The Italian Club

Since The Italian Club opened in the mid-​noughties I have always been a fan. Other than the also fabulous Il Forno, this is in my opinion, the only ‘proper’ Italian foodie establishment in Liverpool (or certainly the classiest); being the Italophile that I am I always get a buzz from visiting.
I knew when I first met the owner Rosaria Crolla that, based on her surname, The Italian Club was going to be superb. One of my happiest memories as a student working at Edinburgh Festivals of the 90s was visiting the simply sublime Valvona e Crolla restaurant, deli and wine merchant in the New Town area of the city. The Crolla reputation preceded them!
The interior of the Italian Club may have changed in recent years (and a great improvement it is too with the restaurant being lighter, airier and more spacious with a cute outdoor area at the back too) but the menu has remained delightfully traditional and elegant with classic antipasti, assorted pasta dishes and simple but delicious main meals on offer. Eating there really does remind me of Italian holidays of my childhood; good home style Italian cooking, unfussy and full of taste.
This is also one of my favourite places for a coffee in Liverpool. This is coffee proper Italian style — Café Nero and Costa… take note!
So for a real taste of Italy look no further than Bold Street because you’ll find it in this gorgeous, beautifully individual little place.

Olives unpitted, bit salty, balsamic not aged, a little sharp. Nice décor, with art for sale. prompt staff, good choice menu, no specials on today. Presentation 7. Ambience 7. Service 7. Food 6. Lasagne at an Italian should be flavourful with a rich sauce, but this was bland, although cooked fresh, lacked the depth of taste, quality of ingredients was ok. Get the food right and easily a ⁴⁄₅ star.

Delizioso!
Run by the Crolla family, The Italian Club is a wonderous Italian café cum deli on Bold Street. The décor is warm and homely, the atmsophere is relaxed and the staff are friendly. The thing that makes it such a hit with locals however, is the delicious food. The Anti-​Pasti dishes include parma ham and buffalo mozzarella, sicilan rice balls and insalata caprese and the mains include hot paninis, club sandwiches, spaghetti, meatballs and pasta.
If you prefer a leisurely lunch to a breakspeed one, they also serve perfect cappucinos, home-​made tiramisu and grappa. Like I said, delizioso!

Sitting in the really lovely surroundings of Bold Street’s Italian Club with Italian Radio playing and the sun blazing, I could imagine sitting in a coffee shop on a Neoploitan Street.
You can keep your Costas and Neros, this place knows how to make coffee as it often has to provide a good brew to discerning Italian coffee drinkers from a wide selction of styles — I’m eager to try the Espresso Corretto next time, ‘a strong coffee with grappa’!
The IC is best known in Liverpool as a provider of good quality Italian meats and cheeses most of which find their way on to their delicious panini’s, salads and platters. It’s not cheap however for what are essentially light meals but you can’t argue with the freshness and attention to flavour in the tomato sauces and choice of ingredients.

The Italian club? More like The Italian gem!!! When you have an independent business, a family owned business, let me tell you now… It’s a beautiful thing. it’s just so fresh, it’s personal and it’s homely. Just thinkg about it, someone has gone out of their way to put blood sweat and tears into making their dream a reality. This is the truth behind all such ventures. The result from my experiance 99% of the time is a top notch offering. This place is no different.
Taking inspiration from their home town back in Italy the family owned business was set up to bring authentic Italian food to Liverpool in a café /​deli setting. I would highly recommend the panino Milanese, it just melted in the mouth. It is very modestly priced here and the atmosphere is just great, the décor being homely Italian as well as bright and rather fresh.
I must confess I just love Italy, I must have been Italian in my previous life or something. Ever since USA 1994 when I followed the soap opera that developed with Roberto Baggio as the doomed hero, I have felt a helpless affinity towards anything and everything Italian. It was around that time I saw the Godfather for the first time and then Godfather 2, then came Joey from friends… Allessandro Delpiero my childhood hero… James Richardson with his anglo Italian wit on channel 4 calcio Italia… Monica Belucci… the list is endless… Thus I always have a soft spot for a piece of authentic Italy in any shape or form. The Italian club provides that for me in the shape of a gorgeous little Deli/​Café which serves fresh delicious food in a warm welcoming homely very Italian envirnment. I am therefore inclined to give a finger licking 4*s. Bellissimaaaaaaaaaaaaa!!!

The Italian Club is not just your ordinary sit-​down café. They have a daily selection of hot specials, Panini and Italian salads, all available to take-​away. Customers are also encouraged to mix and match ingredients for their sandwiches. In addition, they can accept requests for certain dishes for dinner parties, for example, lasagne or tiramisu for consumption at home.
I’ve been here to have an Italian Club Steak Sandwich which cost £9.95 and probably the most expensive sandwich I have ever bought but it was served with fries and salad. The steak was quite chewy to be honest and I was made to wait about 20 minutes, at not the most busy of times. The plus points were that all ingredients were prepared fresh and attention to detail was something they focussed on well.
Most of their dishes including anti-​pasti, mains and sides are a bit pricey, so I would only recommend here if you’re looking to spoil yourself a bit!

Oh my word is all that I can say. I totally love this place. There are historical portraits decorating the wall, which are the owner, Rosaria’s family. There are sweet little chairs and tables and a pretty good sized bar. For lunch, or you could have it for early dinner, there is a good range of salads and antipasti starters. If you aren’t interested in food, there are small coffee’s, wine’s and liqueurs (the latter two go nicely with the food). The food is presented very well and it looks fresh (and tasty). If you like it so much you can take some Italien produce home with you from the deli service.

