Don Luigi — Restaurant in England

I have to admit that the food here was really good hearty Italian food but the waiting time was ridiculous. We had to ask the staff to take our orders as we'd been sat down on a small akward table, for way over half an hour without even ordering. The open kitchen is a nice idea but they haven't quite got the extraction right as I found it quite smokey which was irritating my eyes. And it wasn't just us that were getting aggravated by the wait times. Drama from the table next to us led to the customers being escorted out before even receiving their starters. There did seem to be a large party upstairs but if you can't cater for both the restaurant and functions, maybe you should focus on one or the other. Our bill was reduced slightly but it wasn't enough to make me want to rush back,to be honest we were too desperate to get out of there to debate the fact. Funny isn't it, because all it would have taken was some good customer service before hand, a warning that they were understaffed maybe, and an indication of longer waiting times than usual when we arrived. We then could have made the decision to stay or go elsewhere. As I pointed out earlier the food was great once it arrived and maybe we got really unlucky and they were just understaffed or something but non of the front of house staff seemed to know how to handle the situation so I certainly won't be returning in a hurry. If you are going to give it a go I would advise to ask about waiting times before...

My wife and I went last night as we have been a few times. Booked for 8pm. We were told they were short staffed. It took 30 mins to take our order, starters arrived at 9pm and mains at 10.10pm. It was also very cold inside the downstairs area. Other customers also clearly unhappy with waiting time. Got our bill at 10.30pm - no discount. I challenged this and we received a 10% discount which we thought was poor given the extremely poor service. When I told the manageress that I was unhappy she basically told me ‘that’s tough you knew we were short staffed’. I told her we would not be coming back she was equally rude, lacking customer service skills. If we had been given a 25% discount with a better attitude we would have found that acceptable. I have never put any reviews on before for any restaurants, and I’m 57 - I don’t appreciate being treated like this as the restaurant was full so must be making decent money. Food itself was great so...

I was pleasantly surprised when I walked into this charming little restaurant with bags of atmosphere, open views to kitchen so you can watch your food being cooked and very friendly staff. The internal decor would best be described as trying to conjure up a rustic Italian village feel, so do not expect a glitzy interior, but the food was fabulous. Vegan options (plural!) were available and exciting - and tasted great! Highly recommend this place if you are in vicinity.

2 visit review - I revisited this restaurant in Dec. 2023. It was again a lovely experience. The meal was again excellent and the service was brilliant; very friendly and quick to help. We could watch the chef's in the kitchen preparing all the meals, which arrived in a good time after ordering. Definitely look forward to returning again...