Luigi's Italian Restaurant and Pizzeria — Restaurant in Dover

Best restaurant meal I ate in sandwich. As an American, I was looking more for "authentic" British cuisine - got a decent sampling of that, too! Though it's Italian, it's loved by locals for good reason, so glad I got to go! It was a wet evening in February ( a Saturday, I think,) and this place was packed as Soon as they opened the door, my dad was right about calling ahead if you can for a table, so we didn't have to wait. It's situated by the waterfront/wharf in a charming neighborhood with pubs and cool places to walk around.

I don't know how they do it, given the sheer number of customers, but the service was amazing, efficient, A+! I'm not a person who is terribly picky about restaurant Service, so the fact that I noticed at all, it stood out, wait staff knowledgeable, patient, charismatic.

The food was in a word, authentic (margherita pizza I ordered reminded me of the style it is served in Venice, single pizza per person, thin to medium crust, sauce Brooklyn good, to die for!) Limoncello dessert and espresso and a bottle of red wine... we Like pulled out all the stops, so I was ready for it to be pricey. But seeing the bill, I would have paid 3x more, it was that great of a dining experience on all levels! I was already doing such a happy dance, the price being so reasonable is icing on the cake! Its a modern space, too, well appointed in a way that's just the right mix of cozy and bistro. i also noticed this was a family and kid friendly place with a fun and mixed crowd, not so loud that you couldn't have a romantic date there, but equally appealing to families and groups of friends. Awesome memory, I can still taste and visualize the food and atmosphere like it was yesterday, but I actually visited...

Luigi's is where my colleagues like to go as a safe option for a workplace meal. As such I've been here quite a few times over the last few years.

The menu is good. Again the word safe comes to mind. Classic Italian. You have all your classic Italian things - a range of pizzas and pastas. And it's always nice. Sometimes even delicious.

Portion size... Varies. But then that's true of most Italian dishes right? If you get a calzone you are not leaving hungry unless you're some sort of aberration. If you get one of the pasta dishes... Even if you have a fairly "normal" appetite there's a fairly good chance you're going to want to spring for a starter. Speaking of which the calamari starter while good... Has, I'm quite sure, shrunk considerably. Oh well.

Although the food has always been good, the service has, on "occasion" days when it's been busy gone COMPLETELY wrong. They're not the fastest usually - but the food is good and I'm happy to wait for good food you know? But on multiple occasions the main has ended up taking more than an hour without a word from staff. On all occasions the table had been booked in advance and no warning of the wait was proffered. On one instance the meal was comped - but I would rather pay double and have a good meal on time than a free meal once I'm already annoyed you know? I go out to eat to have a calm, relaxed, GOOD meal, not a cheap/free meal.

Anyway - the food and prices are all still good enough that I'm happy to rate 4 stars over all. The staff are all pleasant enough. Just try to make sure when you go they're not too busy and you...

Not impressed with this restaurant at all from the minute we walked in to the minute we walked out. Front of house took us to our table which wasnt ready but the wine list was put on the table and when the waiter came to set it up we was asked to move the wine list off the table!! We order red wine and a bottle of water. Pizzette starter, for the main we asked for arrabbitti pasta with italian sausage. Pizzette came, it was tasteless but while we was eating it our mains were plonked on the table. Still no water which I asked again for along with parmesan cheese which wasnt offered. When we got to our mains no sausage there?? The waitress tried to convince us it was in there and probably been broken down, what a joke!! We asked for sausage, the food wasnt taken back but a dish of sliced sausage was given to us very reluctantly. Asked again for water and parmesan then at last we got it after drinking half a bottle of wine. Another waitress asked if we wanted our bill, no, we was still drinking our wine. When we did pay our bill, we wasnt asked if we enjoyed our meal or anything. A few minutes later we was asked by someone else if we had paid our bill. Felt rushed and too many people serving on us, one not knowing what the other is doing, very unprofessional and to top it all the 2 waiters were shaking hands with some customers as they were leaving, they obviously arent aware we have coronovirus in this country. I couldn't wait to get...