Zizzi - Telford — Restaurant in England

I'm not one to leave such a negative review, and have never left a restaurant without paying before, but I was shocked at the experience of our visit here. We were provided with the most abysmal customer service. Upon complaining we were not apologised to or provided with a solution, the manager thought it best to argue her side that they didn't have enough kitchen staff and that we had no grounds to be disappointed with the service. Her attitude was that it's the customers problem that they were short for staff. We just didn't seem to be getting anywhere close to feeling like we were understood. We were told we could get a discount as if that was reasonable considering we were having to leave without our last course and the service up to that point was shocking. Our children were upset and we had just had the most frustrating and drawn out meal. We explained that a discount isn't going to be sufficient to make up for this and that we weren't happy to pay. The manager told us 'fine, just leave then'. Our experience below: We were seated straight away but no one came to take our drinks orders. We could see all four of the female staff chatting in the corner of the bar. After such a long time waiting we had to flag down someone. We were spoken to like an inconvenience with no apology for the lack of service on this first interaction. We then had the same issue with our food order. Our food order came out with sides missing. One came after we had eaten most of our food and the other side came out when plates were being cleared it was that late, after chasing it up twice. Dessert (for the children only) was a scoop of ice cream and a pot of grapes and for whatever reason we were still waiting after almost half an hour. We were sat with dirty tables all around us which were not cleaned for the entire time we were there. The food was ok but the drinks were warm and they gave us two glasses between five of us to share for our water, no one coming to the table at all to ask us how the food was, to see if we needed any more drinks or food. If we needed anything we literally had to get up and walk around the restaurant to find a member of staff. There were other customers that were in the same position having to get up and walk to the kitchen to get any customer service. I hope that this treatment of customers is limited to this particular zizzi restaurant. We will be telling friends and family not to go there, especially...

Very dissatisfied and upset with our visit.

The waiter we were greeted by lacked training / social skills, and seemed confused when asked if there was a table for 3 adults and 2 children. It wasn’t a welcoming greet, it seemed awkward.

We were not offered high chairs. We were not given crayons for the kids menus.

Any time we needed service we had to call someone over. No one came to take a drink or food order, until they were asked.

We witnessed other customers struggling with the same issue. One gent had to get out of his chair to order a drink. And then had to get up again to ask for a knife and fork.

Another customer was trying for a while to flag someone down for a desert menu

Despite it being quiet and the staff not seeming rushed or very busy, the tables surrounding us had dirty plates on from diners who had already been and left before we arrived. They remained dirty for our entire visit, which put a dampener on the overall feel of the restaurant. Bit of an eye sore to sit surrounded by dirty tables for the whole visit.

One side order was forgotten about, we had to ask for it, and it came 15 minutes after the mains.

One side order came out so late that they cleared our empty plates at the same time as serving the side We were done with our meal at this point and didn’t want it.

We waited so long for the kids deserts, despite chasing the staff several times, that we gave up, cancelled them and left the restaurant.

The whole thing felt like such a disaster.

The restaurant feels like it’s lacking proper management and proper training for staff.

The manager we complained to had no ability to resolve conflict and handled the complaints like they were personal attacks. ‘Don’t pay for anything then!’

We were told it was due to being understaffed, however it wasn’t busy, and non of the staff members looked busy. And when it costs £100 to feed 3 adults and 2 children, we shouldn’t feel the effects of understaffing.

The kids left feelings stressed and upset. They just wanted to leave instead of waiting for desert.

As parents of young children, the visit felt stressful and chaotic.

If you have young children, or you just want a pleasant, easy going experience, avoid at all cost.

The problems are not with the menu / food, but with the staff / service.

Restaurant needs proper management and staff...

We’d made a reservation for 5pm and arrived promptly at 4:50pm. When we were seated we were told that they had issues with heating and so it might be cold. No problem. We were also told that our waitress would come over and take our order (standard as the online ordering was not working). There were about 5 other tables in the restaurant and yet it took 15 minutes for anyone to come to our table to take our order. By this point I was a little annoyed as it was meant to be a special treat for my partner but we had plenty conversation so it didn’t matter to much. Drinks arrived after about 5 minutes and food after about 25 minutes which is quite reasonable apart from the fact that the food was lukewarm at best. We waited to be checked on by our waitress as we picked at the food but nobody ever came over or even near so we couldn’t call someone over without causing a scene. By this point after a long day of shopping we were just hungry and so we ate it but my partner had to go up to the bar and ask for drinks as nobody had came over. Once we’d finished we moved all the cutlery and plates etc. to the end of the table to make it evident we had finished and yet it took another 15 minutes to get any sort of notice and when we did we asked for the bill and quickly left. We arrived at 4:50pm and left at 6:15pm only having one course. Understandable if they had been busy but it wasn’t for the majority of the evening, only picking up at the end. Needless to say we were left majorly disappointed and had it not been for the free main meal voucher I had I would’ve most definitely complained as the price was not worth the lacking service and lukewarm food. The last time I ate at this restaurant was for my birthday in June this year with 4 others in which they forgot my meal so I suppose I shouldn’t be too surprised but it’s such a shame that the poor/lacking service puts a damper on what usually is...