Antica Roma — Restaurant in England

COVID NOT SECURE and Very rude waiter...

Went to this restaurant last week, Booked a table for 9PM. In the restaurant we weren't greeted, but met by three waters chatting to each other at the door... I said I had booked a table and the only question asked was "How many" NO details were taken for Contact tracing, Waiters did not wear masks and our water just indicated us to sit at the nearest table without saying a word to us...

The food was perfect as it always had been hear.

However it is the service and the experience that has warranted the 2 star rating...

The waiter that served us was, unresponsive, rude, snappy and then huffed when we asked for water for the table... He just had such a horrible attitude that put a downer on a birthday meal.....

We assumed he was having a bad day at first and so we were extra polite to him and thought maybe he would warm up to us and be polite to us when he realises we would not be demanding of him and that we were being kind to him...but after being served our main with the plates being almost slammed on the table, and not being checked on to ask if the food was ok... I decided we had given him too much benefit of the doubt...

Have been to this restaurant at least 7 times and every time has been perfect, except this time which has put me off. Will not be returning after our last visit as it feels that we just wasted money on being let down with...

As of the time of this review, this restaurant has not been open for long. But I've heard lots of good things. Great things in fact. Despite having spent our honeymoon in Rome, I won't pretend to know a great deal about what proper Italian food should taste or look like. This being our Anniversary meal, we were thoroughly looking forward to it and I have to say, we were not disappointed.

We arrived just as the restaurant opened at 5:30 and were seated straight away. There were already a few people already seated and the place continued to get busier over the next couple of hours. But there is plenty of space and at no point did it feel too busy, or cramped. The decor is quite attractive and includes some prints of Italian landmarks, etc. Of course, if the food was awful then no amount of prettying the place up would make any difference. The food, as it happens, is far from awful. Even for a 50% vegetarian couple there was more than enough choice and we chose wisely. Between ourselves and our extended family, we have eaten every type of dish on the menu and I have yet to hear a bad word said about the food. I could go on about how delicious and authentic it is, but I'd rather just tell you to go. Keep going. Keep this place open and successful and you'll keep going back.

It may not be Rome, but hey, most places aren't. What it is though, is a very...

Had a reservation, then they couldn't find it. The inside looks really nice, they've done a great job with that considering what it looked like before. Sadly though it wasn't enough to make up for the rest of the evening.

They messed up our starters the first time (fine), then when they brought our second starters round they were wrong and the waiter tried telling us we had ordered the wrong menu item which we had not. In total we waited about 35-40mins for our starters.

Onto the mains (which we waited an extra 25-30minutes for), the Calzone was really just dough and not much filling. And my partners pizza (which I also tasted) was literally oil and just cheap meat. It genuinely tasted like an Asdas own pizza. I understand it's their first week and they are finding their feet so I will be back to try it again but from first impressions I'm certainly not impressed.

Long waits for wrong and then unimpressive food. But will try again when they find their feet, this place could have some potential. Especially in a town where an Italian restaurant is null. I'm sure in the future I will be able to change my review to a higher star, but for now on this experience 1* is what it was...