Bacco Virginia Water

Bacco sits on Station Parade in Virginia Water, which tells you most of what you need to know about how it fits into the village. This is a parade of shops by the railway station, in a part of Surrey where a lot of people commute into London and come back out again in the evening. A smart Italian restaurant in that position is doing a particular job: it is somewhere you can walk to from the train, or drive to in a few minutes, without making an expedition of it.

The cooking is described as refined Sardinian and Italian, with fresh pasta and seafood the things it is known for, and a substantial Italian wine list behind it. Sardinian influence is worth noting because it usually means a kitchen leaning on fish and shellfish rather than the heavier northern Italian repertoire, though the menu is not published here and it is sensible to check before you travel if there is something specific you want.

The £££ price band is the honest signal. This is not a neighbourhood pizzeria with paper napkins. It is priced as a proper dinner out, which in practice means starters, mains, a bottle rather than a glass, and a bill that you notice. What you should expect in return is table service, some ceremony around the food, and staff who can talk you through a wine list. If you are after a quick, cheap weekday plate of pasta, this is the wrong end of the market.

Who it suits: couples marking something, a long dinner with friends who want to sit rather than be turned over, and business meals where the surroundings matter. The seafood leaning and the fine-dining billing also make it a reasonable choice for the sort of occasion where somebody is being treated, a birthday, an anniversary, visiting family. It will work on a weeknight, but it is built for an evening you have set aside.

Before booking, two practical points. Opening hours are not listed in the information available here, so ring or check online rather than turning up. And because seafood is one of the things the kitchen is known for, availability can move with what has come in, again, a call is the safe approach if you have your heart set on something.

Virginia Water is not short of money but it is short of space, and restaurants of this sort are limited in number. Bacco occupies the upper end of a small field: the village's option for a serious Italian dinner, at serious Italian dinner prices.