Ristorante Sergio — Restaurant in City of Chester

It's with a heavy heart that I have to downgrade my review.

For over 10 years I have been coming here and every time it has been consistently fantastic foodwise and service.

When I called to book a table on a Friday night for the Sunday I took the stressed tone of voice down to it being a hectic Friday night.

When walking in on the Sunday it was half full which is uncommon for this place. We were led to a table eventually and I skimmed the menu which I knew off by heart as its pretty much unchanged in the 10 years I've been here.

Normally I go for the bruchetta but decided on the stuffed onion with potato and cheese..to follow a porcini mushroom and scampi pasta served in a brandy sauce. My friend had her favourite calamari followed by pesto chicken pasta.

My starter consisted of a tough onion with ricotta cheese..very bland and unimaginative..definitely not worth the £6. My friends calamari looked nothing like the light almost tempura batter like ones we have had previously and it also tasted bland and suspected it was shop bought.

The mains arrived next these were tasty and the perfect portion however my langoustine was over cooked and mushy and overall it lacked the wow factor.

To finish I traditionally get a tia maria liqueur coffee but at 9pm I was informed the machine had been turned off...that has never happened before. It felt lack lustre and well just lazy.

Reluctantly I ordered a tiramisu which was the worst I've had. It was pure liquid at the bottom and nothing special. Again my friend had a limone mousse cake which we suspected was shop bought .

Throughout the meal we felt most of the staff seemed down trodden and we felt rushed ..for somewhere that has been consistent I felt cheated and again felt like they were cutting corners as I strongly suspect we received shop bought products. For the first time in years I will be going somewhere else for dinner on...

We visited the restaurant based on its good reviews, but left somewhat disappointed. We ordered a carbonara and the Fenomeno pizza. What surprised us most was that the carbonara was made with cream and the pasta was overcooked. Being an Italian restaurant, we expected a more traditional and well-executed recipe. On top of that, the sauce was very bland; the cream completely overshadowed what you would expect from a good carbonara — the richness of the guanciale, the flavor of the cheese, and the creaminess that should come from the egg yolk. It lacked the depth and balance you’d hope for in such a classic dish.

The pizza also fell flat. The dough was soft and lacked character, and the overall flavor was bland. It’s not enough for it to be baked correctly; good dough is recognized by its texture, taste, and how it supports the rest of the ingredients. In this case, it simply didn’t deliver.

As for the service, it was friendly but somewhat disorganized. We waited quite a while to be attended to, even though other tables that arrived later were served before us. We also asked about another pizza on the menu, and the waiter wasn’t able to give us any information beyond what was already written on the menu. A bit more detail or honesty would have been appreciated.

I want to make clear that my intention is not to criticize for the sake of it, but to offer an honest and constructive opinion. Italian cuisine is widely loved and respected, and I believe there is room for improvement — especially in taking care of the basics: pasta, dough, and traditional recipes, which, while simple, deserve to...

I've never understood the attraction of Sergio's. Of all the places to eat, why walk down a grotty side street between bins and cars to get to a restaurant...but I didn't book it so let's give it a go. Let's not be put off by being ignored as you walk in and let's just wait to see if someone acknowledges us...ah we are not invisible! I understand being asked "have you booked?" and "what name?" but not so sure I understand "what time have you booked for?" (shouldn't they know that!) or just being left stood not knowing what's going on while they then move on to other people to ask the same questions. So even though a table has been booked it appears we just stand here and wait for one to become available! The menu is quite extensive but amazingly somehow also uninspiring, I was also surprised to see the only draught offering was Stella, at £5 a pint (£5 for a pint of Stella!) or you could have a 330ml bottle of decent beer for £6! Wine by the glass? Not really unless you want house wine. Conversation? Not really, it's noisy and you're packed that tightly you may as well be sat on the same table so unless you want to shout you're out of luck. We didn't stay to sample the food so I can't rate that, 10 minutes of trying to find something on the menu worth staying for without so much of a "can I get you an overpriced drink" and we decided to free up our table. Unfortunately that was long enough to come out stinking of food, but at least we got off to another one of Chester's Italian restaurants and enjoyed fantastic...