La Vecchia Scuola — Restaurant in England

Truly Awful experience last night at this restaurant! In all honesty I think it survives off its beautiful facade and the beauty of the building and its old character and charm. As you enter there is a room to the right, well we got shoved in it! Away from the live piano, the buzz of the atmosphere with no music I felt like I was in a box bedroom with tables in it! I booked this for my partners birthday meal we were so hungry we saved ourselves all day to look forward to it. The reviews online seemed great but I think that's the problem because of course there will be good experiences and food but when people aren't having a great experience they aren't leaving a review. Two other people in that room left, the 2 couples on the table behind us complained all the way through their meals too. We waited 1 whole hour just for our starter and we only recieved it because I complained and had to ask where on earth it was! The waiter did apologise and said that the kitchen was under pressure, meanwhile allowing people to arrive off the street without bookings and still empty tables. How would the kitchen cope if it was full? It couldn't even manage what was in the restaurant. We did have a drink on the house as an apology but it got worse. The waiter kept coming in and out of the room with nothing to say or ask and then no food. My partner ordered the cheesy garlic bread, this arrived 1 hour late. When he started eating it (and he did eat some out of pure hunger) it was burnt to a crisp, the dough was like burnt cardboard with very little cheese or flavor. How on earth can you get this wrong? Even my children can make a cheesy garlic bread! It was terrible, the worst we'd ever had. My pasta was the ravioli pasta with prawns. The sauce was absolutely terrible! It tasted like plastic. It had absolutely no correlation to Italy and its flavors atall. It was bright yellow and the pasta was hard and chewy. I hated it, honestly this is from a girl who isn't fussy with food atall. My partners bowl was such a small portion so he left still feeling hungry in which he ordered a better Italian takeaway later on! I told the waiter this but he didn't knock anything off the main meals. I didnt want any confrontation infront of the new arrivals but I'm very very upset i was still charged £50 for the worst food experience and service ever. So so...

An amazing waiter let down by an inconsistent kitchen and other waiting staff.

The chap who I had booked the table of 10 with and saw us through our starters and mains was exceptional. When the kitchen sent the wrong meal he quickly acquired the correct meal and offered a drink as compensation. He was incredible and attentive.

However the meals were criminally under seasoned, lacking even salt or pepper. The food was good quality and tasty but some meals were quite bland. This paired with the fact that for some reason the dishes that we had multiple of we're all served very inconsistently. Some with garnish, some with none, all pasta dishes without the offer of cheese. With no discernible reason why.

Unfortunately the worst part of the evening was after the mains when we were passed over to a young lady who stood on end of our table and shouted out to us about our dessert order and requested we do the same back. The drinks we ordered with her were served without glasses for some (no idea why) and the desserts seemingly got confused somewhere along the way.

When we're presented the deserts none of the waitress felt the need to state which dessert was which. I had to repeat for the fourth time that myself and my partner sharing and were very rudely presented the two side plates we had previously asked for. The female members of staff seemed to congregate by a doorway to talk but were somehow unable to see you if you needed anything. By the time we asked for the bill we very much felt that we were receiving daggers from the young lady we had annoyed by asking her to bring side plates.

Perhaps the female waitresses may have been new but it's not what you expect from a +£440 meal. I do feel after this review I may not be welcome to but I would like to return and see if perhaps our experience was due to our large party size but we were very decisive, had no allergies and had all our orders ready ahead of the order taking to try assist with our...

Arrived to a stroppy woman on reception who the first thing she said to us on our 3.30pm arrival was that she would need the table back by 5.30pm which is not a welcoming thing to be told.

We were seated and then waited over 20 minutes for our drinks order.

Food when arrived was average at best for the price we paid it was very underwhelming.

Calamari starter was dry in a thick and salty batter and only warm and tasted as though it had been sat on the side for a long time.

We were never checked in on to see how our food was or if we needed anything extra.

The waitress that came to our table seemed as though they would rather be anywhere else than serving us.

I needed a spoon for my meal but no waiting staff even came towards our table as we were so out of the way seated by the toilets and my attempts to get their attention failed.

When our main meal wad cleared we weren't offered anything extra or whether we wanted any dessert and then had to wait an additional 20 minutes for the waitress to come back to our table at which point we all wanted dessert but just asked for the bill instead.

On our way out I left the door open for my cousin and mother who was behind me and the guy wearing a shirt with short gray hair (which I assume was the duty manager or supervisor) rudely said 'oh don't worry, I'll shut the door shall I?' In a very snarky manner which my cousin replied to him to his suprise that I had left the door open for her. He clearly did not think we could hear him.

This is the worst service I have ever experienced from the rudest waiting staff I have ever come across which us such a shame because my mum said back in the day this was the place for amazing food and great service.

I will certainly never return...