Bianco Lounge — Restaurant in Leeds

Let me start by balancing this quite cutting review with the only positive. The first time we ate here it was lovely.

Now for the negatives. Today, we wasted nearly 2 hours of our lives here. It was a comedy of issues and errors. First, we went to take a seat and found a pair of jeans on the seat. Bit awkward but the owner/manager soon came and retrieved them. Luckily they were wearing their backup pair so it wasn’t too awkward. We were then told that we had to go to the bar to order because the App was playing up. No big issue, except if the person taking order can’t take the correct order, it leads to issues. On to the next set of issues…

I ordered a Big Lounge breakfast. Now there is a very similar, smaller meal (Lounge Breakfast). So after waiting 45 minutes for our order to arrive at the table (by this pint the kids were already restless), I noticed that the meal I received was the Lounge Breakfast. Upon noticing I pointed this out to the owner/manager. She said she’d check, she did. Then followed it up with a sharp response of ‘your ordered the Lounge Breakfast, not the Big Lounge Breakfast’. No hint of a chance that it could have been her mistake, it was clearly me who had ordered wrong and thought i would try it on for a free meal upgrade because I really wanted to risk a longer wait. I took this on the chin, I just wanted to enjoy my meal with my family, and it saved me a few calories anyway.

The food was ok, but lacking in heat but I think the kitchen was struggling. Which leads to my next set of issue..

We ordered brownies with the kids meals. So 5 minutes after finishing mains, the waitress said ‘are you ready for the brownies now?’ Keen to get the experience over with, our response was a resounding ‘YES’. However ‘now’ means at least 30 minutes later. At 20 minutes post-now, I asked if there was any sign of the brownies. Again, the response from the owner/manager was ‘yes, it’s on my list, up next’. At 30 minutes after the kids started showing signs of cabin fever and delirium, she came over and explained that the new chef wasn’t working out as they’d hoped (over share) but she’s sent in the Manager (of making brownies?) to do the brownies as we’d waited so long. So 5 minutes later we got the brownies and the kids snaffled them.

At 1 hour 45 minutes, we escaped and won’t be returning.

Here’s the big concern, we were parked next to the serving hatch where the fiasco was all emanating… so we’d informed the Owner/manager at point of ordering that our son has a peanut allergy. Here’s how they deal with this, the food gets served by the kitchen, the owner/manager shouts ‘I need one of those allergy flags’ (a cocktail stick with an orange piece of paper attached) which is then inserted in the food. I have little or no doubt the allergy food was treated any differently or handled with exception to any other foods in that kitchen. This will obviously also be passed on to food standards for them to investigate.

This place won’t last long. It’s a shambles and such a shame. My suggestion is that the owner/manager takes a good look at herself before parking blame at everyone...

Don’t waste your time or money. You couldn’t pay us to eat here again. Quite honestly the worst place we’ve ever eaten. We came and ordered our food at the bar at 1850hrs. The staff looked miserable but we move. We ordered 2 burgers and 2 desserts. We waited 15 minutes for our drinks to arrive. Then, 35 minutes after ordering our food, one dessert was brought to our table. The waitress didn’t have a clue we hadn’t had our main yet, so took the dessert back and assured us our food wouldn’t be long. Then, another 20 minutes later, out came one burger and one salad. Again, we told her that wasn’t what we ordered and we were now starving having waited almost an hour for our food. We had to ask for the burger to be kept warm whilst the correct order was made (she expected one of us to eat and the other to wait?!). We waited.. and waited. The table next to us, with a heavily pregnant person sat at, got their desserts, before their mains too. It now became a laugh between our 2 tables at how poor the service was. A waiter was very apologetic and we told him to just bring our mains and desserts out together when ready as we were going to be late for our film.

Eventually, our food came. It was mediocre at best. No desserts came (we thought we were being pranked at this point). My partner had to go in and ask for our desserts and brought them out himself. The churros weren’t even cooked (see pictured) and we couldn’t finish them.

The waiters blamed the website for getting the orders wrong however was stumped when we told them we ordered inside.. then it became the kitchen staffs fault..

We were fully refunded however it won’t repay the time we lost sat waiting and waiting at this “restaurant”. The staff don’t wear a uniform or any kind of badge or simply anything to show they are staff so you just have to sit and watch who cleans a table in order to know who to ask for help. One waitress was wearing booth shorts and one lad looked as though he was off on a night out..

The poor table next to us waited even longer for their food, I dread to think how that poor pregnant person felt. We all agreed we wouldn’t be returning and could spread the word to prevent others...

I am a challenge to feed. It would be easier to list what I can eat. The 'no' list includes: gluten, cinnamon, MSG, mustard, mushrooms, red food colouring E127, red kidney beans and quinoa. It's a cruel list; even more cruelly, I must limit the amount of onions and garlic I eat. As such I am every chef's nightmare! "Excuse me, could you feed me anything that doesn't taste like cardboard sprinkled with sadness and the tears of small children?" It's not often my very specific needs can be accommodated. I was fully expecting to have a portion of chips while everyone else in our dining party ate the delicious sounding Louisiana Chicken. Upon ordering, I ended up having to have a conversation with the head chef, Mr. Milton. An amazing man who initially looked horrified when I gave him "the I can't eat list". Then he said "as we are quiet, I can cook you the Louisiana Chicken from scratch, but the chicken would be plain. Are you okay with that?" Yes, yes I was! I had to wait an extra five minutes for my meal, but it was worth it. The chicken was cooked to perfection. Succulent. Juicy. Delicious. The fries had been cooked in an entirely fresh fryer and the coleslaw was made fresh for me too. I thoroughly enjoyed it. Thank you, Mr. Milton. You are a super star.

Not long after we began eating, the place began to fill. Within twenty minutes there were three spare tables!

It is clear this place is popular and I completely understand why.

The waiting staff and bar manager on shift were also really accommodating.

Thank you all of you for being fabulous and helping make my friend's birthday meal, memorable for all the right reasons! 🎉

I'm not sure if will be forgiven for the...