POPULAR Italian restaurant Zizzi will be open for business again tonight after being closed for over two weeks in Basingstoke.

Zizzi in Basingstoke has been closed and will welcome customers back tonight after the restaurant has had a complete design overhaul.

The newly designed restaurant is part of the company’s transformation process and the Basingstoke restaurant is one of the first to have the transformation.

Kevin Thornton, the manager of Zizzi in Basingstoke said the “entire ambiance” of the restaurant has changed.

He told the Gazette that the restaurant is now “split up into three zones.”

He said: “The front section is called the nature zone and that is why there are trees and plants.

“The middle section is called the energy zone and the back section is the fire zone.”

Each section of the restaurant now has a “unique feel”.

One wall is filled with a special painting of water lilies, which has been designed to reflect the Basingstoke Canal.

Kevin has been working at Zizzi for two years and is excited for customers to see the newly designed space.

He said: “We have lots of new equipment. They have just done everything, they have painted, we have got new furniture and the floors have been done."

Kevin said they have also updated the technology that staff use, everything will now be done on screens and customers will be able to order through their phones.

Front of house waitress, Kate Brown said she is "really excited".

She said: “for us it is such a nice environment to be in and it now feels lovely and modern for our customers to come back to.”

The building was previously a popular Basingstoke pub called The George.

The front of the historic building was white but has now been painted black and Kevin hopes this will make it stand out more.

There are also some changes to the menu with the introduction of new food including new pizzas and desserts.

Kevin added: “We kept a lot of the old favourites, but they have been tweaked and some of the sauces have been replaced.

“All of the sauces that we use are made especially for us so you can not get any of our sauces anywhere else.”

Kevin is pleased with the redesign and hopes everything will now be easier, which he said will result in customers getting their food quicker.

The Italian chain restaurant is located in the Top of Town on London Street and reopens tonight, Friday, October 22.