time again I trawl the menu and still return to the pizza.
They also do pizzas to take away, which I’d highly recommend over the big chains such as Domino’s and Perfect Pizza because their prices are competitive and their pizzas are delicious.

As Laura says from the outside you wouldn’t be faulted for assuming this place was a Chinese, but the inside interior is so very, very Italian (although rather basic). The food here is very tasty and unbelievably good value. I also recently discovered that they actually do a food pick up service. Such is the incredible taste of pizza from Zio Pins, that I have taken to driving across Cardiff on many occasions to pick up food from here. Last night my family had two large margarita pizzas, and side dishes of sautéed potatoes and garlic bread, for only £12! Dominos can’t even compare.

I was a little confused at first, I have to be honest, about what kind of food this restaurant actually serves. The banner above the door just says Zio Pin and I was convinced (having merely glanced at it on the way past) that it served chinese food. I found out to my great diappointment that it was not chinese food when I realised that it’s full name was Zio Pin Lucianos… a little more italian to my ear. The Italian flags should also have given me some kind of clue. Anyway, it meant that Zio Pin was starting on a back foot — it wasn’t chinese food… okay. But it was good Italian food. It was more authentically (I say this like I know; I’ve never been to Italy) Italian than places like Pizza Express and the like. The service was also great and the cost was really good. I’d come back here again and again. And again.

My wife, myself and 6 friends booked a table at Zio Pins, Merthyr Road, Whitchurch for 8 p.m. last Friday night.
When we arrived the place was almost full to capacity, and no one appeared to be eating. We were given several plates of bread, and our starters were eventually served at 9.15 p.m.
We paid our bill, which included a generous tip, and our change was not even returned to us.
How this organisation is still existing is beyond me.

I made a reservation for 2 people to visit the Whitchurch branch of this restaurant on a Friday night. On arrival we were greeted by a bored looking girl who obviously didn’t want to be there. She couldn’t find our booking so her manager came over and also couldn’t find it. It turned out he had booked it for Saturday not Friday.
We would have accepted an apology but the guy wasn’t in the least bit sorry and wasn’t prepared to make up for his mistake. We had been looking forward to visiting but won’t bother again in the future due to the rude attitude of the staff.

The Zio Pin is a very Italian restaurant with terracotta tiles and Italian art work spread across the walls. Arriving there is a small bar you can enjoy a refreshing drink before you head to your table, they have snugly tiled booths for a big groups of people and quaint tables for 2 if your on a romantic date. I love this restaurant not only because of it’s impressive Italian interior but for there stone baked Pizzas, there actually perfect! The staff are all very Italian and all very happy which suit’s the venue perfectly. So it’s definitely worth a trip down to Roath just to experience this hidden gem!