Scalini — Restaurant in Belfast

On arrival the waitress told us the wine we enquired about was vegan. We checked and it wasn’t. She then brought another bottle which she claimed she checked herself and it was vegan. 2 seconds on Google showed it wasn’t. The barman then came over and said all white wine is vegan, which is ignorant and is far from the case. Meantime it was getting embarrassing with staff back and forward and other customers looking. Given the fact we phoned ahead of booking to ask if you could accommodate our vegan food and wine requests - which we were told was no problem. We found a vegan wine from the menu ourselves. The barman poured it and as he left, we noticed the rim of one of the glasses had large food pieces stuck to it. We pointed it out to the waitress. She was embarrassed and quickly grabbed the glass and returned with a clean “EMPTY” one, as she poured the glass down the drain. No mention of we’ll make the lost glass up or adjust the bill. We were literally rushed out of the door by the staff, who btw were paying very little attention to tables as they were busy chatting amongst themselves. On receive the bill, the waitress asked if we were happy. We were embarrassed by the lack of service and awkwardly mentioned the dirty glass and full glass being poured out. She laughed and said something like “yeah, the dishwasher is broke, it’s been happening a lot”. There was no apology or offer of discount to the bill. The food wasn’t great. Stuffed mushrooms arrived in less than a minute of me ordering them. Obviously we won’t be back or recommending your place to anyone else. I am writing this so you know (incase you don’t) the obvious issues there are within your restaurant regarding your staff competency and attitude. Not taking dietary and allergy requirements seriously in this day and age is unacceptable. Btw I am non vegan (and ordered meet). My partner is vegan, and I can honestly say we have never faced this level of incompetence and disregard when out for a meal. Hopefully this highlights issues within your restaurant and you take some action to prevent it...

Scalini

We were heading out to a concert on Sunday evening and wanted to grab an early evening meal somewhere close to the Belfast Empire. We know Scalini has traditional Italian food, and we fancied a retro “blast from the past.”

Neither of us were particularly hungry and so we shared two starters and a pizza (requesting it was all served at the same time)

Scalini is a multi-floored building with a buzzing atmosphere and a huge team of waiting staff, so the service is fast and efficient. Our main waitress was brilliant - particularly keeping an eye that the pizza was delivered at the same time as the starters, offering chilli oil - and when the food arrived she was unobtrusively checking all was OK.

The starters were deep fried Brie and Seabass on ciabatta. The pizza was Rustica (tomato, mozzarella with goats cheese, red onion, aubergine, courgette and sun-blushed tomato.) The starters are generously portioned and the pizza was crispy with large amounts of toppings. However, the goats cheese is not for the faint hearted. It was particularly pungent and I could have sworn I heard it bleating- and that suits me just fine!

Scalini is perhaps a little set in its ways. The menu has remained virtually unchanged since it opened decades ago- safe, traditional and perhaps a little underwhelming, but it provides what its many loyal customers enjoy: friendly, efficient service and decent quality food. We do find it very unusual that there are no seafood options whatsoever as pizza toppings: not even an anchovy!! Unheard of in any other Pizzeria, “authentic“ or otherwise we would suggest. Also, there are few vegetarian/vegan options and those on the menu are generally uninspired.

By the way the Expresso Martinis were great- and super value at £6.95.

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Disappointing.

The restaurant is a sprawling multi level place with decor that reminded me of places I have eaten at in Italy. The table sizes were good for a party of 4, and the furniture and tableware were all reasonable quality.

The service seemed attentive and polite, so far so good.

We ordered the Calamari, Bruschetta and Garlic Bread to start. The Calamari had too much batter, and was a bit rubbery. I thought the Bruschetta was ok, although the choice of focaccia seemed a little odd, as I'm more used to something toasted and crunchy as the base. The garlic bread was fine.

Then we had the three vegetarian pizzas, a Margherita, the Daniele, and the Rustica. I had the Margherita and it was just ok, with a base that seemed a bit undercooked and an ok topping. I added a lot of black pepper and oregano to give it a bit more flavor. The Daniel came out with so much oil on it, it needed to be tipped off on to another plate before it could be eaten. My companion had two slices just from being hungry, but had no desire to eat the rest. My other companion only managed one slice of the Rustica before giving up. I didn't try either of them myself.

No complaints on the actual size of the pizzas, and I was full after eating most of mine, so we decided to pass on any dessert.The staff packed up our leftovers in sturdy pizza boxes.

The wine list seemed to cover most bases, all at reasonable prices, no disappointment there.

It is possible we just picked the worst food to have, plus the menu is not that extensive for vegetarians or pescetarians so I may come back to try a pasta or fish dish at some point and perhaps something sweet to finish.

The website is good with current menu and good pictures of the restaurant. One more slight downside is the trip to the bathroom which involved going down stairs, then back up...