MARGHERITAS — Restaurant in Dover

We had an uncomfortable experience at this place.

We'd heard good things about Margheritas. I have to be careful about what I eat because I have coeliac disease, so I downloaded the menu first. We made a reservation on the strength that several dishes were labelled as gluten free.

When we arrived it seemed like they were having a difficult night. They were busy with takeaway orders and there was a rushed atmosphere, bordering on unwelcoming. That's a shame but I understand that happens in the hospitality business. Sometimes things just don't go to plan, everyone has an occasional 'off night.' We can look past that.

I was interested in trying a pizza since the menu claimed there were gluten free bases available for a surcharge. Not the most generous policy but okay - they need to make money and catering for people with complex dietary requirements can be expensive. But when I expressed interest in having a pizza, a lady who I imagine was the owner or manager came out to let us know that they had a new supplier for the gluten free pizza bases, and my pizza would be very small. She made a big point of emphasising that the price would be the same. Strange attitude.

I said in that case I think I'd prefer something else. How about the gnocchi. The menu says that's gluten free? The same lady said 'of course it's potato that's gluten free.' I was confused. Gnocchi is traditionally made by mixing together mashed potato and wheat flour. I asked 'what about the flour?' - she seemed annoyed by the question but said she'd double check. Our original waiter returned and asked me if I was having the gnocchi. I said yes assuming there was some kind of communication between him and the manager.

The manager was busy dealing with takeaway orders and didn't come back with an answer. I had to get her attention to ask again, and she repeated her confusing statement 'yeah it's potato isn't it' - again I asked about the flour. It's typical for a restaurant that claims to offer gluten free food to respond to these kinds of concerns by explaining that a dish is made with a different kind of flour, perhaps corn or rice flour. She just said 'it's fine.'

I was left with doubts. Her attitude made me think she didn't really care if one of her patrons was accidentally served something that would make them very ill.

What's interesting is our original waiter was very confident that the menu itself had correct information. If he was so confident, why wasn't the manager? I imagine that what I ate was totally fine, and whoever wrote the menu knew what they were talking about. So why the avoidant attitude?

As for the food, the gnocchi was good (but I would've enjoyed it more if I'd felt comfortable and welcome). My mum had a chicken milanese which she said was quite dry, but her chips were good. My dad had a pizza margherita which he enjoyed.

Overall, a bit of a mystery. And...

I've been to this establishment before and have thoroughly enjoyed every instance, the pizza is authentically made and carefully prepared, I've had a takeaway pizza, and a in store pizza on several occasions and both have been equal in their good quality, and service. Unfortunatly last night perhaps I had come in at a difficult time. On Thursday me and my family booked a table for a evening meal on a saturday originally scheduled at 7:30pm, because the business was using a new partially electronic system within the store the service person at the bar couldn't work out how to place out booking in the system (which is fine, these things take time etc) and told us she would ring us if that booking became unavailable or to offer us a new booking at our or the businesses convinience which is great, we were rang the day after moving our reservation to 8:30pm on the Saturday, which we were fine with. On the day we arrived albiet a little earlier at around 10-15 mins past to inquire about the table and when it would be ready (more to gauge when we could arrive at our table, so we wouldnt be a nuisance during an already busy period for the business) we were told we would have to wait around 20-25 mins which was again absolutely fine, we went to the micro-brewery opposite for around 30 mins, which took us to about quarter to 9, we went back to the establishment and were told our table was not ready at all, even though our booking was for 8:30 on saturday night, and the time was now 8:45, when we said this we were then told by a woman at the till (who was different from the woman who initially recorded our booking) that we had 'changed the booking' and essentially that the fault was on our side, despite this not occuring, as the only contact we have had this the business had been the phone call we recieved a day before comfirming the new booking time, me and my family felt quite taken aback by the assumption that it was essentially our fault, considering that our table wasn't at all ready for a booking that was more than 24 hours in advance and additonally that we also gave another 25 min time scope for the table to be cleared and sorted for our arrival again. I dont want to know the quality of the food, or the speed in which the food arrives to the table as all this is exempelary, and I will continue reccomending this place to friends and family, but I have to admit, this experience, and how we felt we were spoken too very much soured our experience in terms of going again to eat at the restaraunt facilities...

My partner and I came here around 6 months ago. The food was lovely, well cooked and tasty.

I'm not sure what's changed, but after today's visit we're never going back.

As we sat down the waiter abruptly advised us of when we were required to leave - what a welcome.

After a few minutes he asked if we'd decided on drinks. We said we needed a moment, at which point he decided to take away our drinks menu.

The recurring theme for the evening was food lacking in flavour, using what seemed like low grade ingredients, which appeared to have been cooked by someone who is not a particularly talented chef.

Mediocre. A waste of money and calories.

Our dishes were as follows:

Gamberoni - tasteless tomatoes, four overcooked rubbery prawns, masses of garlic which looked/tasted like it came from a jar, and an unpleasantly acidic sauce. I'm not sure what the chef was aiming for here, but it's inferior to pretty much every meal I prepare for myself at home.

Mushroom bruschetta - Fairly tasty but really nothing special. You could replicate this easily at home.

Four cheese pizza - looked nice but again, nothing special in terms of flavour. Not worth the money.

Calzone - when we came last time I was presented with a golden topped beauty packed with tasty meat. This time it was burnt and filled with meat that could easily have from the shelves of Lidl. I was also presented with what I can only describe as a mountain of rocket. Bizarre. A real disappointment.

Limoncello tiramisu - overly spongey, and the sponge was a bit stiff and stale. The rest of the dish was lacking in flavour. My stomachs response to the cream suggests it was not the...