Babbo Cucina Italiana — Restaurant in Bury

What a total fiasco. Table booked for 7.00 p.m. Saturday 6 Jan - when we arrived they said booked for 7.15, but could not find us in the book, however will take you a table. Immediately offered a carafe of water by a very friendly member of staff and then completely ignored despite the fact there were several waitresses and two senior staff members milling about. Eventually after about 15-20 minutes we called somebody over to take our order, which was two basis courses. We then waited a further 15 minutes at least before we were served. We did notice that although all staff members were walking around, very few meals appeared to be being served. Our plates were taken away and we were asked if we enjoyed the food to which we replied yes. However, that was the last of our enjoyment. After a further wait of at least 20 minutes we called a staff member over and asked how long our food would be - just another few minutes we were told. Over the next 20 minutes this was repeated by one of the senior staff members at least twice. It was obvious there was a problem but although the maitre'd said there was a small problem (we did see one of the chefs leaving with his knife pack) our meal was almost ready. It was now 8.35 p.m,., there was only one young chef in the kitchen who obviously had no idea what to do. We were not prepared to wait any longer and advised the maitre'd that we were leaving and would not pay anything in view of the circumstances, which he accepted. What made the situation worse, as I pointed out to them, was the fact that not one of them had the courtesy or 'guts' to come over and apologise or explain anything and just left us and other diners sitting there not knowing if we were ever going to get a meal. We are really unable to review the food as we did not have any and can only comment on the basic lack of care...

So first time here. I ordered the liver pate was really tasty, but not enough bread for the amount of pate and jelly...my son ordered the king prawn starter, was okay but sauce was too salty so he picked prawns out and ate them without the soaked bread and sauce. Now here's the crux. I ordered a carbonara. Which is my favourite and i have ordered 100 times before in various restaurants. This time i was told by the possible owner of the restaurant, that the carbonara has pork. I said yes i know. My son and i are brown. I said i am Sikh. I know Muslims dont eat pork and i can only assume he pointed it out to ME specifically because he thought i dont eat pork. He then went on explaining that oh i like to make sure my customers ate happy and know blah blah blah. I watched people come in after us, order and not have the ingredients clarified for them. I didnt want to make a fuss because my son is only 12 and did not pick up on the clear racism, implying that if we are muslim we cannot eat the dish. Assuming we are muslim because im brown and my son is a haircut sikh. We ate our carbonara which he split into 2 plates as if he was doing us a massive favour (my son and i would just have shared from one bowl, as we had starters and neither of us are big eaters) but ok never mind. I was left with a feeling of unease and after that found it hard to relax. We ate and packed our dessert order, paid and left. I doubt i will go back, which is a shame, because my husband and other 3 children all live very locally and would have liked a good local italian. But as they all look like me and my 12 year old son, i dont want to be given unsolicited advice about what i may or may not be allowed to eat based on my...

We booked online last minute on a Sunday for 2 Adults and 3 Children for 18:30 and the booking was confirmed within minutes. On arrival, it is very welcoming, well laid out and overall a good experience from the start.

Our table was just the right size for our party, already clean (well, clean everywhere) and our drinks order was taken soon after arriving.

The menu offers everything you could want for an Italian restaurant and the waitress also asked the chef if they could prepare a dish not on the menu - a Caesar Salad. A quick yes was the response.

Our order of Garlic bread was delivered on a raised circular frame in the middle of the table and accessible to everyone to help themselves, whilst allowing room on the table for the kids to keep colouring in their menus.

The starter was delicious, just the right size and clearly hand made by the kitchen fresh. The main course of a Pepperoni Pizza was also just as delicious, as well as lobster ravioli and pizzas for the kids. We also had a Halloumi white base pizza - wasn't sure what a white base was but it came with no tomato base, just halloumi and chicken and it was incredibly delicious.

We also had a couple of Peroni beers, but didn't venture into having wine although I could see the restaurant decor prides itself on some nice wines and other drinks too.

I was overall very impressed. We did see a Sunday Roast being taken to another table and as I looked around, it caught the eye of many diners in the restaurant - It...