Sergio's — Restaurant in Bristol

I will start by saying the food was good and a descent portion. Unfortunately the service was not up to scratch. We booked a table and arrived 5 minutes before our booking. We were sat at our table after a couple of minutes wait and the first thing we noticed was the lack of social distancing or track and trace. The restaurant was busy and we were waiting for drinks and food menus and chatted together while we waited. 15 minutes later another couple came in and were seated and they were brought the menus first and then us just after. We decided quickly what we wanted and were ready to order. The waitress went to the table behind us who came after us and took their order then walked away. Another ten minutes passed until she reappeared and went to another table and we had to flag her down so we could order. The starters came out fairly quick and we scoffed those in minutes! Sardines for me and arancini for my partner. Both very tasty. Our plates were cleared shortly after and we looked forward to our mains. We waited 25 minutes and noticed that the couppe who came in after us had their mains and another group who came after had also just been served their main course. I asked one of the waitresses about our mains who just said oh ok and walked off and didn't come back. Then after another 15 minutes the other waitress came and asked if everything was OK to which I informed her we were still waiting for our main course. She also just said oh ok and walked off. We were about to walk out when our meals turned up. Piping hot and clearly cooked right away. No apology for the wait or anything. The food was tasty. Carbonara for me and chicken milanese for my partner. Once finished our plates were cleared and desert offered but we figured we wanted to get out of there before morning. We asked for the bill and that was brought out and then no rush to collect payment. I had to flag down another waitress so we could pay and leave finally. The manager took the bill and I said we were disappointed with the 1 and a half hour wait between being seated and getting the mains and she made excuses about being busy and the kitchen was under alot of pressure. I informed her that other tables had been served 3 courses in the time we had been served one and she offered a very poor attempt at an apology followed by a long made up excuse. Left there bitter and disappointed. Would have been happy with a simple apology saying "sorry, we f**ked up" I will never return to this restaurant and I will ensure those I care about dont waste half an evening attempting to have a meal...

We had a very, very, very disappointing night at Sergio's last weekend. The main issues were with the meals / food as it was not as described on the menu. When the menu says fresh produce; you expect fresh produce not tinned mush.

Bread is an extra, starting at £3.00 per bun with other bread offerings on the menu approaching £8, starters are extremely over priced and uninspired, I had sausages (bland and boring not spicy as expected) in watered down tomato soup / ketchup (should have be salsa – what a joke!) although my wife and daughter had mussels which were nice but 30% of them could not be eaten as the shells were either broken or failed to open (and no bread as an accompaniment for which we had to request and pay a king’s ransom for).

Main courses are approximately 50% over priced for what you get, I had Sea Bass with tasteless pesto on the side (about a tablespoon of), fish was good (but grilled fish is almost impossible to get wrong), my wife’s tuna steak was overcook (probably double cooked / reheated) and it had the same watered down tomato soup / ketchup sauce over it as my starter had. My daughter’s pork chop was dry and overcooked with almost 40% fat around it, an absolute disgrace! Very poor quality produce that was ill prepared then poorly presented. No salad available just vegetables!

A very poor choice of beer and spirits too.

We had to wait ages for the bill and got charged 10% service charge even though it states on the board / menu that this is only added for groups of 6 or more (we always leave a tip in cash anyway).

It is obvious from the menu prices and the very poor quality content of the produce / meals that Sergio’s does not recognise quality but wants to achieve ‘super profit’ from its patrons by having an extensive but overpriced menu.

Sergio, I hope you are reading this because we would like you to get back to where you were 10 years ago, please offer a limited selection of quality meals on your menu, get rid of the dross and concentrate on quality at an acceptable price. We have had far superior meals at many Bristol restaurants for less than you are charging, even some of the top ranking restaurants charge less than you!

We have eaten here on numerous occasions over the past 20 years and really enjoyed it and we were really looking forward to coming back again but we were sadly disappointed by this visit and won't be returning unless we see some positive reviews which...

Visited August 2023, Didn't write a review initially because it felt unfair after not mentioning anything at the time, but truthfully, the list of grievances was just so overwhelming I'm not sure where I would have begun, and I still think about the awful experience more than I'd like.

Lots of this has already been said. Food was egregiously over priced, and impossibly bland, like someone had decided to make the carbonara with a plain bechamel sauce a year in advance and frozen it. They had an enormous bowl of parmesan carried around by a young staff member, who Sergio repeatedly laid into in front of guests. She seemed nervous and flustered, which I suspect had nothing to do with her ability to wait tables and everything to do with Sergio's weird misogynistic style of micromanagement. The parmesan held within the bowl, added in large quantities to the pasta to try and save it, was so utterly devoid of flavour to the point of being genuinely mysterious. Arancini probably the closest to being passable, but I think the fryer oil must have been a similar age to the décor. House red tasted so alarmingly toxic that I ended up googling whether it was safe to drink, but couldn't stomach it anyway. It was like a mixture of acetone and nail polish. The way the owner came to talk to us at the end (mostly to talk about some massive gaudy watch he was wearing, and all the fantastic destinations he had been on holiday.) - although mild in his words, seemed strangely threatening and confrontational. I think Sergio must know that what he's serving isn't good, but has chosen to spend his time softly squaring up to his guests at the end of their meals, rather than improving anything.

If you want to go to an Italian place and talk to a charming Italian man who cares about the food he's making - go up the road to Moltobuono.

I'll leave you with "Sergio's favourite quote" as printed on the postcards (?!) tucked in with the menus.

"Some people ask the secret of our long marriage. We take time to go to a restaurant two times a week. A little candlelight dinner, soft music and dancing. She goes Tuesdays. I go Fridays".

What a...