Merchant of Venice — Restaurant in England

Firstly just want to start by saying that generally the experience was good but some things really let down giving a 5 star review.

Firstly the food we had (lunch time) was lovely really tasty and very enjoyable. It wasn’t overly busy when we were seated as we arrived just between breakfast ending and lunch starting. We were quickly seated to our table however… it took half an hour for anyone to ask if we wanted a drink or to order food. We did try to get someone attention a couple of times. The tables epithet side of us also agreed that service was slow and inconsistent.

The drinks took around another 20 minutes to be served once we ordered, I’d also asked for some water for our table which didn’t appear. When the food was served I asked for water again and still nothing. The water finally arrived at our table after we had eaten and paid the bill and leaving our table.

The ladies serving were both really lovely and can’t fault them, however when observing none of the staff were talking to each other and bustling around but not really engaging with who had been seated when and who needed to place an order. This really became quite frustrating as it took a real shine away from how good the food was and the decor and overall vibe of the restaurant. After reading so much hype around this place I was a bit deflated by the experience.

I would come back to try breakfast another time, perhaps we just were unlucky with the...

Whilst I had never eaten here before (only had coffee), my better half had eaten here once before and thoroughly enjoyed it.

So, late in the evening of a Saturday night, we spontaneously decided to eat here; without a reservation.

On arrival it was reasonably busy, but they were able to accommodate a table for 2 in a quieter area. They did offer us the novelty swing seats in the window, but we gracefully declined.

I ordered the Lasagne and my partner ordered the seafood pasta. We had a side of sautéed spinach, an Galliano espresso martini and some tap water. Totalling £45, I thought that was reasonable!

The food!!! My lasagna was weird! Far too much texture minced beef, no definable layers of pasta and not enough cheese/white sauce. For me it was one of the worst I’ve tasted for a while. The seafood pasta on the other hand was excellent! Plenty of seafood variety, a really nice tomato-based sauce and a decent portion size. I wouldn’t recommend the side of spinach either; bland, unseasoned and didn’t complement anything on the table.

The service was excellent, the atmosphere was excellent, the price was great, but the food let it down slightly.

There are very few places to park and the nearest NCP car...

I was here on my own, even tho I turned up like 30 mins before my reservation time, I was able to be seated straight away. The waiters did take quite a while with table service ngl, when my table had been cleared, it was around 20 mins until I got the bill. I got the vibe that since I was there on my own, I may have been lower down on priority list. Because once the table next to me were seated, they had their order taken basically right away (which wasn't the case for me), and they got their bill quite quickly too- Just a small thing that I noticed, and it may have been coincidental ? Idk. That is the only slight negative thing I have to say about my visit. Aside from that point, the food was really tasty, well seasoned. I think this is the perfect place to have lunch, as long as you have around an 1hr 20 mins of free time, the atmosphere of the restaurant was friendly and not loud at all !! I recommend the halloumi fries, and the penne alla venezian (?) Idk if I spelled that correctly, but they had great portions and were really good, would definitely come back here again and try...