Mattoni Eye Restaurant — Restaurant in England

What a disappointment. We rarely eat out these days as we are on a budget but I know my food. Menu: old and battered laminated menu which is NOTHING like the extensive menu online and is more expensive ! Don’t understand why we were given such a rubbish menu in comparison? Food: Bruschetta: poor excuse for the name and price. Tasteless and made with little care. Loads of raw onion. Only flavour was the giant salt crystals it was smothered in. Couldn’t eat it all. Pasta dishes: the ones cooked in the oven were okay. But nothing special. Lasagne was £16 and came with nothing, not even a salad leaf ! Bread was such a tiny slice, it was a joke. Spag Bol and Popette, pasta was undercooked on the Polpette. Two people left theirs. £15 for a spag Bol and it was pretty lame. Asked for Parmesan and got a bowl of that Parmesan you get in packets (cheap & dried) I ordered Pollo Parolaccia which is chicken and mushroom in a brandy & white wine sauce. Chicken was like the frozen chicken you buy in bags in Tesco for the dogs. They say everything is fresh. Fresh out the freezer bag it seems. Served with Sautéed potato chips. NOT sautéed. Very uniform, definitely out of a bag of frozen sliced potatoes. £18.95. No side salad, just beige slop. I note now that it’s advertised to come with salad. There was none. Service: average. No real care taken. Waitress spilled the ‘Parmesan’ all over the table and just left it there. Didn’t come ask for drink top ups. We just used the bar. Added 10% service charge on the end of our large bill. Felt totally ripped off. This was not fresh and not traditional Italian, despite the prices. I noticed in a previous review Mattoni say they haven’t increased prices despite raised costs. This is not true and also, maybe half an explanation as to why the quality of the ingredients was so embarrassing. Tried to complain about some of the issues, but was just told ‘sorry’ with no explaination or offer to compensate. Was for a special birthday. Everyone disappointed. Ps. Been to Mattoni in Hampton earlier this year and the service there was awful and the atmosphere non existent. Food average but we had the luch special so wasn’t as bothered as price was suited to...

Myself and my partner celebrated our first Valentines evening together at Mattoni's. Firstly I have to say congratulations to the waiting staff for being incredibly courteous and calm on an evening which was clearly very difficult. And a big thanks to the manager who was, as ever, very friendly and professional. Mattoni's was extremely busy on Valentines night, and as I understand it, unexpectedly short staffed.

There was a set menu with plenty of choice, and although it took a little longer for each course to come out, the food was great and the atmosphere was excellent. The fact that we had to wait while for our food just extended our stay and allowed us to enjoy the restaurant for longer, and we had a great night.

Toward the end of the night we were told that our desert choice was probably not of the standard that Mattoni's would like to serve it's customers, because it was getting late and the desert was made a lot earlier in the evening... I have respect for a restaurant that avoids serving sub standard food, incredibly honest and just shows how much this place cares about it's customers. We were giving the opportunity to order from the main menu, and we did. We had the most incredible Tiramisu which finished the evening off perfectly.

The manager was more than aware that we had waited longer than we usually would for our food and offered us a couple of free drinks, which we were very grateful for. Then when the bill arrived I explained to the waitress that they had not charged us for two rounds of drinks. The waitress went to check and we were told that was our final bill. To be honest, we had a lovely experience and you didn't have to do that for us, but thank you!

It was clearly a very very busy night, and you guys were up against it because of staff issues, but rest assured you did an incredible job, the food was beautiful, the service was exemplary and the evening as a whole was perfect. Thank you.

For anyone thinking about trying Mattoni's, stop thinking about it and book a table. You...

Firstly positives - we were a table of 7 adults and 2 children.Staff were all lovely, very welcoming. Food was lovely, everyones meal was as expected and all arrived at the same time even though the resterant was full. I had muscles as a starter - they were perfect, the cream sauce was gorgeous. The Antipasti starter was ordered between 2 and there was a good variety of items on the platter and pleanty of it. My main meal was meatballs and spagetti. The only thing i would say is the ratio of spagetti to meatballs was a bit too much spagetti, not enough meatballs. Saying that im not a big eater and after a starter i couldnt finish the main anyway.

The childrens menu was good. The childrens pizzas were a good size. The candy shop desert was brilliant. I think my grandchildren will be asking to return just for that.

The negatives....

The cocktails were presented nicely but i think they used flavorings rather than fruit. I had a strawberry mojito which just tasted sweet, didnt taste any rum and a Strawberry dachary which was just like a slush puppy with no alcohol kick.

When my husband booked the table he asked if it was possible to request a chair with arms. I have a disability that affects my muscles and posture. Sitting on a stright backed dining chair is very difficult and uncomfortable. After sitting on the chair for the duration of the meal it was difficult for me to stand and walk. I am sure it looked like i had more to drink than 2 cocktails with non detectable alcohol. Having a chair with arms allows me to rotate leaning left, right, forwards and back. Had a chair with arms been available im sure we would have been able to stay for a couple more...