There are some places in the island that people talk about with a certain fondness, the sort of tone usually reserved for favourite holiday spots or a kitchen their grandma once cooked in.

La Mona Lisa in Laxey is one of those places, a family-run Italian restaurant that has been serving hearty dishes beside the river since 1994.

I hadn’t been for a few years, so I headed out to see whether my memory was playing tricks on me or whether it really was as warm, cosy and delicious as everyone says.

Walking through the door, it was immediately clear: my memory was spot on.

The restaurant still has that unmistakable Italian-family-home feel – quaint, low lighting, intimate tables and the kind of aroma that hits you like a hug.

Garlic, tomato, freshly baked dough… it’s the smell that tells you you’re in for proper, comforting food.

The staff, as welcoming as ever, chatted to us about what makes La Mona Lisa tick.

The pizzas are made entirely from scratch, using Manx flour, and all of the desserts are prepared in-house by the chef.

With some tempting drinks on the board, I opted for a Birra Moretti Zero as I was driving, and turned my attention to the menu.

And what a menu it is, packed with choice and backed up by an equally strong specials board. Everything is sensibly priced too, which is refreshing these days.

For starters, there was only one place to begin: the Pane all’aglio.

Freshly baked garlic pizza bread, drenched in garlic butter and served with, what they describe as, their ‘famous homemade chilli sauce’.

It was everything garlic bread should be, soft in the middle, crisp on the edges and absolutely loaded with flavour.

Choosing a main course, however, was a different story. Pizza? Pasta? Calzone? Then the specials arrived and made things even more difficult.

In the end, I went with something familiar: an'nduja pizza from the specials board. I’ve always loved the 'nduja pizza at Just Pizza and Pasta in Douglas, so I wanted to see how this one compared.

It was exceptional.

If you don’t know, it is a spicy Italian creation that features 'nduja, a spreadable pork sausage, which I have learnt is from the Calabria region of Southern Italy.

This one had a perfect base with just the right level of crispness, topped with rocket, red onions, generous heat from the ’nduja and, once again, more of that cracking chilli sauce on the side. Rich, satisfying and huge.

I had absolutely no room left for dessert, which was a shame, because the homemade options looked outstanding.

I could easily have gone for their Tiramisu della casa, the Crème Brulee, or the Cioccolata paradiso, a warm, indulgent chocolate sponge described as a ‘warning for chocaholics’.

La Mona Lisa is exactly what a long-standing family restaurant should be: warm, welcoming and full of character.

Whether you fancy a comforting bowl of lasagne al forno, a perfectly folded calzone Barese, fresh seafood like the Spigola di Bari, or simply a glass of Italian wine by the river, it’s all there.