ASK Italian - Durham — Restaurant in England

Before Entry- Was told by many that Ask Italian (this one particular) was a delightful to dine in... It certainly was not. Upon arrival- Upon arrival we were told that many of the items on the menu were out of stock, I understand this is not the fault of the restaurant however, the limited choice of food options was certainly not a good start and if anybody that night was a picky eater they probably would have left without ordering, I myself took quite a while to order with the limited menu choice. Service- Service was the worst part of the evening, after we had been given our food nobody came back at all to check if everything was okay with our meals, in fact... Nobody returned to our table for nearly an hour. During that time myself and the person I was dining with was extremely thirsty and would have liked to order a water for the table, we never got the chance to order that water, instead the person I was dining with luckily remembered she had a bottle of water in her bag and drank that whilst I hoped someone would eventually walk near our table so I could ask for water. I was never able to order the water that evening.

During our evening we both felt that we were personally being ignored as when we tried to get a waiters/waitress's attention they would simply walk away, not look at us and never walked near us.

Earlier on in that evening, probably around 5 minutes before we got our food/ finished our original drinks, a waiter/waitress walked past us (the last time someone walked past our table) and dropped a knife on the floor, nobody returned to pick it up off the floor,it stayed on the floor for the entirety of our stay until I picked it up when leaving the building.

Atmosphere/open Kitchen- This Ask italian(don't know about others) had an open kitchen with an extremely loud Chef that spent the first half of our visit laughing and joking with a man stood outside the kitchen (very loud, very annoying). The second half of our visit the chef(s) just complained about their jobs and work life... Wasn't exactly what you want hear when eating THEIR food.

After finishing our meals- After we had finished our meals we sat at the table waiting for our plates to be collected and for water, during this time a promotion card on the table caught our eye for a free dessert, this lead us to read the card, look the deal up online, get a code and further sit and wait for service, however, after a further long long wait we didn't want the FREE dessert and left as soon as a waitress graced us with her presence.

I will never go to that or any other ASK Italian ever again. Awful experience... Awful evening. (Dined on 10/10/21)

(Photo below is of the ignored knife that could have injured someone via a tripping hazard or god forbid a child...

Okay! I visited this store on 27/07/2024 at 13:07 during my lunch break. I asked one of the staff member on how long will it take for them to give me a simple pizza. She replied by saying that it takes around 5-7 minutes for takeaway but for dine in , it might take around 10-13 mins . Then I was like okay, I would rather go for takeaway then I ordered one based on the menu which she gave. I was told to sit down which was nice of them, then I was asked to pay . I paid 13.95 but the price was 11.95 . I asked her on why is that case and was told that the takeaway is different. She just smiled and left. I got my pizza in 8 mins exactly which is amazing. I asked the staff to be able to sit down and have food as I had enough time . She was a bit unhappy and asked me to sit in the waiting area and finish off. The pizza was not even cut and I asked for the pizza cutter. She brought it and put it a bit on the waiting area table harshly. I felt embarrassed as people were looking at me. I cut my pizza and started eating. The pizza had very less cheese and it felt like I was eating a flat bread with sprinkled cheese on it. I asked for like the olive oil or something on the top which is like store complimentary which is in every pizza store, I was told to wait and never got it. I was then told that it won’t be allowed for me and the only reason I was able to sit and have the pizza is because of them being generous. I was literally upset over the whole thing and left the place. It is so disturbing as I kinda felt left out or abandoned. Not sure why they have done this to me. I am just posting this as I am super upset and extremely unhappy with the service. I have been in food and hospitality business for a long time, this is really not the best service. I would rather not visit the store again . I am sorry if I am too harsh in giving the stars but I am just sad and...

Sad to write this

Me and my partner love this particular AI as it’s in a great location in Durham

Car park is a lift ride away and is cheap on a night time

Decided to take my partner and parents this evening and done nothing but big up AI but when I wanted it to shine it sadly didn’t

Even though we had booked a table for the 4 of us we had to wait in a door way with the doors pinned open so it was freezing cold for us standing waiting for nearly 10 mins until staff dressed our table

We ordered our food which took around 25 mins which wasn’t bad but our drinks we ordered when we first came in arrived shortly after our food

No one came to check on us to ask if we had any issues with our meals and it took them a good 20 mins to take our finished plates away

We also wanted a desert which no one came to take our order so I decided to order them on my phone using the QR code on the table

2 mins later a server came and told us one of the deserts wasn’t available so my parter had to choose something else

No big deal

Until we ordered something else to replace it

Which again they didn’t have

So ordered something

And guess what

They didn’t have it

We just decided to cancel our deserts as we had other Arrangements and time was ticking

To which the server made a fuss about having to cancel them but then decided to cancel them and didn’t even apologies

We then asked for the bill which they didn’t seem to get sorted for us

So I again used the QR code on the table and paid and we left

We walked passed 3 members of staff and not one of them apologised or even said thank you and goodbye

Think this will be the last for us coming to AI in Durham which is a big shame...