Al Forno Restaurant — Restaurant in London

Really really disappointed as I've been to Al Forno many of times and often recommend to friends and family which I'll certainly no longer be doing.

Having chosen Al Forno to meet with 3 friends, we were welcomed and shown to our table. Understandably the restaurant was busy, however we weren't seen too for 20+ minutes and our drinks came almost another 20 minutes after ordering. We asked for table water 2-3 times and with the weather being 34+ degrees we were all gasping for a drink having walked 30+ minutes to the restaurant.

The service was extremely slow all evening and while we gave the staff the benefit of the doubt as they were clearly under staffed and under a lot of pressure, we did ask for the service charge to be removed as we weren't satisfied. The wait times weren't the only issue, more just that it was extremely disorganised and almost all of the staff members were working across all of the tables, meaning there wasn't a designated waiter which meant we were often forgotten about despite asking to order on multiple occasions.

The waiter took our request to remove the service charge EXTREMELY personally and began to get very aggressive and angry towards us. Rather than understanding our point and trying to help rectify the situation, he continued to cause a huge scene in the restaurant, unnecessarily raising his voice and causing huge embarrassment to our group, telling us we have obviously not worked in the Service industry (when in fact 2 out of us had). We did not rise to his level and we stayed calm and refused to raise our voices to add further tension and attention to the situation.

After ordering ice cream to be taken away before this hostility, we were childishly told that he would not serve us ice cream and we were asked to leave because we asked for the service charge to be removed. The charge for the ice creams however were kept on the bill, and with the fluster of the situation we paid regardless to try and get out as soon as possible.

We then returned having noticed the mistake and asked for a refund, only to be offered £7 for four ice double scoops of ice cream as this was apparently 50% of the bill (although obviously not the case as we had already spent our allowance of our Eat Out to Help Out on starters, mains and drinks).

The situation was not only embarrassing as previously mentioned, but also stressful and one of the group was so taken aback by the sheer audacity and unprofessionalism of the staff member in discussion, that they went straight home despite having not seen eachother for a long period over lockdown and having plans to continue the evening.

As said before, I'd often recommend to friends as the food is great, but this particular situation has really soured my feelings towards Al Forno and I'd certainly not be interested in returning after the way that we were treated. Having looked back at the situation, I would have certainly asked to speak to the manager or owner as it was truly disgusting the way that we were treated...

Used to be one of my recommended places but a recent experience has put me off. CHECK BILL BEFORE PAYING and DO NOT ORDER DISHES FOR CHILDREN. Here, half the portion doesn't mean half the price.

My daughter is very basic when it comes to food so we asked for plain pasta with literally nothing on it (so literally boiled pasta). They provided about a knuckle size amount of plain pasta in small bowl. The bill comes and is slightly steep. Without being given any time to look we were presented with card reader and receipt kept to one side. This was paid and on inspection noticed they charged £10, Yes £10 for a Knuckle size amount of plain pasta. This is without even adding the compulsory service charge. When questioned with manager they said this was normal although they should have knocked £2 for not having sauce. A bit late after they have already charged you. Also ordered a penne Arrabiata for my other daughter. Menu says £9.50 yet given half a proton and charged £10.

I looked at the bill and the service charge is not clear. I wanted the choice not to pay the service charge since they got the order completely wrong which meant half the table got food after others had nearly finished. Overall, on looking at the bill, clearly overcharged. No apology or goodbye on leaving.

My daughter didn't like the penne pasta but seeing as they charged us a full amount for such a small portion, i asked to take it away. Unfortunately they didn't package it properly and it leaked through the paper bag. This paper bag was placed in a plastic bag with my daughters coat which is now very greasy.

Also, for those interested, they don't offer emergency services discount or blue light card discount. Al Forno's also advertise themselves on Keep it Kingston app which is a scheme for local workers where they offer discount to these workers. This place does not offer this discount yet they advertise themselves on it. They should remove themselves from this website since it's false advertising.

Otherwise, I cannot fault the quality of food but let...

First time trying this place out. In the door way was 2 people smoking, which was a little off putting as the last thing you want is to dine within feet of that.

Fortunately we were seated inside at the far back. We ordered our food, the lasagna and a carbonara, the food arrived within a few minutes (less than 5) - a bit shocking that we actually thought it was someone elses order.

As we began eating, the lasagna had an of taste that made my partner state it tasted very much like a supermarket "easy meal" (premade frozen meal) that she used to eat many years ago. So we had it sent back to the kitchen as we weren't willing to pay £10.50 for such a meal. Telling the waitress we believe it's a premade meal and isn't home made at all, which she claims it is indeed homemade.

The carbonara we ended up sharing, which didn't have the best of tastes either, lack of sauces, very oily, and just disappointing food.

We asked for the bill and told the female member of staff we weren't happy with the food, and would like to speak to the manager.

5 or so minutes later, we spoke to the manager, who told us the food is homemade, unfortunately she can't take us into the kitchen to prove it (fair enough). Then she continued talking, saying she has removed the cost of the lasagna and we can pay for the carbonara. We questioned how fresh the food was. Because the carbonara was also bad.

She said I believe it is fresh, the next time you come in, I will ask the chef to see if it's actually fresh. Which made us believe we were right with it being reheated/premade easy meals.

We ended up refusing to pay the bill and we...