Fratelli Cicchetti — Restaurant in England

We were recommended to go here. We dressed up, drove 30 minutes to get there (and obviously 30 minutes to get home). I mention this to let you know that this wasn't just a pop out for a quick bite to eat. We made an effort.

First impressions were good, the decor was nice and the waitress who greeted us was friendly. Unfortunately this is where it went downhill.

From the brusqueness when we asked to change tables (who wants to sit in a corridor?) to the waiter wanting our drinks orders before we'd even picked up a menu. From the chairs that weren't wide enough to actually sit in to the complete inattention by the staff. It all went downhill pretty fast.

But all of this was overshadowed by two things. First, food came out suspiciously quickly. Starters arrived within a minute or two of ordering. Our main courses came out on the return trip of the waiter clearing our starters. When I go out to dinner I want it to be an experience. I want to be able to savour the flavours that I am presented with. If I want fast food I'll go to McDonalds. And for McDonald's I wouldn't get dressed up and drive for an hour.

Secondly, the acoustics in this place are terrible, to the point of painful. I don't know who decided that all restaurants needed to be hard edged but bring back curtains, acoustic ceiling tiles. anything to kill the echo. The conversations in the restaurant kept getting louder and louder until it actually hurt.

To sum up, we were there for 45 minutes. To one course in 45 minutes would be fast, to have two is really unacceptable. However, with the way the noise hurt 45 minutes was too long. We didn't take any pictures of the food (which we do everywhere) and when we noticed that the service charge was on the bill automatically we didn't ask for it to be removed, so desperate were we to get out into the relative quiet of the night.

I can't stress this enough, do something...

We’ve been to Cicchetti in Ampthill a couple of times before. The food is great, tick. A great bar with plenty of choice, tick. Friendly and efficient service, tick!

However, we’ve just come home from a very disappointing dinner. The acoustics in this restaurant are AWFUL - everything is a flat surface, making it even worse. The restaurant had accepted bookings for a 60th (a party of 40+ along one wall) and a 40th (a party of around 20+) and the noise was deafening. We were sat between the two parties and it was unbearable. My Apple Watch warned me that the environment was very noisy and that prolonged exposure could lead to permanent hearing damage.

The staff were really struggling - the person looking after us told me she wanted to go home as well. We stayed an hour and left because we couldn’t take it anymore. Seriously, Fratelli Cicchetti! What are you doing!?!?! I’m sitting here having been home half an hour and my ears are...

This is the second time I have been here. It's a lovely place for a celebration. Personally I wouldn't go if you want a romantic dinner especially when there is a singer or DJ. My husband and I couldn't have a conversation as it was too loud. The acoustics are awful. Recently I attended a birthday celebration. The food was fantastic and was very well organised. However the service for the bottomless brunch for the non alcoholic package was dreadful. We waited 1/2 hr for our second drink and they didn't get the order right which was highly frustrating. The group that had the alcohol package were well looked after and had several drinks lined up. Just because I don't drink alcohol doesn't mean I want to wait a very long time for my drinks. And there was a lovely selection of non alcoholic mocktails that I wanted to try. All be it it was a lovely afternoon and a good time...