Terrible restaurant.
The room itself looks cheap, with harsh lighting and uncomfortable seating, making it look like a glorified childrens diner. The seating area is a mismatch of old worn seating shoved beside a fridge full of old tupperware filled with what appeared to be desserts.
The menu itself: well it may of been an idea for the owners to at least decide on roughly on an origon for cuisine. A big cheap laminated sheet tells you that they serve chinese style ribs amongst rissotto and stroganoff. There are several ill advised dishes of this kind on the menu, that does not instill confidence in the ability of the chefs to produce quality food from a sturdy (what I presumed would be Italian) background.
The tables are extremely close together, and after being knocked several times by passing staff I realised they had no intention of ensuring customer satisfaction. As my partner rightly pointed out, they were only interested in two large groups of diners and everyone else was largely ignored.
Booking a table for 8pm we found our seats at around 8.25, not offered a complementary drink or even appologised for the delay. This should have been an omen for the service to come as aquiring a waiter to place orders took around 20 minutes and then another 25 minutes for the starter to materialise. On arrival, the prawn cocktail looked dull, the salad was a mismatch of raw vegetables thrown on the side with no dressing and the tortellini (a special at 6.95) tasted like it had come straight from a packet with cold hard lumps of gritty spinach and cheese in the middle with a salty cream sauce covering the lumps of hardened pasta. We then waited 45 minutes for someone to remove the dirty plates from the table and were not appologised to, despite mentioning it when the waiter appeared.
When the plates did eventually get cleared, the main course was served. The sirlion steak with garlic butter was actually a dry steak with raw garlic clumps sprinkled over the top with again another dry rather depressing looking salad on the side. Beef stroganoff was a spoonful of rice with 3 small cubes of fatty beef and the rest was a hefty dose of salt laden mushrooms. At 11.95, it was something that I wouldnt even expect from a home-cooked meal and was quite discusted at the nonchalance of the staff that just stood around at the pass waiting for food which was not worth the wait.
Atfer this, the plates were cleared in a record-breaking 15 minutes, which must of given the waiter a sense of self satisfaction as he took the opportunity to leave a few bowls on the table whilst he just stood in a corner and failed to return to offer dessert menus or other drinks. In the 2 hours we were there, we were offered drinks once, and never asked if we would like anything else after the meal. I took the opportunity at this point to mention we would like the bill, as we had waited long enough for everything else so far that evening. The third staff member we encountered that night again did not appologise for the wait that evening, and instead just stared as if I had asked for the impossible to be performed. 10 minutes later we recieved the bill, 80.00 for 4 people to have starters, 4 mains and a round of cokes.
Most other restaurants along the sea front offer a much better range, of actual Italian based food from an authentic background with a better quality, taste and price tag. Our previous meal had cost 80 for 5 people to enjoy 2 courses with a round of alcoholic drinks, and the food came within a reasonable time scale so as to not just eat it through sheer hunger than enjoyment.
I would never return here again and particularly if you do not dine out often, this would be a gross disappointment and a large waste of money for any special occasion or indeed any run of the meal tea time. I was quite embaressed by the restaurant as a whole and would suggest the only positive thing is a nice view of the boats for those lucky enough to get a table near the window.
Joyce
What a wonderful, friendly and welcoming restaurant. The food is really good, nice choices and variety, a range of prices and the house wine is good. Well worth the visit, and the petrified tree you view on the way in is amazing. Its in a lovely location, by the Marina, with ample free parking.
Beenaw
The worst restaurant I have ever been to.
Not recommended, atrocious waiting time - 50 minutes between starter and main course!! several customers complaining.
Staff unpleasant and unable to cope with anyone ordering Italian food when a Sunday carvery is available.
Food not worth the wait, wish we had walked out.
Mr. Chris Cameron
Special occasion birthday treat, pre booked, sitting for 6 + high chair,last booking on Sunday lunch 07th Oct 07.
Only allowed starter and main course, unable to finish due to "Licence laws and not prepared to retain staff to complete service".
Told we were late arriving (8 mins ) however table not ready. Clearly not interested in providing any sort of quality service on this occasion.