Gino D'Acampo Restaurant Leeds — Restaurant in Leeds

Terrible Birthday Experience! My husband booked a table as we’d booked to stay in the hotel for my 30th and I adore Gino!

Table was booked for 7.30pm, we arrived a little earlier 7.20 and lovely young women showed us to our seat.

We was handed a menu, and offered a drink - fabulous! We decided to push the boat out with it being my 30th but was a little unsure about one or two things on the sharer starter and we was looking at the £30 one - I asked our waiter if it was cheese, he looked at me and said no bread - before I could ask anything else he walked off.

So we decided to stay safe and stick to what we knew.. I had the soup and husband had a prawn in a spicy mayo.

We waited a fair while for our starters - and was disappointed that in order for us to get a drink we had to flag down someone else to get our waiters attention to order!

The starters came out - and we was amazed - absolutely fantastic; we even said the wait was worth it!

8.50 we was still waiting for our mains - and lots of people around us were getting food when they had no so long arrive - I managed to find our waiter and I asked him how long he said 2/3 minutes.

In the end I decided to speak to the young lady that seated us and said look I’m unsure if we’ve been forgotten about - it completely fine if we have, we will just have the bill for what we’ve had and go else where.

She explained she’d come back to me.

The waiter eventually brought us our food and rather than being a tray like everyone else got - we got our food in drips and drabs …

First my Lasagne and fries Couple minutes later garlic bread Couple minutes later pizza

He walks off … I then looked at my husband in shock, as he didn’t offer any parmasam or anything - then I noticed my husband had nothing to cut his pizza with - we had to ask a different waiter to bring something.

My husband pizza was inedible - to the point he left it - soggy, cold and under cooked.

My lasagne was not impressive - bland.

Chips and garlic bread was ok … can’t really get them wrong!

We couldn’t work out if they had either left the food out was forgotten and poorly reheated … or if they just forgotten us and just rushed the order …

The waiter came back , to take the plates - my husband had said the pizza was the worst he’d ever seen! The waiter ignored and just brought our bill (no offer of dessert).

By the point my husband was not happy , at how we’d been treated from the start, poor service and food - but I’d said let’s just leave it - with it been a special birthday we will just not return again - and take it as a bad experience.

Upon getting the bill - I notice a service charge , I immediately say to the waiter - excuse me what is this! He said it is optional , I explained to him had I had better service from him, better customer service and the food Had been edible then I would have left the service charge plus an additional tip for yourself, but as it been a terrible experience I would like the service charge removing!

At this point I didn’t want to deal with the gentleman no more, so I went back to the lady who originally seated us - advised I didn’t want to deal nor speak to our waiter any more as he was rude, the lady asked me to explain from start to end and was most apologetic as she knew this was for my 30th - she then asked if we got the glass of fizz, now I don’t know if this is something that is given as a gesture for birthday or if this is something the young women arranged as an apology for the delay in the mains, as the waiter came out to say he had taken the service charge and the pizza off the menu, which he then passed over the card machine - at the point I don’t even know if he did as I didn’t look at the receipt I just wanted to go back up to our room!

It really spoilt our evening and my birthday - my husband ended up walking across the road to the McDonald’s as left hungry. (Was slightly amusing seeing my husband walking thru the restaurant a McDonald’s to take up to our room - this was the only time we really laughed about the...

we dined on 14/10/2023 for my birthday

no one acknowledged my birthday upon arrival or seating. we had a waiter bring over a drink for me, and my friend mentioned my birthday saying 'for the birthday girl' and the waiter said happy birthday which was appreciated and kind of him, but after this, nothing else was made of my special occasion which i found disappointing. even if they were not aware of it beforehand, (though i detailed it in my booking), that server now was, so i feel it could have been communicated amongst the servers. why do they ask what the ocassion is on the website if they do not do anything?

we never actually had a specific server for the entire evening. this meant we constantly had to call for people's attention and our main 'waiter' was actually the male host at the door, he was also micromanaging other tables alongside the door - spread thin across jobs? short-staffed?

because of the lack of attention, we spent around 3 hours in the restaurant, from arriving to paying the bill. whilst i appreciate the fact we weren't on a time limit / rushed. this just signifies how long it takes to get their attention.

we ordered the antipasti sharing starter - this was our preferred dish over the mains, you got a good selection of cured meats and the bread was fresh. however, i have a nut allergy and i read through what was included within the sharing board and proceeded with caution. the restaurant were aware of my allergy, as i stated this when ordering, however when it arrived it was just placed on the table. i feel for that extra care they could have explained what each thing was on the platter, or at the very least the dips. my friends tried before me and explained what things were, rather than the server. (it is served with pesto which has pine nuts, and ricotta has pistachio's on top) it's not always as obvious knowing what things are, even if you've read them on a menu.

we had to call the attention of the male host to say we were ready for our mains, and then they took a while to arrive

when our mains arrived, i felt my portion size was extremely small. my friend asked for extra chilli in her pasta, and they did not do this my boyfriend felt his seafood was undercooked and overall the pasta dishes were quite bland.

for what they are charging at the very least i'd expect a personalised and friendly server but we did not receive this i left feeling disappointed on what was meant to be a luxury treat out.

one positive: the espresso martini...

The most exquisite evening. Earlier in the day my partner and I had got engaged, so this was a celebratory dinner. We opted for the 3-course set menu, which had a lovely range. The complimentary alcoholic drinks are a lovely touch and our waiter was very accommodating when my fiancé asked if she could substitute it for something non-alcoholic as she was pregnant. Dimitri, our waiter was so lovely and congratulated us both on our recent engagement and our pregnancy.

The food was to die for. Proper Italian food done well. I have eaten so much 'Italian food' from other places and it never seems to hit the mark. This however, most certainly did. Authentic in taste and appearance. From the starter to dessert, every mouthful hit the spot! They also left quite a nice period of time between each course. Enough time to digest, talk and look forward to what was to come. We didn't feel rushed and it was nice to actually spend a nice amount of time out. We were there nearly 2 hours, though it really didn't feel like it.

Dimitri, our server, was absolutely class! His Italian passion shone through and he was charismatic, charming and just all round helpful. As previously mentioned, he was so excited and complimentary of both our engagemnt and our pregnancy, which made the whole experience so much more special. He even came over and made my partner a rose out of tissue. And I'll tell you, it looked bloody good!! Dimitri is an absolute assett to Gino's brand. Every restaurant needs a Dimitri.

The lady, I didn't catch her name, who welcomed us when we arrived was equally as lovely. She set the standard high, which everyone else who interacted with us continued.

Finally... the biggest thank you to the gentleman, who I believe was the General Manager, who heard about our engagement and came over in the most charming, friendly and Italian way he could have. From the kindest complimentary drinks, to him pulling up a chair and showing a genuine interest in our engagemnt, other news and us as a couple. I have never received service quite like this and both of us will remember this fondly. Grazzi amico for the extra touch.

From both of us, thank you for one of the most memorable meals we've ever had and some of...