We tried a selection of dishes to share after a movie. My husband picked Squid rings, crispy and light and a beauti ful pear dessert – very lovely. I picked mushrooms (fungi) – ordinary, and cannelloni – expected a nice salmon centre but get a Stale smelling fish centre – seemed too old. Tiramisu was a complete disappointment – sparse on thc sponge and rock hard cream on top like it had been kept in the fridge since the day before. I make this dessert and know that the mascapone topping should be light. The food was quick…almost to quick, the staff were attentive but overall not a memorable experience and we wont be recommending it.

We went to Zico with my wife, my parents and our two young daughters. Food was great, really fast and staff was very understanding of kids needs – get their food first, etc.
Gabrielle, our waitress was very friendly and made every effort possible to accommodate us. Strongly recommend.

We had read some mixed reviews about this place but decided to give it ago – especially as it is in the Entertainment book. All I can say is Amazing!!

Great staff, great atmosphere, and most importantly great food.

We went in at a very busy time. The waiter was a bit slow to take our order – nothing we didn’t expect seeing as it was the eve of the Hobbit premiere. We didn’t mind and didn’t even think it was that bad. Zico staff kept apologising and when we went to pay they gave us our desserts for free (for an extra 5 – 10 min of waiting to order!)

Food taste and quality and portions were excellent. Couldn’t fault – maybe the tables were a bit too small?

Will definitely be dining here again- would go as far as saying best Italian cuisine in Wellington.

I went to Zicos last night after making a booking at 4.30pm
We were shown our table, offered menus etc and the waitress came & took our orders shortly after – with a smile
I had the Crayfish Bisque as a starter and it was divine. Beautiful flavour, bits of crayfish and piping hot, as I must always have my soup. At $9.00? worth every penny
I then had a pasta which was excellent.
We all (4) finished with desserts which looked too good on presentation to actually eat.
They were booked out but this didn’t seem to affect service. A bit loud but it was Xmas ( with a hens party in progress)
We used an entertainment card ( it was our first time there) and it was taken & ticked off without hesitation.
All 4 of us said what a great night and great Italian food.
Cost was average but certainly value for money.
We will certainly be back.

We dined at Zicos mid 2012 and enjoyed the family celebration so much we returned 12 months later, only to be disappointed.

The temperature in the restaurant was quite chilly, so much that most of us kept our coats on whilst we ate.

One diner from our group only ate a small portion of his meal due to the blandness of it. On discussing this with the restaurant staff they justified it as being a bland type of meal that had been ordered and a half price meal for this particular choice was given.

The rest of the meals were OK but last time we enjoyed our meals much more. We won’t be rushing back!

I have dined and had numerous lunch at Zicos. The number in my group varied from 10 to 20. We have NEVER been disappointed. The service and atmosphere is great. The cooking just as we like it.
many ion the group are world travelers are have eaten n similar cafe world wide. This is up to world standard.

Sunday night late decision and we walked into Zico Cucina mainly because it was busy which was good sign.

I had medallions of Pork which was fantastic..amazing Jus and seasonal vegetables were perfect al dente.

Cindy had pumpkin ravioli in brown butter sauce which she said was best she had ever …even having spent 3 months in Italy

service was great and price was right

If you want to be fed, watered and on your way again this is the place to go. The friendly waiter seated us and had our entrees to us quick smart. I mentioned we weren’t in a rush, (the restaurant only had one other couple at the time). Sadly our mains arrived as we were finishing off our entrees. (Obviously they were in a rush to get us out). Our meals were bland (where was the seasoning?) , though the teenagers with us enjoyed theirs. From being seated to being shown the door was a total of about 40 minutes. We probably could have extended our stay (by minutes) by ordering dessert and coffee but decided to go elsewhere.

Good place to have dinner

Moderately priced and service is good. However can be lacking on some nights. Depending on how much staff they have on

The food is good, try the venison, it’s devine!

My wife and I have dined here a number of times this year and have recommended Zicos to friends and family. It’s not a large restaurant but cozy and full of character. The dishes we have eaten have been superb and, on a couple of occasions, have even been altered to suit specific tastes.

I have to recommend two meals especially – the cannelloni and the seafood risotto are incredibly flavoursome and rich. Generous portions too. Try them!

A great selection of reds too, fairly priced, in keeping with other restaurants around town. Check out the wine rack behind the bar. I’m seriously considering having a whole wall book shelf built into our lounge along the same design.

Zico is our favourite little Italian restaurant. We’ll be going back soon!

I had dinner at Zico’s last night and was so disapointed that I felt the need to warn others,service wise awful having to deal with four different waiters not coordinated with each other,and having to actually stand up and wave to get their atention to order.Food we ordered was the paua ravioli(1/2 tsp diluted paua inside a huge ravioli swimming in a bath of rancid tasting oil) and pork belly with penne(close your eyes and it tasted like watties spaghetti).We took 3 mouthfuls of each and decided to leave.We told the guy at counter that it was awful,to which he looked down and thrust the bill down with no comment(a common occurence?)Never again.

