Nonna's — Restaurant in England

Disappointing First Visit to a Promising Venue

I was genuinely looking forward to trying this restaurant, especially as a surprise for my partner, who is Maltese (born in Sliema, raised in St Pauls etc) and has spent years traveling extensively across Malta and Italy for both work and pleasure. Her appreciation for quality F&B hospitality in those regions made this visit all the more meaningful—I was excited to see how it measured up.

On arrival, the ambience was lovely. The décor is thoughtfully designed, with greenery and foliage creating a warm, inviting atmosphere. Unfortunately, things began to slip once we were shown to our table—awkwardly positioned beside a fire escape. Just beyond the door, a loud wedding party was in full swing, with guests and staff constantly moving in and out, blasting us with cold air. Thankfully, the staff were gracious and moved us without fuss.

The menu was rich in meat-based dishes, which I enjoy, but my partner is currently avoiding meat, making options a little limited. We decided on the bruschetta and Spinach Arancini to start, followed by the linguine salmone and a Ribeye Steak. However, we were promptly informed that the arancini was unavailable, so we swapped it for Calamari. Then came another letdown—the salmon dish was also off the menu, so we reluctantly settled for the Chicken Milanese.

As for the food: the bruschetta had nice flavours but was unfortunately let down by a very soggy base. The calamari lacked seasoning and tasted bland—so much so that our server, unprompted, suggested we add salt and pepper. The ribeye was decent, cooked as requested, but lacked the depth or quality you’d expect from a standout steak, and the mushroom sauce was seriously watery and thin. The breaded chicken Milanese was fine—nothing more. For dessert, we tried the “giant” cannoli, a staple across Italy and Malta, but it was underwhelming in both taste and size.

On the drinks side, there were highlights. The Montepulciano d’Abruzzo wine opened up nicely over the course of the meal, and the strawberry daiquiri cocktail was genuinely excellent.

Unfortunately, service did not redeem the experience. Despite the staff being friendly, the attentiveness just wasn’t there. After waiting quite a while post-dessert, I eventually had to leave the table to request the bill.

In the end, what could have been a memorable dining experience fell flat. For a venue clearly investing in its setting and visual appeal, the food and service should be far stronger. If key dishes are likely to be unavailable on a busy night, that should be communicated upfront. When substitutions are made, more care should be taken to ensure those alternatives absolutely shine, since youre already dissappointed. And if customers are visibly experiencing issues, attentive service can often make the difference between a salvaged evening and a disappointing one.

For now, Nonna’s seems content to rely on its aesthetic appeal, but based on our experience, the cuisine and service fall well short of where they should be. If the goal is to deliver a genuine taste of the Mediterranean, there’s significant room for improvement.

In short: come for the ambience and a few photos—go elsewhere for the food...

This is not a place for large parties, especially NOT on Sunday MEGA ROAST. We booked for 9 people, including 4 children, that was why we ordered three sets of Mega Roasts for two (£35 per person - highly overpriced, so we expected big portions), but we were delivered one huge pile for “6 people”, for a long table, even though we asked 3 times for 3 sets of 2, prior to the visit & on the day. When questioned the waitress why we received something different from what we ordered, all we heard was sorry, not much for solution. It was not her fault but the young manager on duty who took the order.

I should have requested to take it back to the kitchen and come back with the correct order, but at that point I didn’t yet realised how very inconvenient it was and meant, that by the time food arrived on each plate served by one or two guests near by, it was almost cold.

My daughter pointed to the next table when their Mega Roast arrived for 2 people, which was almost half portion of what we were delivered for 6 people. So, we were cheated at least of one portion - £35. Unbelievable! Yorkshire puddings were burned, so were potatoes. There was only enough veggies for 3 people, buried under a pile of meat, only to be discovered at the end. I wish I took some photos, but I was too busy serving everyone to think about it.

Generally service was slow and not proactive. In the end when we eventually got a bill which raised my eyebrows, we addressed our disappointment to the manager, who admitted his mistake in placing the wrong order, but was unwilling to take the responsibility for it, and after long discussion was only prepared to take the service charge off, even though I pointed out the problem with the food as well. He also said, that nobody else complained, and my response was they didn’t complain because they got what they ordered and we didn’t. Very immature & egocentric response.

We were in that restaurant before in smaller group, on a different day, which was busy and service was quite slow, but food was nice & generally it was pleasant experience, although it was expensive. Different manager on duty, a nice lady. That was why we decided to come again. Unfortunately, on this occasion which supposed to be nice celebration of my birthday, surrounded by family it was a very unpleasant experience and we will not be returning to Donna’s Restaurant again.

I mentioned about our disappointing experience to my friend and this is what she said: “Funny that you should speak of Nonna’s at Woburn as we went there for Dave’s birthday early last year and thought that it was very overpriced and the food was bland. That was not on a Sunday, but decided that we would not be back at all. Defo one to avoid. Xx”

We have been to various restaurants around Milton Keynes and abroad, but this one experience was probably the worst, because at least in other places, when occasionally staff made mistakes, the managers took responsibility and acted accordingly, because they value their customers, and they understand that without them their business would not exist. There is no room for complacency if you care about your business more than...

Finally after 6 months of trying, managed to get a booking on a Sunday to try the mega roast I keep seeing people raving about on social media. We came as a large group and had pre ordered our meals. Myself and a close friend ordered the mega roast to share. Another couple who I know but not that friendly with and were sat down the other end of the table had also ordered the mega roast. We were told that we had to all sit together as the mega roast was coming on one plate. Peeved that I had to move away from a couple of friends I was sat with to accommodate the restaurant, I asked if we can just have the platter for myself and friend but was refused. (who the hell wants to share with people you don’t know!) We were not asked if we wanted starters before our meals and the food came out within 10 mins of arriving. The platter did not look appetising at all, all literally squashed up on a small platter tray, the roast potatoes and parsnips were all severely over cooked, the meats were scattered and laying on a bed of mustard which not everyone likes mustard! There were no sausages wrapped in bacon on our platter, and the Yorkshire puddings which I was very much looking forward to, were dry, over cooked and tasteless. The beef was tough and the knife to cut the beef was blunt. None of our drink orders were written down so some didn’t even arrive. I went back for another Yorkshire pudding, hoping it might have been better second time around but nope. Same crunchy and tasteless like the first! The waiters don’t mind to brush themselves on you either when serving or removing your plates, I found this quite insensitive as it happened on every occasion. I didn’t bother complaining because let’s face it, the damage was done after being made to share with strangers!

Safe to say my hopes for this place have been crushed and I will never return.

Can’t see why it gets so many people raving about it personally. Just a nicer looking...