Askitalian Avis 

I don't know what has happened to our local restaurant!

Went into ASK Billericay for an early meal last night in a party of 5. The table wasn't ready on arrival and we had a short wait which, in itself wasn't a problem.

Several small parties arrived at the same time and there seemed to be a flurry of activity with getting food out for delivery/collection.

Our order was taken in one go - drinks, mains, etc. which was unusual, but again, not a problem.

Drinks came to the table within 20 minutes of our arrival and the starters arrived shortly afterwards.

However, this was then when everything seemed to go wrong:

Around 45 minutes into our visit we were advised that one of the items ordered was not available. We ordered a substitute and assumed food would be imminent.

It took almost an hour and a quarter before our mains arrived, but an item was missing (vegan lecca lecca) This was chased up and was brought to the table about 5 or so minutes later. Unfortunately it was cooked to the point of being inedible - really tough, so much so that whilst trying to cut it, I knocked a pot of dip off the table.

I returned the item and asked that it was not replaced.

When we'd finished we declined desserts (based on waiting time so far) and asked for the bill to be discounted to take into account the problems.

This was done and we paid cash, leaving it on the table as nobody returned to take payment.

On our way home we received a message from the restaurant asking us to settle the outstanding balance of the bill. We rang to query and were told that the matter was sorted out, apologies.

Problems:
Slow service
Lack of items
Lack of proper apology about poor service
Seeming lack of actual trained staff in dealing with customer issues
Nobody cleared up the spillage whilst we were there
Apparently nobody checked for payment prior to calling
Nobody rang back on finding the payment on the table

This used to be a really good restaurant with excellent staff but has gone through several apparent changes of management.

The food itself, was mostly good, but the service and staff competency were clearly lacking.

Perfect service and perfect food. The Manager Tony kindly looked after us the whole evening. He has a fantastic sense of humour. Food was really delicious (thank you Chef). We will be back for more 😍

Worst pizza I’ve ever had delivered, better quality from coop freezer, rang shop who wasn’t interested at all and told me to complain to uber where it was ordered from. Will never use again and wouldn’t recommend

An expensive underwhelming experience. Indifferent food, inattentive service - we only got our meal because we asked where it was. It came 5 minutes later. Overcooked pasta, no Parmesan and the only saving grace was that every other customer seemed to be treated as badly as we were. Never again.

Went along today on the afternoon with my daughter and mom, my daughter loves it there, she is autistic so I try to go when not busy, the restaurant was not busy at all which was fab, but everything from that point went downhill, took a while to order, when we did finally order food took ages, it was a simple order, they brought my daughters food in 2 halves, she didn't understand why and wouldn't eat till they added her chips, even though I requested it as a meal for her, when I asked they finally added the chips 10 mins later, no sign still of my food, that must have been another 10 or 15 mins, by time I got mine my daughter was pretty much finished, so as a parent sat with a child I felt rushed to then eat mine, to add the cherry on top they allowed 4 young lads to sit behind us even though there were lots of seats, and they were being loud, swearing, being fussy making the back of the chairs keep moving, I'm not a fussy person, but when anyone is sat there with a child/ children this should not be acceptable, couldn't get out fast enough

Wish I had read the reviews before our visit !
Food and service was mediocre at best ! Went during a quiet afternoon , slow service and food ! Not full of flavour as you would expect ( I could cook better )
I have visited a lot of Italian restaurants and I won’t be using these again 👎

We were met at the door by a smiling waiter which is always a good start. Out was taken quickly and our meal arrived just as quick and was delicious and our dessert too. The Manger was jolly and attentive our whole experience was good This was in the Marlborough branch.

Bad service in Worcester- long delays and more than half staff went out on a break at once.

Lunchtime visit. Extremely slow service, understaffed and average quality, overpriced food and drinks. Despite being informed by the server that they could accommodate our time constraints, the food took 45 minutes to arrive. Starter arrived with main course. Caesar salad is totally overpriced for the soggy lettuce, overcooked croutons and barely there chicken.

Amazing staff, so friendly!!!
An amazing gluten free menu, and they treat allergies with caution! Very happy with service! Thank you!

very very nice meals, only go there on special occasions as is pricey, lately have been having ask italian delivered only to find on who ever cooks it that the meal sizes and deserts can change in size quiet a bit, but still very yummy.

Table booked for 5.30 with our elderly relatives. Greeted at the door sat at our table without menus! The waitress was very inattentive. Sat for 10 to 15 mins after finishing our mains eventually the waitress came over. Sat a further 15-20 mins waiting for desert, its 19.24 they havnt arrived yet?????????

