Zizzi - Brighton — Restaurant in England

I don't like to write bad reviews but I was very disappointed with my experience. As a person who works in the service industry myself I will say our main waitress for the evening was so lovely and the only reason I'm giving 2 stars and a high service rating because she was running around and ensuring things were okay with us and had great customer service. I tipped her but wanted it only to go to her. I also overhead some conversations and didn't feel she is talked to very nicely by higher management.

A couple days before coming in we checked whether the restaurant could do gluten free items in which they said yes pastas and pizzas can be made gluten free. We were told just to walk in when we wanted a table and there was no need to book but when we got there on the day we asked for a table and had to wait 45 minutes for one. We decided to book the table anyway.

We ordered and I said to our main waitress I couldn't have gluten or lactose (milk products) so I would need to make some changes on the pizza to accommodate this and there was no issue when ordering. We then waited a while before a manager come over and said that I could make these changes but because I had made the minor changes (the cheese as I can't have this) they couldn't guarantee it was gluten free/lactose free which was confusing and left me worried, I asked what this meant and was just met with the same explaination. I understand in service places you may have some cross contamination but I was not told this was the reason but I assumed in this case it was. (I had looked through a matrix book for allergies)

It then took a while for drinks to come. When my partner's meal came out it was more slammed down by another waiter (not our main one) whether this is an accident I'm not sure but he did not have the same attitude with the other tables. The food was okay and pretty standard, not really worth the price due to the gluten free base being very small. It was a shame really because I was looking forward to it and I specificially checked beforehand... I hope some improvements can be made from this as others with allergies who don't work in the service industry may...

Unfortunately this was not a pleasant visit. I have been a ZIZI's fan for a number of years across a few of there different sites and with Calzone being my favourite meal I was more than ready for this after a walk on Brighton seafront.

In terms of seating we were unlucky with being sat on a small single table for two with a corridor either side and next to the delivery door which was regularly opened with a cold breeze coming through. There were other nicer seats in the other areas for larger tables which is understandable so you may have a better experience seated elsewhere.

In relation to the service as per the below reviews of other people's experiences the staff were not the best and seemed quite uninterested in being there. There were incredibly long waits to be served and they did apologise multiple times but the overall service did not seem to improve over the evening. The staff manager was the only saving grace who dealt with an awkward situation gracefully and saved face of the restaurant despite the fact his boss was discussing us in earshot which I found rude.

The starter fondu tasted a bit more like pasta sauce than cheese and the bread was quite dry but the Calamari was alright and a solid choice as always. The mains were a bit bland with calzone not having much flavour and the pizza being too dry and crispy. As a mark of the food this is the first time I've not finished a calzone and combined with the general service left a foul taste.

In terms of positives they offered a free table snack of some seasoned crisps which weren't that nice but a nice offer nonetheless. The location is great and is in the center of town and a nice place to people watch. Good clean facilities and have vegetarian/gluten options. The staff manager also refunded us our drinks so all we paid is £45 in vouchers.

Sadly despite having vouchers to eat here again for free I would not be returning at this time. I hope this was a one off and that others can enjoy thier...

I’ve not been to Zizzi for about 10 years, but last night we thought we’d give it a go.

The whole experience was diabolical and they sealed us never returning again.

It was a Saturday night, the last one before Christmas. When we arrived there was a queue for a table. Which was understandable, the server was outside snogging a uber eats driver! She then proceeded to push past the queue with a ‘the quicker you let me through, the quicker I can show you to your seats’ she then vanished for about 5 minutes to get changed.

We had booked a table and we were 5 minutes early for our booking, we ended up being seated 10 minutes after our booking as they had to find a table and clean it.

The restaurant really wasn’t busy for a Saturday night but despite this the service was terrible from start to finish.

We were seated next to another couple, the gentleman clearly had Covid or something similar as he had a hacking cough. Not the restaurants fault, but if you’re in hospitality you could have been aware of this and sat us elsewhere.

I went to order my starter and main and both were unavailable - the server said we should have been told this when we were seated… yes, we agree we should have.

So, I ordered alternatives to what I wanted. Then our main meals came out before our starters… not once, but twice we had to send them away.

I had the mozzarella bombe, this was underwhelming. Barely any mozzarella and was just really a piece of garlic pizza.

When the mains came out, mine was stone cold! We suspect that mine was just left to one side until we had finished our starters. Rather than made fresh. We sent this back and it did come back piping hot - but the portion was barely fit for a child and being that it’s nearly £20, it was overpriced.

All in all a truly terrible experience and we will be sticking to independent restaurants that actually care about customers...