Sasso Restaurant

Sasso is an Italian restaurant on Prince’s Square in Harrogate. Accessed down from the road by a couple of short flights of steps, Sasso has both a lunch and dinner menu. On a chilly winter’s evening, we were looking for authentic Italian cuisine, and on entering the restaurant we were given a warm welcome by the genial owner. The restaurant was empty when we arrived, and was only about a third full when we left, this meant it lacked a bit of atmosphere, I suspect that at a weekend, Sasso would be packed. The food more than made up for it though, as we perused the menu, classic tunes from artists like the Bee Gees played on a loop, and the large colourful paintings on the walls made us dream of warmer climes. The menu had a fantastic variety of dishes, almost an impossible choice, but in the end we started with Bruschetta to share, that came with green and black olives, fresh tomatoes with pepper, olive oil and balsamic, with a roasted garlic bulb. A fine selection of complimentary flavours, the garlic cloves melted like butter and were very strong, I’m glad my wife and I were sharing the starter!
Mains wise, so many tempting dishes with wonderful ingredients, I’m sure we’ll return to sample more. My wife went for the angel hair spaghetti, with sliced aubergines and a rich tomato sauce, a great dish but the cheese layered on the aubergines overwhelmed their flavour somewhat. I went for the home made pasta tubes with chicken and pancetta, in a cheese and curry sauce! I know it doesn’t sound right, but the owner assured me I’d made a good choice, and he was right. The curry flavour was subtle and the whole mix of ingredients worked perfectly, a hugely impressive bowl of food. We did order a side of roasted vegetables, with basil pesto, lovely but not necessary, the mains were huge, as well as flavoursome.
Both of us were on the full side, but having a good time, we could have stopped after the mains, but there’s always room for a dessert. The chocolate terrine with coffee crème anglais was rich and unctuous, and my wife’s homemade lemon tart with limoncello sorbet was just as impressive. A great meal, just what we wanted, I’m just glad that the walk back to the hotel helped allay my feeling of fullness somewhat.

Fantastic Italian restaurant with an eclectic menu. Rabbit leg and tiramisu with sambuca cream appear on the menu, and the place has a lovely ambience, unlike the chain Italian restaurants that seem to be all too omnipresent. Friendly service and a beautiful interior, too.

Good food. Great value at lunch time. Best bruchette ever tasted.

In a lovely Northern England town dotted with tea houses, fine wine shops, tailored mens and ladies clothing stores, Italian restaurants are not hard to find. Indeed, we ate at three Italian restaurants while recently in Harrogate for a convention and I chose to review Sasso because of the three it had the best reputation amongst ‘those in the know’.
That being said, it wasn’t what I expected. We were taken downstairs to a large dining room which seemed to be set up for catering and parties and the place didn’t have a cozy or warm feeling to me.
The food and service were okay, it’s just that nothing really stood out as being memorable, and for the price, I would have preferred the owners to have gone a bit farther to introduce to Harrogate a more refined menu than what was on offer in virtually all the other Italian restaurants in this lovely North England town.
Perhaps my criticism is not so much a dislike of «Sasso», but that of all the restaurants we tried in Harrogate, this one has the ability to stand out and shine. For a town that boasts some of the finest shopping in northern England, it would be worth the risk to raise the bar in the preparation and delivery of fine Italian food.

Nice Italian resturant — service was a little slow but it was about a year ago when i went.
Was quite pricey £120 for four people and that was two courses and some wine.
I did enjoy my meal but the wait between courses was quite a long time as it was really busy.
On the main road so no parking, car park for holiday inn not too far if driving.

A pretty disapointing Italian meal, décor not that smart. but ‘smart ’ prices.
Far too wide a menu too produce good food, we should have known, anyway Cured meats at £7, well pretty poor. For main course went to Rabbit, it was quite a size wrapped in parma ham, but dry and the vegetables uninspiring.
Wines a little overpriced, service was not exactly charming.