Lucarelli Restaurant Mailbox — Restaurant in Birmingham

Shocking Experience – Islamophobic and Racist Behaviour from Management

We have been loyal customers of this restaurant for many years. We’ve hosted friends, family, business meetings, and even brought clients here, always enjoying the food and the atmosphere. However, our recent visit on Saturday left us completely shocked, hurt, and deeply disappointed.

In all our previous visits, the restaurant has always catered to halal dietary requirements. This time, we were told that halal was no longer available. While surprised, we accepted it may have been a business decision and calmly looked at the alternative options. Ultimately, we decided to leave.

Before doing so, I politely approached the manager to express our concern. What followed was an appalling and deeply offensive encounter.

Before I could even explain our position, the deputy manager mentioned to the manager that we were upset about halal being off the menu. The manager’s immediate reaction was:

“You want to complain because you want to force your religion on us.”

I was stunned. I asked him to clarify what he meant, and he went on to say:

“You guys can’t force Italian restaurants to be halal. It’s not in our religion or our culture.”

When I questioned who he meant by “you guys,” he explicitly responded: “Muslims.”

He continued to explain that Italy is a Catholic country and that it is “forbidden” for Catholics to serve or eat halal. He claimed that the only reason some restaurants do so is because they’ve been “pressured” by Muslims.

I expressed that his comments were offensive and discriminatory. He doubled down, saying:

“It’s not right that Muslims force their beliefs on restaurants.”

To be spoken to in this way – with such blatant Islamophobia and ignorance – was beyond anything I expected from an establishment I had supported for years.

This was not just a matter of halal food no longer being available – it was the manager’s attitude, his discriminatory language, and his generalisations about Muslims that were so deeply disturbing.

This is not just poor customer service – this is racism and religious discrimination. I left feeling deeply hurt, insulted, and alienated.

People need to be aware of the underlying prejudice that exists in places they think are safe and welcoming. No one should be subjected to this kind of treatment, especially not from a business that has benefitted from the loyal support of diverse communities.

In response to the reply.

We have read your response and are extremely disappointed that instead of addressing the very serious concerns raised — particularly the Islamophobic and discriminatory comments made by your manager — you have chosen to dismiss our experience as “unjust comments.” A sincere apology and investigation into the conduct of your manager would be better. Please do not insult me by making false allegations about statements I made.

To clarify, this is not simply a matter of customer dissatisfaction or negative feedback. This is about the clear expression of religious discrimination by a member of your management team — comments that were witnessed by others, including your own staff member.

Your manager, Nicolas, made deeply offensive remarks about Muslims, our dietary practices, and accused us of trying to “force our religion” on your business. He repeatedly generalised and vilified an entire faith group. At no point in your response did you address or even acknowledge these unacceptable statements.

This silence speaks volumes.

We urge you to take this matter seriously. We are not the only ones who witnessed this. We have independent witnesses — including your own waiter — who heard Nicolas’s remarks and were themselves shocked by the tone and content of what was said.

I also made a call today to speak to someone senior your own waiter Shari confirmed Nicola was out of order and he himself as a Muslim is shocked and offended by Nicola’s comments about Italy is a catholic country , he further stated that he was born in Italy and is Muslim and was very apologetic about your...

A class act! We hadn't been to the mailbox in years and looking at the variety of restaurants I settled on luccarelli from its website and menu. We had lunch here today. Our welcome was very warm and professional. Carmen seated us at a lovely window seat. Although when we entered we heard drilling the workmen soon finished and all was quiet for our meal. Things have to be fixed at some time I suppose. We were presented with the menu and our drinks order taken by the wine waiter. We ordered a bottle of gavi di gavi which was sublime with the signature creamy aftertaste which is the sign of a great gavi. The atmosphere was good even with the few tables occupied; the staff made sure of that. Because this was our first time at a new restaurant we pushed the boat out on our appetites and went for 3 courses. To start I had the scallops and the other half had the prawns. They were both cooked and tasted excellent. My scallops were cooked perfectly and I tasted the prawns which matched, also the sauce the prawns were cooked in was extremely tasty; the chilli heat was not lost in the creaminess of the sauce. At this point we wished we had ordered a bread basket to yum the excess of that sauce.

For mains I ordered the Tagliatelle with mushrooms and added chicken and he had the cheese and pepper ravioli. Both pastas were cooked al dente and tasted really fresh. If you're ordering the Tagliatelle don't worry if you don't want to add chicken because the mushrooms in it are fantastic. I'm not sure that the price of £4 for extra chicken is worth it. Don't get me wrong the chicken was lovely but doesn't warrant £4, a £2.50-£3 would be appropriate. I tried his ravioli and it was sublime. Again we regretted not ordering a bread basket for mopping up the sauces.

Unusually for the other half he partook of a desert along with me. I had the pana cotta and he the lemon tart. Nom Nom Nom is all I can say to those.

We finished the meal with 2 espresso martini which were well made and not overly sweet.

As to the restaurant, the ambience they have created in decor and quality of staff is well done. Going downstairs, to visit the ladies, I saw more tables and a bar which is intimate and I'm sure a good vibe when the resaurant is full upstairs and not at all a second best area to be seated.

We came away feeling that we had had an excellent first time experience of this restaurant. We will definitely be back for more and will use it to entertain friends and also to recommend it to them.

Thank you for a lovely lunch...

I have experienced once too many times uncomfortable dining in this my booking 22:00 yet they made myself and my mother stand up for 30mins whilst allowing couples to sit at un reserved tables. I had tried to express my frustration in a calm manner to the waitress yet she seemed very very unbothered. So we proceeded to leave .

The third time I had arrived , which was the waiters were being quiet hostile and rude as if I had done something terrible. Yet again like a fool, I sat and my dinner table after waiting for the food to arrive 40 mins later.

I had just experienced dinner last Saturday at Lucarelli giving them the benefit of the doubt as it might of been “busy” the last time I had tried to dine in. The staff were extremely RUDE and unprofessional. I’m a regular foodie that dines in many places. The food that had arrived 46mins later had unexpected brown hair on my mozzarella and a fly in the cottage cheese. I did stay calm and retained as there was many other diners around me. This was top of the ice!!!! The manager has now came out of the bar and started shouting saying that my sister and I had “planted it” . I have never received such poor poor negligence in a restaurant at such a “high standard” environment. All the staff should be fired and the restaurant in general needs a health hygiene inspection . This place and their staff are ridiculous!!! I can’t do nothing about it , never received a refund nor did they even acknowledge how upset I was as a customer. I definitely agree that customers can’t always be right but in this particular situation the workers in general have no remorse nor should they have their business open. I did not even receive an apology. Disgusting and outrageous. How can you portray such high standard morals for a restaurant when you can’t even do the bare minimum apologising for your stupid inconvenience. Nobody even support this business when they’re always looking at coloured people sideways....