Al Forno Restaurant Ingleby Barwick — Restaurant in England

Having been to Al Forno Ingleby Barwick restaurant this evening, i must leave this review. We had to wait half an hour past our book time, but with the current covid climate i accepted this, the waiting staff explained why we had to wait over our alloted time. Fair enough. Our party of 6 were seated and drink orders taken, which arrived, fine. Food order was taken, fine. Food arrived, after eating 3 slices of my pizza, i found a hair baked into the pizza, i told the waitress, who was very good about and said she would inform the manager and get it taken off the bill, she then asked if i wanted another one? No thanks, ive just lost my appitite. i order another drink, which didnt arrive. Extra dips that were ordered didnt arrive, ok no problrm. Then the bill arrived, i checked the bill and the pizza (£10.00) had been taken off, but 2 "miscellaneous food items" appeared on the bill for £4.95 each?? I asked the waitress ( who was very helpful) to check the original bill, which was a £125, the next appended bill was £115, i mentioned that i wasnt happy and feel as if they could do more. I didnt know at the time but the waitress had got upset and started to cry as she walked away fromour table. One of the party told me she was upset, so i went in to ask if she was alright and to tell her nothing was aimed at her, i didnt giver her any attitude or nastiness regards the bill, i actually felt sorry for her, thats why i didnt kick off. When i spoke to her at the bar, she totally understood and agreed, the so called manager on the other hand, HE lied and had a terrible attitude with me.He denided knowing the pizza had a hair in it, even when the waitress had told him, which she said in front of him, whilst i was stood there, he denided it and said, " well there is 2 managers on tonight" I then said you as the manager should have came and seen me to apologise, his attitude was, "well what do you want"? i said ok you took the price of the pizza off the bill, but added extra on to compensate?? what are you prepared to do for me not having my meal? he then offer me £10, which i refused, it wasnt about the money, it was the fact that he wasnt man enough to come and sort it out and HE let his waitress try to sort it and also the fact that she got upset about it. When i said he attitude stunk, he shrugged his shoulders. I said i will be taking this further, he couldnt care less. I would never step food in this restaurant again and will be ringing in the morning to get a contact phone number to compalin further. I am not telling anyone to not eat here, because thats up to the individual, what i am saying is, if i was the manager i would have been out to see what the problem was and how it could be resolved, it was not a good experience stood at the bar having to go through this with a manager that didnt give a toss to be frank. Not only did HE lie to me, HE tried to doctor the bill. TERRIBLE EXPERIENCE for my 1st and last time at your restaurant. This will be posted on all social media platforms too. Ps everyone else said their food was ok. Still no reply, after 4 weeks if i was lying,...

My sister's engagement celebration was ruined by this place and it's utter incompetence. On arrival we realised the top floor was not just for our party as we had been promised and paid deposits for. There was over 50 of us but the restaurant had about another 50 people dining up there aswell. I and numerous others had gone to the bar for drinks because we clearly weren't getting served....45 mins sitting waiting. Then at the bar we were told we were not being served if we were in the large party and that drinks would have to go on the bill and sent back upstairs. This was obviously never going to work so again had a word with the staff then the manager and asked if each drinks order could be paid at the time otherwise many will be missed. They agreed but didn't do it. Then came the food.....the couple did not relax trying to get orders to the right people the whole time and they had their own list they had compiled themselves. Every one had food at different times so those who had it felt they couldn't eat it yet and certainly not finish it. Most people left early as they hadn't had the drinks they wanted and their night had become flat. Many people had one drink each all night long. The staff were rushed off their feet and there was a couple of rude ones but most were so so busy and lovely it was awful for them. They did not seem to be treated very well from their managers. So at the end over 50 people were expected to remember what drinks and food they each had and pay. This took an hour for some people to queue and pay for. The audacity of asking the hosts to pay a deficit that so many of us had warned over and over again (and so politely at first) that this would happen is unbelievable. At this stage they should of been so sorry and compensating for the horrendous mess the whole night was and not asking for money that THEY had missed! The greed of overbooking but then losing out on a massive party who would of ordered many many more drinks is in some way justice, however it doesn't change the fact that there were people bickering among themselves over orders and payments and there were tears from those who had put in so much effort. If the floor had been just us then the orders would of been shouted out and served much quicker and we could have done a speech as a party etc. I cannot stress enough how this was about management only. It was altogether a very uncomfortable dissatisfying and completely...

I am appalled at the shocking level of customer care. Read below the email that I sent twice without even an acknowledgement from Al Forno Ingleby Barwick. Myself and colleagues will not be returning.

Dear Sir/madam

I booked a table at your Ingleby Barwick restaurant on 16th October for a colleague's retirement meal.

As there were a large number of us (35), we forwarded you at your request our meal choices in advance, keeping you updated of anyone who dropped out.

Everyone seemingly enjoyed their meals and the service and atmosphere was satisfactory. However, upon settling the bill we were asked to pay downstairs individually. It was then pointed out to us by a member of your staff that the happy hour meals had increased by £2. This had not been brought to our attention at anytime whilst calling/emailing with our meal choices.

On checking your current online menu (which also applies to your Middlesbrough and Darlington restaurants), I see the price increase is not showing and yet your tills are charging a higher price.

We feel that this deception soured our evening and sadly we will not be returning. This is a shame, as we have had many work outings here which have ran smoothly.

I hope you rectify your online price list so as not to mislead other customers.

Many...