ASK Italian — Restaurant in England

The service was amazing (Lavinia served and she went above and beyond, so professional, helpful, really kind - thanks!) but the food was shockingly bad. Like, there was NO SAUCE on both carbonara - on both pastas delivered, it was just heaps of almost dry, but oily pasta... IMAGINE - CARBONARA, BUT WITH NO SAUCE, on both orders?! 🤣😅😭 It was just like dry pasta with hard cheese on top... Like, carbonaras are supposed to be so creamy, white sauce?! This was NOT that - on both carbonaras, it was just plain pasta with an clear, oily substance over ;( It was TASTELESS (Apart from the bits on top, but it's like missing the MAIN thing) Shocking, that I ordered from an Italian restaurant, then had to order a carbonara sauce to heat up and chuck over it, because there was no sauce on both dishes I was sent?! It was so bland, tasteless, thank god I live near a Co Op shop 😅 They could've served 1 fourth of the amount of pasta they did, but actually added sauce, and I would've been satisfied - if I order carbonara, why would I be happy with a huge bowl of basically dry pasta with no cream, no taste, so bland, honestly so confused 🤣... It's the sauce that I wanted, a kind of home made feel to it "the perfect carbonara", I wanted something better than from Co Op. Anyone can cook pasta - so I basically just spent £20 on someone to boil two bowls of pasta. And ended up having to buy sauce from Co Op? Oh my dayzzzzzz Lavinia was a REALLY KIND server, really professional and helpful - so it's a shame the food was a literal disgrace. Worst carbonaras I've ever had, and I ordered 2...

I’m only giving this 2 stars because the new waitress with black hair was friendly and polite. Honestly the let down of our evening was this restaurant. Drinks were lovely so can’t fault that but the food was atrocious, the only thing our table had that was remotely edible was the crayfish and prawn pasta and the rosemary bread. I had the burrata carbonara and when it came out it looked great however it was freezing cold in the middle and the pasta, the staff tried to say it’s supposed to be cold?! I’ve worked in hospitality for a long time and ‘it’s supposed to be cold’ is code for ‘we’ve microwaved it and they haven’t done it properly’ I’m eight months pregnant so asked for the regular carbonara instead, that was hot but bland as anything. My sister had the pollo e pancetta pizza and the toppings were rubbery. A woman who I assume was the manager came over after my pasta had been taken away and said ‘is there a problem?’ I’m sorry? Is there a problem? Is that how you normally talk to guests? She needs to be retrained. I’m an American trained bartender and would never treat a guest that way, she could learn to be more friendly and hospitable. When I did eventually get the new pasta about 4 members of staff kept asking if everything was okay whilst we were trying to eat and have a conversation, once or twice is fine. You don’t need to keep disturbing your guests. We were going to order dessert but I felt rather sick and was fed up with the managers face so we left and went elsewhere. Will never...

Having gone back to Ask after a few year the restaurant has had a few changes, not for the better. I know these be hard times but my thinking would be “let’s keep customers” The booking by phone should have warned me. What’s this that nobody talk’s anymore, this being an automated booking. Getting in was a chore as either I didn’t speak clearly or someone wasn’t listening. Seating was fine and a free (Hmmm) lemon drink. Not everyone ok with lemon! But ok. Drinks stood on the counter for 5 minutes, service thoughout being poor. I know I’m not the only customer. The meal for the four of us came in almost two sittings my food was on a cold plate which meant when the other two meals arrived mine was getting cold which was a pizza. Dominoes get a meal to me hotter. The meal itself was sparse more bread than topping. For the price of each meal I was very disappointed. The deserts were nice but again small. I’m not a big guy nor is my family big. I’m not a pig as in I like to stuff myself silly. But left hungry. I would be hard pushed to go back. The other thing that worried me was, there seemed to be a private joke going on with silly smirk’s. I wondered if I had something written on my forehead or just...