Illiano's Pizzeria - Colchester

Came here after a long hike which should say something about how our expectations weren't too high given we were starving. The mozzarella sticks definitely had that frozen quality and weren't fried enough. I give it a 5/10 because the flavor was still decent. The chicken parm was lackluster. I thought the sauce was very good. 7/10 The pasta was cooked fine but lacked a lot of flavor even with the sauce. The chicken reminded me of cafeteria food. Cheese wasn't melted enough, it was hard and rubber like. I also found a thick piece of plastic halfway through. 3/10 The woman who served us was very nice about it and apologized. She was very prompt and lovely. Overall, it was not very good compared to other Italian places I have been and I won't be back even if I were starving.

A decent place for a meal. The price is reasonable. The service is pleasant, although it can be a bit slow. Dinners are well prepared, but mostly quite bland. Your pizza is actually quite good, most of the time, but this is the catch. For me, the problem with Illiano's from Colchester is inconsistency. If they do well, meals are a bit better than average and the pizza is excellent! Other times it can be under par. Consistency is one of my main criteria for rating restaurants. If I am not sure what I will get when I place an order, how can I recommend it? For example, McDonald's is barely gourmet or even very fast food BUT if I have an order at McDonald's 99% of the time I expect. On a bad day this place hardly prices 2 stars yet on a good day it simply prices 4 stars based on pizza and other related bakery. So I give them three stars, but take it with a few grains of salt.

The Cheeseburger Mahler was dry and poorly assembled, the Zucchini fries were just okay and tasted like they were frozen. The Marinara Sauce seemed to have come straight out of a can and lacked flavor. This restaurant used to be good, but it seems to have lost its touch. I suppose it's just another casualty of the pandemic.

I was able to pick up my order in just 25 minutes and there was plenty of pizza to feed my family. My favorite pizzas were the potato and Buffalo chicken ones that I ordered last time!

I ordered a hot ham sandwich on a sub roll at 12:20. They said it would be ready in 20 minutes. I arrived 35 minutes later and once again received a cold ham sandwich without any seeds on the roll. All this for $11!