Prezzo Italian Restaurant Chelmsford — Restaurant in Chelmsford

We appreciate that the restaurant was unusually busy as it was a 50% off opening night. However, sadly it wasn't really worth the 50% price. Firstly I'd like top say that the waitress couldn't have helped more and the poor service wasn't down to her. We arrived at our pre booked time, and were taken to our seats, sadly the lights kept flickering so were turned off, and it was a little dark (the table next to us moved). Our order was taken fairly promptly. However, our drinks took ages - in fact our starters arrived before our drinks. So when our drinks arrived we took the opportunity to order more drinks expecting them to take some time. We enjoyed our starters but unfortunately this was when the trouble started. We waited over an hour for our main courses to arrive, and at this point I ordered a second drink (as I had not done so earlier). Sadly when the main courses arrived, mine was very cold so I sent it back and the waitress ordered me a replacement. My meal was the salmon and prawn rigatoni. My husband's pizza was very good (I enjoyed some of it while I was waiting for my main course to be replaced), and daughter's Rigatoni Bolognese was lovely, and piping hot. My second attempt at main course arrived about 10 minutes later, but the pasta was tough and I didn't eat much of it (the salmon and prawns were good!). By the time we finished eating our main course, the second glass of wine hadn't arrived so I cancelled it.

We noticed that the people on the next table who were initially 10 minutes ahead of us ordering, had finished their main courses before ours even arrived and had paid and left long before us.

So we didn't order desserts because we didn't know how long they might take.

One thing that was also rather strange was that the tables were different heights on our table and a few others - this made it rather tricky to manage our shared starter across 2 tables of different heights!

When we received our bill, we had been charged for 2 Salmon and Prawn Rigatonis (yes, the one I sent back plus the replacement), and we had also been charged for the second glass of wine which I had cancelled.

All in all, rather disappointing, even with 50% off. However, we will try again, we have visited often before and this was an unusually busy night being the grand re-opening week, and the restaurant was packed. I am hoping that this feedback will be used to rectify the teething problems and note the missed sales opportunities. It would be rather sad if this experience put others who may have also...

Been here many times but this place has really gone downhill.

Visited the restaurant on the 3rd November around 4pm. Only 8 or 9 tables taken so it was only 25% full. The drinks were ordered and halfway through serving them the waitress dropped a glass on the table which smashed and proceeded to knock the remaining drinks off the tray onto my partners lap. After clearing up, we were moved to another table whilst the glass was cleaned up and given a new waitress. I appreciate accidents happen and the young waitress was mortified by the experience and apologised, which was accepted.

From then on, the service we received was shocking. You'd think they might go out of their way to make sure we had a nice meal after that but far from it. The staff seem disinterested in offering any kind decent customer service. We ordered our meals and waited nearly 40 minutes for the food to arrive, truly shocking due to how empty the place was. We witnessed our food sitting on the side waiting to be served for 5 minutes. When served, the food was lukewarm at best. The children's starter was also served after the main meal arrived (we had to chase this up with the disinterested waitress.

All throughout the 40 minute wait, I witnessed 5 members of staff come and go from the kitchen with their meals and take seats out in the restaurant as they pleased, all whilst we sat there half soaked through and hungry. Obviously I don't begrudge staff their breaks and food but this seemed to come at the expense of paying customers.

In a thriving town centre where restaurants are plentiful, customer service is a must to get repeat customers. After this dreadful visit I will taking my custom elsewhere to spend my hard earned money. Its clear to see why a number of this chains restaurants have been closed if they are anything as bad as this place has become.

To top it all off, we weren't even offered a complimentary drink for the soaking we received! Shame on you Prezzo's,...

Nice lunch, service was quick and the food was good. I like Prezzo, and was happy to see that this branch is staying open. We used their Lunch time offer, which includes two smaller dishes and a main. That worked out well.

They always have an interesting variety of dishes and new things to try. This time I discovered Burrata cheese with lovely tomatoes and presto dressing. Service was good and laid-back. The kids menu is always interesting at Prezzo, with plenty to choose from. Plus the portion size is perfectly suitable for a 10/11 year old.

You'll never stumble on this location. You need to leave the highstreet, go through the narrow tunnel into Bond Street, go past all the shops, round the flooded rivers edge with resident ducks, along the walkway and you'll finally find Prezzo. How can a prime water's edge restaurant feel so disconnected from the surroundings. Maybe it works in summer with the doors all open, but for 9 out of 12 months it lacks enough natural light and the outlook is poorly maintained.

It has a river, waterside walkways so it could be very nice, but the bland and visionless developers gave up when it came to these prime socialising and amenity areas. The whole Bond Street development leaves me underwhelmed, they just...