Zeffirellis — Restaurant in England

What an odd experience. I booked a table for myself and my husband for Father’s Day evening hoping for a relaxed meal at the end of a day out. Firstly, we arrived and there was a queue at the front desk with no member of staff around to show anyone to their tables. Eventually, a waiter arrived and slowly showed us one by one into the restaurant and then disappeared. No offer of a drink or water for the table. We were left sat at the table for over 10 minutes with no one paying us any attention. Eventually I interrupted one of the waitresses and asked if it might be possible to order some drinks whilst we looked at the menu. All the time we were sat there, tables were emptying, as people finished their meals.The waitresses focus, and seemingly their priority, was on clearing and re laying the tables rather than serving customers. This was very impersonal and off putting. Our drinks arrived and we ordered our food which was of a decent quality but inconsistent in its presentation. The starters were excellent but the mains varied. The parmigiana sauce was wonderful but the ratio to cheese and aubergine was excessive and very wet. While we were eating, the tables around us continued to be cleared and cleaned. Even the flowers on our table were removed mid meal with the explanation that they were going to be changed for fresh ones. In the middle of our meal …..really! If you are going to put out fresh table flowers for the following day don’t do it while your customers are still sat at the table. After our main course was cleared away we were asked abruptly “Do you want anything else or are you done.” “Would you like to see the dessert menu” would have been more appropriate surely. We declined although were the hospitality more amenable we would have stayed for desert. Our original waitress, although by now we had had 4, was seen dashing out of the restaurant on her way home mid way through our main course adding to the whole impression that all everyone wanted was to close up and go home for the day. The added service charge and pointedly asking if we wanted to pay it or not was rather overbearing making a point of highlighting any refusal. Either have a service charge or leave it to customers discretion don’t put customers on the spot or make them feel awkward. What was supposed to be a relaxed meal for a special occasion turned out to be an uncomfortable and unwelcoming...

A bit of an out of body experience…

A couple things should probably be admitted before reading this. I am definitely not a food critic and I have never listened to or been to a jazz performance.

We went to Zeffirellis for their Jazz night, thinking it would be a quirky evening to add to our holiday. It ended up being maybe one of the most awkward evenings that me and my partner have had.

The first thing to note was the fact the tables were maybe 20cm apart from each other, and as much as the couple next to us seemed lovely - I wasn’t there to wine and dine with them!

Next were the waiting staff, it didn’t feel as though we had one designated waiter. In the space of 3 minutes 4 different members of staff came over to try and take our order. Which then seemed to flip on its head, as when trying to order desert we couldn’t find anyone to take our order! We also had to ask twice for our bill.

The food was okay. Being honest I wasn’t excited by anything on the menu, but I went for the margarita pizza - it was okay (that’s the best way to describe it). Dessert was great in comparison, good portion size and tasty, also looked very good!

The jazz. Well it wasn’t jazz! I admitted earlier that jazz wasn’t my forte but my partner has been to a few jazz gigs, this wasn’t that. Best way to describe it was ‘you’re at a party and some guy gets out a guitar and starts playing’. You want to kind of crawl back into your skin.

I honestly wouldn’t recommend if you’re expecting a non awkward, good food, jazz filled evening. But saying that the other people in the room seemed to be enjoying themselves - maybe we were the awkward ones!

The whole evening is definitely one for us to remember, definitely got a few chuckles on the way home out of how...

Lunch on Wednesday 24 August 2022 Today is our twentieth wedding anniversary! (We look forward to the next twenty years!) We took the 555 bus from Kendal to Keswick (at £12.00 person), along with dozens of elderly people taking advantage of their free bus passes, and got off at Ambleside. We had a wander around and had to suffer even more aimlessly wandering tourists than we get in Kendal! The forecast was overcast with showers in the early afternoon but, unexpectedly, it turned out to be quite warm and sunny. We made reservations ahead of time as Zeffirells is quite often quite popular, even on a Wednesday. They were a bit short of staff so service was a bit slow at first but it speeded up later. All options are vegetarian, with some or most available as a vegan option. We had one glass of prosecco, one bottle of Nero d'Avola, one starter of rocket salad, one starter of barbecued fennel, one main of Caponata Penna (with slowly roasted mixed peppers, courgettes, aubergines, tomatoes and sultanas), one main of Toscana pizza (with goat's cheese, roasted peppers, pine nuts and rocket plus capers as an additional topping) and one espresso. The food was great, but somewhere between ££ and £££. The large restaurant was quite busy even though it was a Wednesday lunchtime in late August, so that is a pretty good recommendation...