Gusto Italian - Birmingham — Restaurant in Birmingham

We walked in the restaurant around 2.30pm on a Sunday and the atmosphere amongst the diners were quiet and didn’t seem as busy as we had initially thought. There were 2 bar staff having a conversation with each other and another staff member talking on the telephone behind a desk. There was a lot of commotion amongst the staff talking with one another and we were standing there for a few minutes before we were acknowledged. When we were greeted, it was by the male staff member and then he passed our seating request to another staff member in which we then led to our table. My partner had to get the attention of a staff member and then when we did finally have a staff member approach us it was a case of again passing us to another staff member to take our order of drinks. When we finally got to place our order, the food came out hot and was very appetizing and we both enjoyed our meals. The time came to pay for the order, and we were in a rush to pay our bill. There were no staff members around to be seen, there was at least a 15-minute window in which no staff members were present in the dining area, and this led to us taking the initiative to approach the front desk and pay for our bill. Again, there was a staff member that we had requested to pay our bill and she was lighting a birthday cake then passed this payment request to another staff member who then input the amount of the bill on the card reader. He was undertaking another task and left the card reader with us to process. At this point, the transaction could’ve been rejected, and we could’ve potentially have left the restaurant without payment. There was also an overcharge on the bill which we weren’t aware of until after the transaction because we were in a rush to leave the restaurant and left as we were aware of the slow service we had received. Needless to say, but we won’t be dining at this restaurant again which is a shame as we have been to other chains around the UK and they have always been a great dining experience, regardless of time and day we have...

I have previously visited this restaurant, which used to be better. We recently came here for my sisters birthday, for a special occasion, which the food was okay, but the service was slow and it took a while for it come out. We were charged 12.5% service charge which is absurd considering the food wasn't the most amazing and the service wasn't the best... when they handed my parents the receipt, the service charge was at the bottom, in small print, which my parents have difficulty reading without their glasses and they did not spot this. Also the restaurant is dark which made it harder for them to see, when they went to the till area to pay whilst I was at the table finishing my food (so they didn't show me the bill, as we were in a rush as we had a booking after and the food took a while to come out). Most of the time, they tip in cash, especially if the service isn't great, they will remove the service charge since this time we visited the service was not 10/10. As a gesture of good will, my parents additionally gave a small cash tip, not knowing they had already pay a service charge - cheeky waitress who took that too! Furthermore, my 10% local employee discount was not applied to the bill after I showed my employee discount card. We were overcharged and did not realise until we got home. I contacted customer services, and Conor said there is nothing they can do about it. Very disappointed in Gusto's service and this is not the first time as when we have previously called to book a table for early evening slots and they stated they were fully booked. When we walked past the restaurant, half of it was empty!! I will not be visiting here again, or recommending it to my family, friends or colleagues who work in the local office. They also have their sales manager coming into our office often, selling Gusto's too us - i'm not sure why when they treat their customers like this and don't even apply...

honestly quiet disappointing.

went here for a meal, we had a waitress (European woman with short blonde hair) was extremely rude and unprofessional. I ordered a steak and asked if I could order chimichurri alongside it, as it is a common sauce with steak. she seemed to scoff and said to me "this is an Italian, not a Mexican." in the same tone used to scold a small child with. respectfully, the menu is not very Italian at all. none of what we ordered was Italian. burgers, chips, ceasar salad and Piña Coladas (all things featured on Gusto's menu) are not italian.

for the price i was paying, the food was extremely disappointing. I asked for the steak medium rare and it came out chewy and well done, the chips tasted like they had been air fried too. all in all it was not worth it.

the same waitress took ages to give us the bill, when she handed it off my partner and I, we decided to work out the bill to pay for our own meals. despite waiting all that time for the bill, same came back less than a minute later with a card machine and when we told her we were still working it out, she seemed to throw her hands in the air and storm off. this is not behaviour I would expect off an adult. along with this, we had a service fee put on which we could not remove, which felt insulting given the lack of service.

we do not understand why she treated us this way as she seemed to be extremely kind and attentive to the tables around us, our best theory is because we were both the only table she was serving with people in their early 20s there, so it may be an ageism thing. either way, I know we will not be returning. we only came here because the two other places we wanted to go before this (gaucho and pasture) were all booked up and gusto had availability, I know see...