Positano — Restaurant in Guildford

I regretfully feel compelled to leave this review following an appalling experience at this establishment during what was meant to be a celebratory evening for my boyfriend’s mother’s birthday. The evening was tragically overshadowed by a medical emergency involving my boyfriend’s father, which necessitated the arrival of paramedics. However, the handling of this critical and distressing situation by both the staff and management was nothing short of abhorrent.

The lack of basic compassion, professionalism, and urgency exhibited by the staff was deeply disheartening. Despite the evident severity of the situation, the cramped back room we were seated in was not evacuated to accommodate medical equipment or provide space for paramedics to work effectively. Instead, other diners were allowed to continue with their meals, lighting candles and singing “Happy Birthday,” while loud music blared in the background. Adding insult to injury, we were not even offered water and had to request it ourselves. The staff inexplicably prioritized setting up tables for the next seating over responding appropriately to the emergency unfolding in their establishment.

After the incident, my boyfriend’s sister reached out to the management via email to express her distress over the lack of urgency, empathy, and humanity displayed. The response we received was astonishingly dismissive and aggressive in tone. Management’s email included statements such as, “Do you think people had to vacate the restaurant to show respect to you?” and “It was Saturday night, and the restaurant was full! Do you realise that?”

We never demanded that the entire restaurant be evacuated—only the back room where space was critically needed for the paramedics to perform their duties. The fact that the management failed to recognize the inappropriateness of serving food in such close proximity to a man receiving a cannula is astonishing. Their complete disregard for basic decency in this situation is not only disgraceful but also indicative of their misplaced priorities.

As someone who works in hospitality, I can confidently say that there are established procedures and protocols for handling emergencies such as these, none of which were followed. Comparisons to other industries, such as the immediate evacuation of swimming pools, GP surgeries, or shopping centers in similar emergencies, illustrate the glaring inadequacy of this establishment’s response.

It is profoundly disappointing to leave such a scathing review of a restaurant that my boyfriend and I once considered a favorite and frequently recommended to others. However, this incident, and the subsequent dismissive and unapologetic communication from management, has revealed a disturbing prioritization of revenue over the well-being and dignity of their patrons.

After reflecting on the entirety of the experience and reviewing other customer feedback, it is apparent that this establishment has a consistent pattern of rushed service and lackluster customer care. I strongly urge potential diners to consider whether they wish to support a business that so brazenly disregards the welfare of its customers, even during an emergency. This experience has left an indelible mark, and I cannot in good conscience recommend this...

Lovely historic building, not overly large so space limited and would recommend booking during busy periods. Very friendly and attentive staff who also had a good knowledge of the building history which was nice to hear. Went for a late lunch and took advantage of their fixed price two course menu, a couple of cocktails and some bread and olives. Very large bowl of olives which was nice, they were pitted and we do prefer non pitted as tend to be more flavourful, however these were still enjoyable and a good sized portion. Bread was reasonable but nothing outstanding. Bruschetta nice, sweet tomatoes and fresh, street pizza found a little sloppy and a bit bland personally.

Mains an Arrabiata sauce they kindly changed penne to spaghetti for my partner, pasta nicely cooked, sauce could have used a little more chilli, simple but tasty overall. I had the Carbonara which tasted creamy but as I had a little bit of a cold I'm not sure if it actually had a touch of cream but it certainly wasn't a full cream base which was good. I did find it although rich slightly bland in both the pancetta and the cheese, again I had a slight cold but expected the flavours to be a bit more punchy. Couldn't manage a dessert but we did both go for a liqueur coffee, myself a Scottish and my partner an Italian, both were pleasant and well made. The two cocktails as well had a decent measure of alcohol, quite well balanced flavour wise and whilst I've had much better they were certainly enjoyable.

Definitely would give it a try again, sniffle free to give a fair shot. The staff and the very reasonable price for lunch would make a visit attractive, but would also like to go for an evening meal and a more...

I booked a table at Positano yesterday evening (03/03/23) for my partners birthday at 8:30 PM, it was our first time there and the staff were amazing from start to finish. We ended up arriving about 17-20 minutes late due to missing our train, however they called and still kept the table for us on a busy friday evening.

Our server was Alina and she was lovely, fantastic knowledge of the menu and was always asking to make sure we were enjoying the food and had drinks so definetely deserves a shout out!

The food itself was gorgeous and I have absolutely no complaints, the chef did a brilliant job so please pass on my praise! For starters we ordered the Montanarina and the chef special that night which was a filo wrapped goats cheese with mixed berry sauce, both were delicious but that chef special was my favourite, so tasty and well worth the slightly higher price.

For the main we both ordered a Filetto parma cooked medium rare, which was a prime fillet of beef served with Parma ham, rosemary potatoes and a wine sauce. Cooked to absolute perfection, not chewy in the slightest and melted in your mouth, highly recommend trying this.

Dessert we got the Tentazione Al Cioccolato (chocolate cake, filled with chocolate and hazelnut cream, hazelnut crunch between two layers of cocoa sponge cake, covered with chocolate glaze.) and Torta Ricotta E Pere (Amalfi Coast cake, with Ricotta cheese, brandy-soaked pears and hazelnut flavoured short-crust pastry). Both were also amazing but the Torta Ricotta was my favourite as it was quite light and refreshing.

We had a brilliant time here and can't wait to come back again, Thank you all so much for the...