Situated on Bold Street, ‘The Italian Club’ is a decidedly leisurely little café which aims to bring the best of simple Italian food to Liverpool. And, to some extent, it succeeds. Although when I was there last, I couldn’t help thinking that they may have taken the whole ‘leisurely’ element of proceedings a little bit too far.
I went there for a quick Friday afternoon lunch prior to a meeting in town. It being 1pm, you would have though that the staff there would realise that many of the people arriving would be looking for a swift bite to eat prior to returning to the office. Instead, it took over fifteen minutes for our waitress to ask us if we would like any drinks or starters, and even then she didn’t tell us about the specials which were on that day. I was forced to walk to the other side of the restaurant and take a look at them for myself before returning to my seat. Faced with such lacklustre service, I was forced to postpone my meeting just so I could have enough time to eat the food I’d been waiting such a long time for.
I must admit, that when my meal arrived, it was absolutely delicious. Bread and Olives came with a small dish of wonderfully peppery extra virgin olive oil and a high quality balsamic vinegar, and my chicken with butternut squash was delicious and grilled to perfection. It’s just a pity that our waitress was so disinterested in us, otherwise I wouldn’t hesitate in coming here for lunch again. Unfortunately, it appears that the only time I’ll be coming back here is when I’ve got a hell of a lot of time to kill.

Mama mia here I go again. The pure Italian exuberance of this Bold street gem makes me want to join in with Abba every time I go. This restaurant at the top of Bold street is totally unassuming from the street but as you enter you will rapidly be transported to ana authentic Italian dining experience .
Whether you are simply in for a light lunch of panina and coffee (more on which is coming up) or full the full trouser challenging pasta hit you will not be disappointed the sheer freshness of and authenticity leads to a true Italian taste of every dish on the menu. The staff are welcoming, helpful, attentive and knowledgeable and will make this experience all the better for this.
My recommendation amongst all of this is not just the food which is authentically Italian but most importantly for me the coffee. In my humble opinion this is the best Italian coffee in the city however you choose to have it cappuccino, latte, espresso, or Americano you will fall in love with caffeine all over again

The Italian Club is a colourful, homey café offering delicious, authentic and British-​influenced Italian food for brunch, lunch, and tea/​dinner. It’s a family owned business, and you’ll feel the love as the staff take care to make your experience a great one.
Two of my friends and I recently got together here for one of our traditional American expat meet-​ups. With the bright vegetable pottery on the front windowsill and the small, intimate tables, corner booths, and wood shelves and bar I felt like I was in the Crolla family’s kitchen rather than in a restaurant.
The food is tasty. For a late morning snack, I had a Panino Caprese, which is yummy toasted white bread topped with mozzarella cheese, tomatoes, and basil. This was just one of many appetizer choices, and there are various paninis, salads, and hot main dishes available for both eat-​in or take-​out. They can also do catering with prior arrangement.

A fish club! An Italian fish club! Where all the fish go to do their best Mafioso impressions.
Halibut: Whaddya mean I’m fwunny?
John Dory: It’s fwunny, ya know. It’s a good stawie. It’s fwunny, you’re a fwunny fish.
Halibut: Whaddya mean, ya mean the way I tawk? Wha?
Well, as amusing as that might be to imagine, The Italian Fish Club, or rather, The Italian Club Fish, is a restaurant on Bold Street with a good reputation as well as a cosy little tea room-​cum-​bar. It’s recommended even for non-​lovers of seafood. Tastefully decorated with an unusual original shop front, it definitely looks inviting and the staff were very welcoming and friendly. Bread and olives to nibble on really are a must, they’re particularly stunning here, as are the light bites like battered oysters.
The spaghetti with clams is delicious, all the fish on the menu is cooked perfectly well if the fillets were anything to go by, and if you’re with fish-​phobics there are plenty of meat options to choose from. With a small and simple menu this place excels at what it does well, and I for one will be going back to try plenty more. Lovely!

I’ve only been here once so can’t really rave about it just yet, but my experience was a good one. Like a traditional tea room, The Italian Club has small tables set close together, and a lovely display of cakes. Unlike a tea room, the waitress didn’t seem to know what teas they had when I asked her, and when she went off to check, she never came back, and I ended up with a normal cuppa.
Not to worry though, because the ambiance here is suitably kitsch and if you get a table towards the back you can convince yourself you’re not in the city centre anymore.
The cakes are definitely worth trying. I convinced myself that the carrot cake would contribute to one of my five a day and I was glad I did. My friend went for something a lot more choclatey and it lasted an even shorter time than mine.
This is a nice alternative to the Costas and Starbucks of the world and I’d much rather give my money to a small business and see it succeed.

Sigh. It started well: lovely space, with big windows and warm lighting. Great looking display of antipasti and hot table goodies right out front. Bei & Nannini (Luca) coffee logos everywhere. Everything clean and in order.
Then we ordered. Or at least we tried: nothing on the menu was available even though the menu was offered us: that evening’s chef was a no-​show. Food from the steam table was fine, delivery was chaotic (did we mis-​read cues about table service?), bank machine was broken and that warm lighting turned out to be more appropriate for performing surgery. We left early.
I’d try again, but I don’t think my partner would.