Not everyone loves Brighton Marina and not everyone loves chain restaurants.

But I love it down there and although I love our independent restaurants across Sussex some of our chain restaurants provide amazing food and provide more jobs and places for us all to go.

I wanted to try out the new menu at Prezzo as I had not been for years, the last time being at the Lewes branch.

And speaking of jobs, I wish I had got his name now to publicly thank him, as the young man who looked after us was such a joy. He was one of those happy people who makes you smile and have an all the more enjoyable experience.

He told us about how the staff had the chance to try out the new menu and therefore had a great knowledge of it all.

If you haven’t been, Prezzo is an Italian restaurant largely offering pizza and pasta. But they have lots of side dishes to choose from too and the arancini, as recommended, is worth a visit on its own.

It is made with mushrooms, leeks and mascarpone “gently stirred through risotto, coated in breadcrumbs and fried until golden. It is then served with mayonnaise and crisp sage leaves.

That description doesn’t do them justice though. They are a savoury, slightly crispy taste sensation.

READ MORE: Brighton Marina Prezzo launches new spring summer menu

The other starters we tried was the amazing crispy fried mozzarella and the gorgeous tomato bruschetta.

The bruschetta is made using their hand-stretched pizza dough, brushed with garlic and parsley, topped with speciality tomatoes, a sweet, white balsamic vinaigrette and a drizzle of house pesto. It works really well in that pizza style.

A good swig of my nice cold Poretti lager and I was ready for my spicy, meaty pizza.

Prezzo has introduced the Calabrese Calzone - a Calzone filled with smoky pork sausage crumbs, spicy ‘nduja, mozzarella and Calabrese tomato sauce.

If you haven’t tried one, a Calzone is a big Italian pizza folded over and sealed like a Cornish pasty. But bigger, and full of pizza toppings.

This Calzone was a little oily but I absolutely loved it. Nice amount of spice and so tasty. And it is huge. I did save some for the next day actually.

The spring and summer menu introduces a brand new pizza base - Pinsa - with three new pizzas adorning the menu: Mushroom, Burrata and Truffle, which I’m told is gorgeous.

Then there’s chicken and roasted peppers and smoky tre carni. The latest addition of ‘cloud-like’ Pinsa Romano style pizzas have crisp, airy crusts.

Prezzo has also re-introduced the pizzetta - a smaller pizza served with a side salad.

Other new options introduced on the spring and summer menu include the courgette and black olive pizza, topped with chargrilled courgettes sourced from southern Italy and the Mortadella mushroom pizza which sees Prezzo’s hand-stretched dough topped with Italian mortadella, butter-roasted mushrooms and mascarpone cheese. The all-new Marinara pizza is an option for vegans, made from Mutti Italian tomatoes.

Prezzo has two new pasta dishes. The Creste di Gallo dish has Prezzo’s house pesto and is topped with creamy burrata, whilst the all-new Pea and Goat’s Cheese Ravioli is filled with sweet peas and creamy goat’s cheese and served in a cacio e pepe sauce.

The Creste di Gallo is lovely - house pesto, peas, Italian hard cheese and topped with soft and creamy cheese. Diners can also tuck into the new seabass with gnocchi and saffron grill, or the vegetarian calabrese burger, topped with spicy calabrese ketchup.

There is a children’s menu too.

We also loved the Caesar salad with chicken, an absolute winner.

Dessert lovers can enjoy an array of new gelatos and sorbets with flavours including Vanilla, mango, chocolate and raspberry alongside a variety of sweet treats favourites such as tiramisu, sicilian lemon meringue pie and lotus Biscoff cheesecake with banana.

We tried the mango and raspberry sorbets and they were a perfect fresh finish to the meal.

The Biscoff cheesecake was very rich in a very good way.

To go alongside the new dishes, Prezzo has announced new seasonal spring spritzes available in Strawberry & Bergamot and Blood Orange & Peach.

I would certainly recommend Prezzo this summer. Great staff and great food.

For more information see https://www.prezzorestaurants.co.uk.