Toto — Restaurant in England

Kind of feel bad giving such a review, given how good the food was, but whoever runs the place needs to have a serious chat with their staff. Appreciate these may seem like nit-picking, but it all added up to leaving a sour taste after what should have been a pleasant evening. Terrible reception - Felt unwelcome from the moment we walked through the door, not approached or greeted, had to make a random punt that one of the people currently walking around worked there. Waiting - I had booked a table for two for 7pm. Despite that, it seemed to take an uncomfortably long time to check. So much so, that I began to worry that maybe the booking hadn't gone through (booked online). Seated at their worst table - Right in front of the till/bar, on the only route to the kitchen, at the foot of the stairs. Dodgems - What should have been a nice quiet, romantic meal turned into an evening of frequently dodging people brushing past us. "Quaint" is not how would I describe dealing with people's backsides a few inches from my face every few minutes. Tiny tables - The tables set up for two are simply not big enough for the tableware. When both plates need to overhang the table because they don't fit, that doesn't make it "cosy" it makes it awkward. They may be perfectly suited for a cafe/cocktail bar, but not a restaurant. At the very least, don't place on the main thoroughfare. Slamming door - Please, if you take just one thing away from this review, buy some felt pads and stick a couple on the door frame. The bang it makes, when the front door closes, is louder than you think. Ignored - After the 4th or 5th "dodgem" in the first few minutes, together with the random bloke who thought the table was a leaning post, I asked if we could possibly, if it's not too much trouble, perhaps be seated elsewhere... That was the last interaction we had with that waitress for the rest of the evening, after she said she would take a look for us. Maybe she didn't think I was British enough because I didn't just ignore the banging door or terrible table? Or maybe she just doesn't like black people? Either way, the next couple who came in (no reservation by the way), got a lovely sized table for four in a cosy little corner, tucked away behind the stairs. Staff dichotomy - "Grumpy and Stressed" was the complete opposite of the other waitress there, "Cheerful and Nice" who was thankfully a delight. Grumpy could take a few lessons from Cheerful on how to ensure customers think about returning, rather than thinking about...

If I had one word for this restaurant. Lazy. Absolutely no love in this food. It feels like a money spinner, using Trendy words like ' sourdough' to trick people into suggesting the place cares enough about food to pay attention to its quality.

It's pizza guys, pizza.. not complex and I'm truly shocked about how a pizza can taste this bad. My calzone was undercooked and has given me a bad stomach, for starters. The base and edges were so thick and doughy also undercooked. The mushrooms inside raw. The ham was still in cubes of chopped clumps also raw. Barely any cheese and the cheese tasted very cheap. Then we top it off (literally) with the same sauce that's probably used for their pasta (so lazy) which again tasted cheap.

This place might be ok for teenagers tourists and first dates but for food snobs like me I wouldn't recommend, for pizza go to Ristorante Michelangelo in Ryde because their pizza is the best in the island full of love and tradition but they are closed in January so I thought I'd try this place, I really really wanted to like this place as I live in Newport and as a business owner myself this review is intended to be constructive criticism which I really hope they take to heart and make this place a hotspot for pizza with it's ideal location. But they have a lot of work to do. Honestly guys take your chefs to Ristorante Michelangelo in Ryde and learn from them because you only have a small amount of time before you use up all the teenagers and tourists the island has to offer. There are not short cuts...

This could be a wonderful little place but the service massively lets it down. We came for dinner, spent about two hours here (which in itself is unusual, as we're pretty quick diners) and had one drink the whole time. Empty bottles left on our table for the duration of the meal, had to ask for table water to be brought over. We had to ask for service each time we needed something. Our empty plates sat in front of us for 45+ minutes. Took over half an hour for one cocktail to be made, by which point, we had had enough and already had our coats on to leave. Never experienced such inattentiveness, and they can't even use being busy as an excuse, because the serving staff were stood around the bar area chatting or on their phones most of the evening. Some of the food was great. Some not so much. Avoid the pork belly Mac and cheese unless you enjoy eating lumps of fat. Avoid the bruschetta unless all you want to taste is garlic. And don't bother ordering the funghi chicken if you're hungry - it comes with 3 new potatoes. When we paid the bill, they didn't want to hear about how unhappy we were with the service. I emailed to feed back our experience, expecting that they would be happy to have a chance to rectify, but they just didn't bother to respond. Used to love this place but we certainly won't...