We dined here a couple of weeks ago. They were half full but staff seemed frantically busy – to the point that service was almost non-existent. We were seated and left for a considerably long time. No drinks order taken and in the time it took them to take our food order we could have finished a drink even though I’m a slow sipper. Chose two mains – steak and duck – and a side of vegetables and finally ordered some wine. Waiter had trouble communicating, did not tell us the specials and could not answer any questions about any of the mains. Meals were on the smaller side but as we had the side of veges it was ok. Simple, ok, but nothing special or to separate the meal from what you might prepare at home. At the time we both said they were about 5 out of 10. Due to the terrible service and disappointing mains we left before dessert. The owners are losing money here definitely due to poor service.

Also the acoustics need major improvement. Due to a couple of groups dinning it was unpleasant until they left.

We enjoyed our meal here The service was very nice, the atmosphere was pleasant. Our servers were two lovely young ladies and the meals were perfectly fine, a seafood risotto – quite buttery and rich and the seafood marinara which was full of delicious bits of 2 kinds of fish and mussels in a rather mildly flavoured but nice sauce. The presentation of the pasta was great. We had a glass each of the Italian Merlot and Cabernet and finished with a shared dessert special which was fantastic and elegantly presented.

I find Zico to be a great place to dine. The staff are friendly helpful and relaxed. They are young and don’t rush you through your meal. I have lived in Italy and the food is 100 % authentic with a slight hint of personality.

The menu is typically Italian so isn’t as friendly to gluten free people but there are always options.

I would recommend dining her despite other bad reviews. I’m sure 9 times out of 10 Zico hits the nail on the head.

I have only recently found Zico. Admittedly I have only dined for lunch… 3 times in the last three weeks! First was the cannelloni then the gnocchi then back to the cannelloni. Tasty, generous and simple. Other reviews have faulted service. I experienced a very attentive waiter, this I think could be because only 4-5 other tables were in use. I will compare the dinner experience soon.

A group of friends decided to dine at Zico’s last night after watching a movie.

We were underwhelmed by the service which fell way short of what is generally the norm in Wellington.

Initially, it started off OK then deteriorated as the evening passed and became quite clear that they wanted ‘rid’ of guests by 9.30pm.

The closed sign appeared and we were not even given the opportunity of ordering more drinks or even dessert. We were clearly ignored.

The arrogance of the Italian guy made us further dissatisfied especially when told that our Entertainment card was not accepted on a Public Holiday.

Not impressed! Never going back!

A group of us book for 1 of my friend b-day few days ago,

Waiting for the mains and dessert so long,
We order Well Done Steak and they give us Rare Lamb,

And the waiters so mean to us


May be we’re not back there again

I’m surprised this restaurant is still in business with so many fantastic restaurants to choose from in Wellington, why settle for this crap.

My order of fish was over cooked to the point of rubber and inedible. The staff weren’t interested in finding out why even when I attempted to tell them.
My fellow diners thought their spag bog was OK but none of us thought it was worth the lofty price tag.

If you’re after a nice dinner out, I implore you not to go here, it’s very poor indeed.

My partner and I strolled down the street looking for a place to eat, and were attracted to the backboard that said Bluff Oysters, so we walked in. Restaurant was 1/4 full, we got to pick a table and we instantly ordered a bottle of house red, and how do the oyster come. My partner asked if they could come kilpatrick (which is not how they were doing them) and they did them no problem kilpatrick (with the Chefs own twist on kilpartick style), they were presented individually in spoons with extra sauces and a side a bread ($44 for the dozen)
My partner ordered the Bolognese (main) and I ordered the seafood cannelloni (entree) both were of ample size. The service was excellent, choice of house red perfect, will definitely go back their again, but will remember to take out Entertainment Card next time

The staff were friendly and when we were greeted we got to pick a table to sit at. Once everything was ordered our drinks came our promptly followed with our entrée (Garlic Bread). The garlic bread taste stale? something seemed a bit off.

The mains arrived a while later and I liked the complementary potatoes they were yum. I ordered the chicken dish and the chicken was soft, I’m not too sure if its meant to be cooked that way but it was still good.

Overall an alright experience.

I have been to Zico’s many many times, and every time have loved it. I have now moved to Auckland, so whenever I visit Wellington I try and go and have dinner there.

It’s a family-run restaurant and they are all just lovely. Definitely one of my favourite restaurants, and I’ve introduced a number of friends to Zicos and they love it to.

My friend and I had dinner at Zico Cucina & Bar on Saturday 17 October 2009. We found the food was very good but it seemed like they were trying to rush the meals through before we had even finished our bread.I found the dessert that I had was not the best choice.I would recommend this restaurant to any of my friends.

My wife and I have dined here before, and her hen’s night was also at Zico a little while ago – neither of us have been disappointed.

Zico has a handy location for people watching if you happen to snag one of the seats facing Courtenay Place – you get to see a lot of people stopping by to look at the menu. The setting is a wee bit on the cramped side, but not so you’re sitting on top of everyone.

For some reason, there seemed to be a lot of “older” people dining here this time. I’m not sure if there was a senior citizens gold card discount but it certainly seemed it. This has no impact on the food or the setting, it was more … interesting than anything else. Nevertheless, there were also a number of younger people dining there that evening as well.

Service was attentive, albeit a little slow a couple of times. The food arrived quickly and was as good as the other time we had dined here. Food was plentiful as well. On top of it all, we were in a bit of a hurry but service was so quick, we were out and enjoying the noise of the show in plenty of time.