Caffè Concerto Victoria Gate — Restaurant in Leeds

I don’t even know where to start with how bad my experience was at this establishment. From start to finish, it was a total disaster, and I left feeling frustrated, ignored, and downright disrespected.

We sat down and waited over 35 minutes for our food and drinks. Nothing came. The table was completely empty and no one seemed to notice or care. I finally asked a waiter about the hold up, and she casually said it would take another 30 minutes. What?! We’d already been sitting there waiting over half an hour. Her attitude was so nonchalant, it was almost laughable.

Then, things got even worse. A few minutes later, another waiter came over and explained, oh so casually, that someone forgot our order. They then spent another 5–10 minutes trying to figure out who messed up. Turns out, the person who took our order had early onset dementia and couldn’t remember what we ordered. I watched him lie through his teeth. It was so disrespectful. This kind of situation is something management should be handling. Instead, it left us with no answers, no food, no one taking responsibility and still no apologies from anyone.

We were then told by another waiter who also seemed frustrated by the whole fiasco that the food would be ready in 10 minutes. Guess what? It took 20 minutes. By the time it arrived, we had been sitting there for over an hour. Finally, the manager came over and apologised but it felt more like an afterthought than anything sincere.

Now here’s where it gets even more ridiculous. My incentive was to visit for cake, so after all this, I asked for the dessert menu. I did believe that everything that happened, I would just eat my sorrows away with a sweet treat. I asked the manager for the menu. At this point, it had been well over an hour since we sat down, but I still didn’t get the menu. The manager forgot to bring it again. He was busy serving every other customer but us. I got fed up and asked another waiter what on earth was going on. About 10 minutes later, the manager returned to inform us that we couldn’t have any desserts because “they all contained gelatine.” Seriously?

Here’s the kicker: we watched plenty of desserts being served to other Muslim diners. So either the manager didn’t know what he was talking about, or he just didn’t want to bother serving me and then made it about gelatine when he didn’t even know my dietary requirements. Either way, it felt careless and dismissive, like they didn’t care about me as a customer at all.

To sum it up, this was one of the worst dining experiences I’ve ever had. We waited far too long, dealt with staff who couldn’t communicate or take responsibility, and got brushed off at every turn. The lack of professionalism and care was shocking. Sure, the manager apologised at one point, but by then it was far too late to fix the mess.

Honestly, I wouldn’t recommend this place to anyone. The service is appalling, the staff don’t seem to have a clue what’s going on, and the whole experience left a bad taste in my mouth (and not from the food, which I barely got to enjoy after all the stress). Avoid this place unless you want to spend your evening being ignored...

Such a shame!!! I visited twice this week and it is such a shame that the owners have clearly rushed this. It should never have opened without a full team that has been properly trained. I’m actually disgusted that such a big chain with such a big reputation would try to open under staffed, under qualified and under prepared to serve the public here in Leeds. This is not conjecture, I know this from hearing it from team members and my 35 years in the hospitality sector myself.

I have visited caffe concerto numerous times on my trips to London and was thrilled when it was announced we would be getting one in Leeds. Much to my disappointment though the London team that opened our Yorkshire branch were cold, lifeless and seemed like they couldn’t wait to leave.

Poor Mike, the new general manager has his work cut out but, along with a few team members like Mimi, Sakina and Asmita, there is some light in these otherwise dreary experiences of our new caffe concerto in the north.

My visits this week were marred by the obnoxious Sito and his attitude and need to be seen as the “top dog”. I witnessed Mike mentoring the staff and really training each individual on how to perform at their best. Such a shame Sito just wanted to be the loudest person in the room and dress down other team members in earshot of all customers and make it known to the world he was on the management team. He may be a good supervisor or assistant manager in London but we as customers don’t need to know this. This man seriously needs to learn hospitality skills and how the customer experience works.

We witnessed him and his other London manager Hadka, who also liked to be the loudest person in the room (maybe it’s a London thing???) just sitting in the middle of the restaurant eating and drinking whilst the whole operation fell apart. Mike had jumped on the bar to speed up the pathetically slow service and was seen taking drinks to tables, appeasing guests and training his team to do their best whilst these two just sat their watching the whole team struggling. Mike did go over two or three times I presume to ask for help which was met with eye rolls and “huffs and puffs”.

Both visits were below par and we are not sure we will return.

Food was atrocious, service was average at best (although the ladies were lovely and the new manager Mike was clearly trying his hardest and making the only positive impact on this place), the team looked like they were slaves in a sweatshop when little Sito was trying to bully them and they seemed more concerned with the cake display in the window for passing trade than actually looking after the customers inside!

Our complaints (on both occasions) were handled pretty well by Mike and a discount given on our final EXTORTIONATE bill. Mike could have, and should have done more however as parting with over £120 in 2 really poor visits is just not good enough! Do better guys, much better!

Close the doors, train the team and open when you are ready. You seriously can not expect people to pay these prices when you are not operating correctly. It is insulting to...

Terrible first (and last) experience for me and my friend. My first impression was a box, sat on the floor right at the entrance (where people are queuing) with cakes inside. Not sure that is the best place to leave them! The staff led us to a table that was not clean. So we stood and waiting until they cleaned it. Not a big deal. I ordered a coffee from the menu. After a few minutes the waiter came to say that they didn't serve the coffee I had ordered from the menu. Confused, I showed it to him and he went to talk to another member of the staff. More time passed and a different person came to say they didn't serve that coffee. I pointed it out again and this person went to talk with someone else. After a few more minutes a third person brought a coffee that I didn't order. I explained it was not the coffee I ordered. So I waited more for the coffee I initially ordered to arrive. Finally it did arrive. Full knowledge of the menu is essential for a staff member, let alone 3 different people. Anyway... Now time for the food. I ordered pistachio gnocchi. After a while someone came to explain that they didn't have that one so I chose another option. More minutes passed and another person came to say they also didn't have that option, so I chose a third option (which I didn't really want). When the meal finally arrived and started to eat it I realized that they brought the wrong dish. I had ordered vegetarian ravioli and the pasta I was eating was filled with lobster. I told the waitress and after yet more minutes I had the dish I ordered. At this point we were not in the mood to try to order any cake so we decided to ask for the bill. We had another "nice" surprise when we realized that they included a coffee that we never ordered. So another few minutes to resolve that. When we paid we realized that the price includes a 12.5 % extra charge for the service. Well, it would have been nice to give me the chance to decide if I wanted to pay that for the really bad service, that was a disaster from the beginning. Plus we wasted the afternoon as we arrived before 3 pm and we finished a coffee and a plate of (fairly mediocre) ravioli after 5 pm. By the way it is very expensive for the absolutely average we received (£52.65 for two coffees and two plates of pasta). We finished our interesting experience speaking to the manager just before we left and after paying. Not to complain, just for them to know about the experience we had as we considered it would be good for them to improve. He gave me a card with a 15% discount for my next visit. Well, I appreciate it but unfortunately I won't be...