Penn Hill Gossip Cicchetti, Pizza, Pasta, bar — Restaurant in England

So, we couldn’t decide what to cook for dinner so decided to just head here and give it a try and pasta / pizza was appealing to us, upon entering we were greeted warmly and asked if we had ever been there before, we hadn’t, and the gentleman said he thought so as he hadn’t seen us before, this made us feel so comfortable instantly as it gave a sense that they get a lot of regulars, so it must be good, and yes… it was more than good! The décor is modern yet rustic and comforting with great music playing, the ambience was spot on. Upon being presented with menus everything was explained to us and we were given advice on the draft beer available and a wine list. To start we ordered a large glass of Exhibition Rosé – it was crisp and fresh with just the right level of acidity and my fiancé had a pint of San Miguel, you can’t go wrong there, as well as Calamari Fritti and the olives & bread board, both were very tasty, light batter on the calamari and a good quality balsamic with the bread. For mains my fiancé had Spaghetti Carbonara, with an egg yolk on top, and I had a Prosciutto E Fungi pizza – both were full of flavour, lots of topping on the pizza and plentiful pancetta in the pasta, the addition of a mini pizza wheel to help cut was a great touch and I added chilli oil, which from the look of it was made in-house and had a subtle warmth to it. Time for dessert, all of which are homemade… Chocolate Almond Cake with a Brandy Sauce and Tiramisu, we were eating Italian after all… both were delicious, you could tell they were homemade, portions were big and full of flavour, the Tiramisu was some of the best I’ve had, all washed down with a double espresso each… yum. Service was spot on, attentive and warm but not overbearing in any way and everything was well priced. Service was not added to the final bill and I felt awful as there was no option on the card machine to add gratuity and I don’t carry cash, if the owners / staff are reading this, I’m sorry! I will be making up for this when we return, which...

Myself, wife and daughter went out to celebrate my wife’s birthday last night at Gossip, Penn Hill. I’ve never been, even though have lived locally for over a decade! Boy have I been missing out on some amazing Italian food! The cicchetti (tapas style sharing dishes) meant you could sample all your favourite dishes in one meal… so we had calamari, veal, oven baked aubergine with cheese and sauce (amazing), mussels etc and my kid had pizza. The wine was good quality not seen in the supermarkets and the service from the fabulous Maddy was really attentive, polite and friendly, you can’t ask for more than that really. They even heard us talking about my wife’s birthday and gave her a surprise celebration! Service really makes a place and makes you want to come back and recommend to others. Recently we had poor service in a certain local marina café restaurant and have decided to venture to new places, this one is a gem! Penn Hill is decent and has a lot more...

We were the first customers of the evening but received the most basic service - unwelcoming and curt. When ordering, I asked for the mussels starter, and was rebuked with just, "no mussels". At no point were we asked if we wanted anything else or if the food was to our liking. We even had to get up to ask for a side plate to put salad on from the large portion we ordered.

However, when a family who were obviously regulars came in, they received a friendly jovial welcome.

At those prices and with such an attitude, we certainly will not become regulars.

Finally, there was rather grating fast electronic music playing at an intrusive volume. It didn't seem appropriate to this kind...