Padrino Italian Restaurant & Pizzeria — Restaurant in England

Food was great, the specials board has lots of variety so does the menu, I wish I had even five minutes to browse I would’ve gotten something else. Very tasty food but felt like it was missing something, my friend got the penne chicken Arrabbiata and I got the mixed seafood marinara however my dish was 90% oil and not marinara, so I took some of the marinara/arrabbiata sauce from my friend and it really elevated the dish!! Seafood was great but squid didnt seem that fresh, little bit dry, still very tasty I would get it again! The crème brûlée tastes a bit like banana which was weird still nice 👌🏼 For a starter we had bruschetta, was very delicious!! Forgot to take a picture of the bruschetta, as you can see in the second photo the amount of oil and no actual marinara sauce which is weird because it was meant to, it definitely needed the marinara.

We found this place while visiting Southend from London as not many places were open. Out of most places this was highly rated and reviewed so we settled on Padrino. The recent (past 3/6months) reviews about the service is in fact true. However, doesn’t apply to all the staff members. 2 out of the 5 working that night were lovely and I’d happily be served by them again, the other three unfortunately weren’t that great as the previous negative reviews say !! It is true you are rushed and it seems like they don’t want to be there or they don’t want you there. Also, as the time went on there was actually no need to rush us like that when we hadn’t even have a chance to sit down and take off our bags etc, if the kitchen was closing in twenty minutes that is plenty of time to allow two people to at least have a look properly at the specials board, drinks menu etc for a few minutes before asking them if they’re ready or if they want anything to drink (bare in mind I had just sat down my bag was still on me and opened up the first page of the food menu🤣) The lady we ordered with was lovely, and the man that looked after our table from then on was great!

Unfortunately, I didn’t get the names of the lovely waiter and waitress!

🥰🥰Grazie per l'ottimo...

After looking up the reviews, thought this would have been a great choice. Sadly the service was poor and practically nonexistent after we returned a dish after finding hair in the food. Such a shame as the food was nice. They replaced the meal immediately and apologised at that point, but then avoided our table for the rest of the evening, we had to asked for the bill to be acknowledged. We didn’t have starters, just mains and was wanting desserts but 1hr 45 mins in, we needed to leave and it was clear they were avoiding us. Waited ages for the bill and then hit with rudeness by being told by one of the staff “it wasn’t hair, chef is bald and must of been fluff or something” like that’s ok. Plus a backlash comment when we hadn’t said anything is nothing short of childish. It’s not cheap in there or should anyone accept hair or fluff in their meal, in the sauce! We got zero service after that despite being very reasonable about it all, just be avoided for the rest of the time is bad. Definitely don’t recommend or will be returning. Shame as we were very fair about it despite it being very off putting and had you continued a decent service instead of a backhanded comment and avoidance, it would have been a different review. At no point did we ask for a discount or anything other than the dish replaced, so shame on you. Customer service...

I made the mistake of going to this restaurant because it had the most stars here on Google Maps. Firstly, even though I was accompanied by an elderly lady (86) who needed to use the toilet, they approached the door exactly at 12:00. They could see us through the large windows. They didn't let us in until they asked the chef, because we didn't have a reservation. I told them we wanted a quick lunch. All the waitresses were talking to each other in a language similar to Russian. This wouldn't have been an issue if it wasn't spoken right in front of the customers when taking orders. The cutlery is placed directly on the table and, after you sit down and order, they take the extra cutlery and put it back in the box with clean cutlery. After people have sprayed them with saliva while ordering. And probably some of them even touch them with their hands. When we ordered, the waitress's attitude was one of superiority, not one of serving and at least being considerate towards the elderly person. The pizza was poor in ingredients. The ingredients were of poor quality. I had indigestion later at home. I will never go back there. It is only Italian in...