Antica Toscana — Restaurant in The Borough District of Drogheda

4 years ago I have this restaurant 5 stars.

I'm not a regular customer but I will be changing this review on the basis of the last visit

I don't think I'll be going back here. We were greeted pleasantly on entry and given a small menu "2 courses for €29.99" . this was the only menu we were given.

my fiance had already looked up the menu and the dishes he and I were interested in weren't on the small menu. it also seemed like APPALLING value for money. starters included garlic bread, cheesy garlic bread, wings, salad (think there were a few others) but nothing you'd value over €10 at the very most. that leaves €20 covering the main courses which were mostly very basic: lasagna, bolognaise, carbonara. These prices are far more expensive than if you order off the normal menu.

due to this I asked if there was another menu available. it was given with bad grace, and throughout the rest of the meal the only words uttered to us were "you ready?" by our grumpy waiter.

food wise it was OK at best. portions quite small, and really rather bland. I'm not the biggest fan of messing with food prepared by a professional kitchen but even I had to be quite liberal with seasonings and requested chilli flakes in order to bring some kind of flavour to the dish.

we requested water, it never arrived. we requested a desert menu, it never arrived.

bill ended up at €80 for 3 starters, 2 mains, carafe House white and 2 bottles of beer. which is absolutely fine, but it would have been much dearer if we had ordered off the small menu and we wouldn't have been able to order the dishes we actual my wanted.

All came across quite greedy and then the service became non existent when we asked for the...

I don't make reviews often but if I feel I have to, I've no problem allocating time to do so on particular occasions.

Frequent customer, booked table for 2 for 7pm Saturday (02/11/2024) on the Thursday previous. Arrived at 7pm. Brought to our seats to be told, table not available but to, please wait at the waiting area. We didn't wait too long but I found this quite awkward as the restaurant wasn't at full capacity. No problem, the food was ordered and I must say there were no complaints regarding the food. Very attentive staff, maybe a little too attentive on this occasion, three staff checking in after mains arrived.

I'm not sure about the credibility of this place anymore, yes I'm in favour of their food but it seems to me they are far more interested in their tip (gratuity) to be perfectly honest. I don't think 15% cuts it where the waitress just walked off into the abyss without an acknowledgement. No offer of a complimentary lemoncillo anymore, this loss of service must factor in the cost of calculating the tips on a traditional calculator as opposed to calculating or using an alternative device for tips. They seem to have a new device to choose the level of gratuity percentage on their new smart device. This is not the first time I've experienced this, there's a strong element of expectation here, relax on the gratuity element and you might get more.... Management needs to have a rain check or you'll lose loyal custom!! Thank you.

PS. Hand dryer in male toilet out of service along with no paper towels to dry hands....

Having visited several times before we were looking forward to a nice meal. However, on this occasion we left disappointed......the Caesar salad was average, the lettuce was starting to brown and there was a lot of fat on the bacon. One of the napkins was filthy and we had to show the waiter and ask for a replacement. The main courses, while hot, were over cooked and lacking in the meat requested....chicken in the carbonara (4 small pieces charged at €3.99 extra) and 7 small pieces of beef in the risotto de carne charged at €15.99. The chips were also burnt and overcooked. As we had another engagement we requested the bill early. However, it took 15 minutes to arrive, with watered down shots and no corks for our wine, which we had also requested earlier! The excuse given was that another table had the card machine! When I explained that we had to go, the manager was not impressed and was extremely rude to us!! Though the food was good the level of service we received was atrocious and we we left feeling let down by one of our favourite...