Il Michelangelo Brockmoor — Restaurant in Dudley

For the first time ever I was left incredibly disappointed. We arrived at 7.05pm and were left for almost 15mins before any order being taken (by which point we were able to order drinks and first two courses). We were both ordering from the menu with the multi course deal options. We were both informed that if we were to be eating three courses then all needed to be ordered right away and if we were too full for the pudding by the end of the second course, then the pudding would still be charged for! So, we didn't order pudding.

Less than 10mins later a very rubbery calamari was put in front of me with a pleasing salad garnish. Our plates were cleared (nobody came to ask us if we were enjoying our starters).

Less than 10mins later our mains arrived. My friend had ordered lasagne which was literally just that, no salad garnish, nothing but a slab of very uninspiring lasagna. I had the risotto, undercooked, bland and, again, unappetising! To be honest, we're both the sort of people who would take photos, place them on social media and tag the venue. There was nothing attractive about our meals to want to take photos of....whenever I've been here before it had been different.

Again, nobody asked us if we were enjoying our food. The plates were collected, we paid the bill and we were back in the car feeling rushed and disappointed. Our evening out away from our respective husbands, and the demands of looking after our young sets of twins was over within the hour. I was back home in Kingswinford by 8.07pm.

It's a shame I hadn't listened to the warnings from my work colleagues earlier that afternoon. They had told me how much the standards had dropped by, I just refused to...

We enjoyed our evening here, and will go again. Goats cheese in pastry starter was really nice. The Mrs didn't enjoy her calamari as it was only lightly fried and a little mushy - could have used another minute in the fryer for her. Tagliatelle main was flavoursome and would recommend but lacked chicken and bacon - still really good though. Cannelloni was superb. Desserts were good, particularly the lemon cake.

All the food we chose was simple, but by and large was done really well - just a couple of small improvements to perfection. The bar staff could probably use an extra pair of hands as drink orders often took a while. The place was busy, indicative of its popularity, so it's alot of drinks for one person to manage effectively. However, food was out quick, service was friendly and presentation was great.

There's a lot of charm to places like this, and being in the middle of an estate, it's not going to get footfall from random passers-by. So quality and reputation matter even more so, than to the usual places dotted around towns. With that said I considered this entire experience amongst the best of any local restaurants and certainly better than any of the major Italian chains.

Side note: the steps outside were a tad slippery due to rain, and I thought it was highly considerate for the manager to approach an elderly group about to leave and offer them alternative exit and I believe he even had someone bring their car closer. The place was busy, and he still took time to consider them, even after they paid - not many places...

Could only give 4 stars due to the noise, we went for our anniversary and booked ahead and asked for a quiet table, we were put in the rear end of the restaurant and a combination of the style of the room and a large group of people who seemed to stagger in to their table clearly after already having a skinful alcohol prior to their arrival didn’t help. We asked to be moved as although only two feet between us we were continually shouting “what” that it became exhausting and not what I had in mind for our anniversary meal. Didn’t expect to sit in silence either but it would seem some of the clientele would be better off in a curry house on a Saturday night where their behaviour would fit in.

Once we were moved (and the couple on the next table also moved) to the main area it was much much better, and could have a conversation. It was a shame it got off to a rough start as the food was amazing and the staff were really attentive and did their best to make sure we enjoyed our meal, hence why the four stars as the issues we experienced were out of their control.

Would definitely go again but would go earlier on a Saturday so not to encounter the groups that have been to the pub first or in the week.

Maybe the restaurant could seat large groups at one end and couples etc on...