Nothing went wrong particularly, although the maitre d' is very brusque at our local branch, but the food is ghastly. It really isn't worth the money. I had a particularly unpleasant tagliatelle with bolognese sauce, reminiscent of a really bad ready meal. It was a sad grey pink, with grainy mince, only mildly tomatoey. I had to ask for some parmesan as no-one thought to offer it to me, my side salad came from a bag and was gritty, and slathered in dressing. All in all, it was a poor show for a significant cost.

Booked a table a Ask Italian Scarborough for 7.30 Saturday evening, on arrival was told that because of where we would be sitting the waiter had four other tables all with allege requirements so there would be a delay in offering us service, on asking how long we would need to wait the manager just shrugged his shoulders saying a long time !! Well needless to say we didn’t eat there that evening & will never go back there again, if I book a table at a restaurant for a particular time I expect the restaurant to be able to serve me with the same standard of service as they offer other people, not offer 2nd class service at what I thought was a reputable establishment, don’t ask Ask !!

Visited the Scarborough branch for lunch . We paid in cash and waited for our £7.00 change which didn’t arrive ! We are all for tipping the staff for good service but it’s our decision to tip and by how much. Staff should not be withholding customers change without the customers approval !

The staff were very nice at the branch we visited and the food was fine. My expectations weren’t high.
My bill stated that tips are given to staff. I asked the staff member before choosing to give one. She shook her head saying they do not get them so it’s an outright lie from the company. DO NOT TIP, even if you get great service!!

Went to eat at the Milton Keynes shopping centre branch at 1:40. We had a baby with us who needed the pram as still only 3 months old. They wouldn’t seat us as they didn’t have a table for 2 with space for a pram however had plenty of tables for 4 free but they did not want to give us one ‘in case people came in’. We could see 6 empty tables downstairs alone, couldn’t see upstairs.
Surely 2 people paying for a table is better than none at all.staff were rude about it too. Won’t go there again.

Went for Lunch at Union Square, Aberdeen. Ordered a Pizza, the Lobster and Crab Ravioli. Pizza was fine, but the Ravioli was not, supposed to be decadent pieces of 'al dente' Ravioli, more like it was just out of the freezer and 'cardboard al dente' was a more apt description.

Presentation Ravioli was not as illustrated on their flyer, or website, 4 bits of courgettes, not shaven but just cut in half rounds thrown into the bottom of the plate hiding under the Ravioli, sitting on top of some creamy garlic sauce, which it was not, more like a Tsp thin gruel, that was barely detectable at the bottom of the plate, probably why it was thin, goes further. Spinach was woefully lacking, a few wilted leaves, gave the impression of some green colouration. What was served was not representative of the illustration depicted. The reality was woeful.

The overall taste of the Ravioli was masked by the carboard texture of the pasta, ‘al dente’ it certainly was not, more like under cooked. The barely detectable sauce added nothing to dish, token courgette and spinach were wasted as there was not enough to make any impact on the taste, just there because it had been mentioned as part of the dish, other parts were clearly missing.

The waitress said she would go and get pepper and cheese last we saw of her.

Good job there was a good-sized pizza which we ended up sharing, but the expensive Ravioli keeps it in the 1 star bracket.

Overall, disappointment, quality bad, prices expensive for what it is, will not be going back. We were not even asked if everything was okay. Pointless complaining, just a hassle, better to write a review about our experience, more people see this.

Visited the branch in Ashby de la Zouch.

Small positions of food were overpriced and basic.

My seat had a direct view into the kitchen, and I was not impressed.

The 'chef' was very busy, but I never saw him once wash his hands. Basic hygiene training surely and not good when preparing vegetarian and non vegetarian food.
Also, please get the chef some new workwear, he had to periodically reposition his poorly fitting trousers re-cover his posterior. This is not something anyone wants to see while out on a family meal.

Very disappointed with our visit to Ask Italian in Malvern today, my son took his father and myself out for Fathers Day, We all ordered Calzone’s they had meat mine was vegetarian, there’s came out much quicker than mine and when it did it was virtually cremated. Granted the problem was quickly rectified as I was given a freshly made one but this meant I was eating alone. We chose three different deserts and they all arrived at separate times and two of them didn’t have to be cooked, All in all, what should have been a special lunch out was spoiled by this restaurant and would probably chose not to return .