Zizzi - Cheltenham — Restaurant in Cheltenham

Worst dining experience of my entire life.

Our party of 22 had pre-booked the 3 course menu. When we arrived the placed had clearly been rammed full of as many extra tables as possible to fit the maximum number of covers in.

In fact there were so many people eating that serving staff couldn't physically fit between tables and kept bumping into people when trying to squeeze through.

Arriving at 8:15pm, it took nearly an hour for our pre-ordered starters to come out. The majority of people had ordered a simple sharing board; the only hot thing on the board was calamari and that was cold.

The kitchens and service staff clearly couldn't cope with the sheer volume of covers in the restaurant.

We were given a bottle of Prosecco to make up for the wait. One bottle. 22 people.

Roll on nearly another hour and the mains slowly started to appear. It took another 15 minutes for everyone to get their food. Quality of food was good. Service was appalling.

At no stage had any front of house staff given us any information regarding wait times, would we like to order any drinks or anything of any use whatsoever.

Nearly another hour later, we were informed that the chocolate melt dessert option (which over half of our party had PRE-ORDERED) had run out - could we please select something else instead?

At about 11:15 the desserts started to filter through. These were all cold menu choices. We couldn't understand how it had taken so long for these to be plated so we can only assume the chef created the tiramisu and cheesecake freshly by hand in the hour we were waiting for it to arrive.

With desserts arriving we found there was no cutlery to accompany the food, so one of our party had to hunt around the restaurant to source some. We didn't dare ask serving staff for any as we wanted to leave before dawn started to break over Cheltenham.

Again, no feedback from any staff, no drink orders etc. There were only a few tables of diners left at this stage yet staff decided to start wiping down tables and chatting behind the bar rather than trying to sort out a few tables of very irate, very tired customers.

Because this was a works Christmas party the entire evening was dampened by the absurdly slow service, complete lack of communication from staff and a kitchen that was slammed even before the restaurant was half full.

How can a pre-booked menu take over 3.5 hours to serve, and even then, some pre-booked choices were unavailable?

Although we received some discount on the bill it did little to make up for our ruined evening.

Will NOT...

Visited 02/03/24: thought hard about this review. The issues were rectified but think a 3 is a fair review considering the issue with the vouchers too. Accessible entrance round the side of the building with a ramp however the flooring is flagstones and uneven, slippery in the rain and when it’s dark it’s difficult but it’s manageable if you have someone with you. It was quiet and we were seated in a corner near to the disabled toilet for access. We booked a table though we could have walked in as it was so quiet. Ordered from the set menu and advised we had vouchers- nothing was mentioned- we ordered what we wanted and the server gave the impression she was new so she was nervous but she was lovely. Starter and main came with no issue. The starters were both nice though some meatballs were a bit hard but we would have them again, the pizzas were good and we had a box to take what we didn’t manage. The desserts however- we watched them get made as we can see the kitchen- they were then left on the top waiting for someone to serve them. When they arrived the ice cream element melted which was irritating because it was an hour before they closed so it’s not busy whatsoever… I started eating mine, eating the honeycomb and I cut the dough to put to my mouth and it stank of charcoal. I turned it over and it was black. Server was very apologetic and said that shouldn’t look like that- they redid the dessert (companion finished theirs in the meantime!) and when they brought it back I realised what I hadn’t with the first burnt dessert was missing elements- it didn’t come with the brownie or caramel sauce. So that was irritating. We wouldn’t have the same desserts again. Another server (maybe manager?) said he would get the dessert taken off the bill. Later he said no he couldn’t as it’s set menu but he was removing the drinks- brilliant! Then came to our with our vouchers, and were told they were not valid on set menu despite the vouchers and menu NOT stating this in the terms and conditions and we had already told them on being seated we would be using them. We couldn’t be bothered to argue in the end but it’s annoying- though just means we can return again and use them on the normal menu. The building itself is stunning and had the mishap with the desserts not happened it would be a 4 star- though fair play they rectified it and gave us our...

First of all the food was not the best, or at least half of it. The pizza was fine but the chicken with fried herby potatoes with white wine sauce was completely false advertising. The chicken was fine, not seasoned and with a heavy taste of sage if you got that part, but the potatoes were over boiled shoved in an oven with a few dried herbs scattered. They were watery and lacking in any taste whatsoever. The sauce might have seen a white wine bottle but I doubt much had ever been put in and it sat on my plate like rancid dish water. And all said and done I ate it as I knew that this was a part of my husbands birthday celebration and didn't want to spoil it. Then came to the payment and this is when I really can't find the words to truly show my frustration. My husband handed over two cards, which had been presents, and said that in the birthday card it said there was £35 pounds on them. The waiter asked if we knew which amounts were on each card. We replied no as we hadn't bought them and were, at first, bemused by his repeated enquires. Then we sat whilst he tried all sorts of things with the cards loudly declaring that it wasn't x amount, or y amount, whilst declined receipts came pouring out of the machine. Apparently there isn't anyway to balance check them - which was implied it was our fault - so the only way is for them to try to take random amounts of money. All of this was frustrating, but then the waiter starts to rant at us about how people should know how much is on the cards, why didn't the people put half the amount on each one. We reiterated we didn't buy the cards (I mean how many expletive people buy gift cards for themselves!) and therefore we couldn't tell him. I forwarded the suggestion maybe the waiter could pass on the flaws of the system to management and got told that it would be pointless and as customers we should. So use them somewhere else. Here you will have to wait and be spoken to in abrasive manner because you have made the mistake of trying to spend money in their...