Oliver's Italian — Restaurant in Basildon

Sadly I do not have one good thing to say other than the venue itself is really nice. The food was awful, and so was the experience.

I ordered the Calamari to start, which was bland and like thick sea rubber, the batter was not crispy and was mostly separated from the meat when it was served. I then had the £18 grilled Prawns for my main. The plate looked an absolute mess, resembling some kind of sad, confused prawn salad (complete with an orange slice on the side?), unfortunately, the aprox 6 prawns I got were clearly the cheap frozen type. They were tough and pretty much flavourless, and at circa £3 a Prawn I was essentially robbed. The table staff took 30 mins to first take our order, and didn’t clear our table or tend us unless we asked. I asked for them de-row my prawns (I was shocked to be served them with the poo in) and they actually said they were too busy to do that. Others in my party were also not happy with their food, with one of my friends being told “that is the flavour of real carbonara” after complaining about how thick it was. I also tried a bite of a steak, which was much like a chewy flip flop on top of some sort of soggy biscuit, apparently the reason for that is because “steak is not Italian”

I don’t think this restaurant will be around long, I left feeling really peed off. Don’t waste your money, I do...

Reserved a table for inside around 8pm on Saturday called before hand to double check and all was well. Turned up to be told we was sitting outside on the terrace and we was lucky to be seated. It looked like they had overbooked on people and we was seated on some decking chairs around a table which was so uncomfortable. Inside has AC and people can feel more comfortable and not hot and bothered and more people may stay around drinking. So yeah we wasn't told by the staff that we would be outside until we turned up but if they told us before hand I would have gone somewhere else.

Slow service on drinks had to keep asking, had to ask for cutlery, tissues, drinks menu. looks like they was under staffed and some of them was very young possible with no experience. Reasons for myself having to keep asking. Ciders were warm luckily for the ice but took a bit of time to chill the drink.

One waitress blond lady fantastic, interacts and takes care of you.

Food is great like always but...

Last night I had the worst beef stroganoff ever and I know what I am talking about because it is my favourite dish and I know how to cook it! The rice was undercooked, so I sent it back to the kitchen. After 2-3 minutes the waiter brought it back to me (the SAME RICE). This time it was even worse, half undercooked and half overcooked (the rice was looking disgusting and full of water) ... It is a shame I forgot to take a photo. Stroganoff must be served with rice but I refused to eat that rice, so I had to order fries instead. Also, their price list is much more expensive than the prices on their website (overpriced in my opinion).

I do not recommend this place to anyone and I hope it will shut down very soon! I don't even think there is a professional chef in the kitchen.... Come on, even my rice is better than that disgusting thing from last night!

Thanks Oliver's from ruining my dinner! Do not offer beef stroganoff if you have no idea...