Al Forno Wimbledon — Restaurant in London

I had a miserable experience. It was a reunion between myself, my daughter (over a year apart) and my good friend (over 5 years aways from each other) so we expect to have a nice dinner where we can find in many other place but I prefer to have Italian and my friend who lives in Wimbledon recommended this place.

We have booked the table, and when we arrived, the reaction of the staff at the reception show that there was no table planned / booked for us because she kept looking around and then direct us to the table right in front of the beverage service counter while there are more plenty of tables available. I was the one who told her that we wanted new table since we can not eat and chat in front of the service beverage counter.

By that time, the one table near the entrance was taken with one lady who later we found out that she is one of the restaurant team because at some point she move to another table and give the table to the guests which were not us.

Then, the staff throw us to the table in front of the pizza owen service counter while I saw again lots of table behind me in the room were available and i asked if we could take any while she seemed not even to listen to us and she just left us at the table and go back to greet another guests and taking them to the table and wait for them to sit. And all the guests that I have mentioned here, they are not Asian.

Finally, we took the table in front of Pizza Owen.

The staff was so rush (less than 5 mins) to get the order and we haven't not even finish observe the menu.

More surprise when the staff taking our plate after we only finished our appetizer and some fried that i saved to have it with my main course. Then i asked one man who I observed that he is one of the restaurant management since he didn't wear the uniform and he sit to enjoy food with the lady who i have mentioned at the beginning. I told him how come the staffs taking all without asking. Then we have the new plate and main course later.

The only person who saved our night was Camilla who finally take care our table while there are different staffs taking care of us and we needed to start all over to tell them what we wanted / what we ordered / how we wanted .. Camilla who is helpful.

And not only me to experience this service but my daughter even asked me if they were not willing to service Asian? We saw mostly Asian coming in always been taking to the bad table spot. And i agreed with my daughter since we have been treated that way too.

The food is just at at normal not an extraordinary till we needed to accept and enjoy this miserable service.

We had no choice, we made mistake to choose this restaurant so we must enjoy the accompany and focus on our memorable conversation rather than other negatives service vibe of the restaurant.

The only thing we can do is not coming back here and also other branched while not recommend to any of our friends and family.

Let's spend time and money where we deserve a...

Very attractive restaurant, beautiful balcony level upstairs, atmospheric lighting and ambience but this is slightly ruined by music being piped in that is way too loud and not really appropriate for the setting (very dancy). Due to the size of the venue and music this means the level of noise, as people try to talk over the music and eachother, gets uncomfortable. The menu looks amazing but when actually served isn't as flavoursome or as interesting as you would think. It also wasn't particularly well presented on the plate. That said it was pleasant enough but I left thinking I could have cooked something more interesting and tasty as home. The front of house gentleman that greeted us upon arrival wasn't very friendly or welcoming but all other staff were very pleasant, efficient, helpful and seemed good at their job. When we left there was a lady downstairs who seemed to be front of house at that point who was beautifullly smiley and friendly and thanked us for our custom so mostly staff were great and maybe the other person was having an off day, but if not, that is something that needs addressing as a warm welcome sets the tone. All in all it's a good place to pop into for dinner but for me it wouldn't be somewhere I'd go to for a special occasion. Oh and talking of special occasions, at one point during our visit it was another diners birthday and they played "Happy Birthday" over the speakers at a deafening volume - it was really blaring. This sort of thing makes you feel like you are either in a holiday camp or children's ball pit play area and isn't conducive to a relaxing evening - so it's unlikely I'll return. All in all I think this restaurant is beautiful on the eye (in a rustic way) but is maybe too big to feel calm and in my opinion has a few issues it could correct to improve things. If you like more noise and maybe if you are visiting with children, it's likely more suitable for you. Oh something else - if you order fish it isn't filleted but the menu doesn't say so - so if that's something that bothers you, please...

We had eaten here before & it was ok, so we thought we would try it again. We have been to Italy twice (Roma & Lake Garda) & this restaurant looks quite authentic. We hadnt booked but we were very early, and the restaurant was almost empty. I was a bit annoyed as they offered us a table for 2 for just 1.5hrs, which after ordering would have been a rush. So we complained & they moved us upstairs where we could stay for 2 hrs. We were hungry, so we thought we would do the full 3 course - unusual for us, often its just a main meal, I wish we had stuck to that. We ordered a bottle of house red, Shiraz, which was quite nice. Then we had calamari to share as a starter, it was like old elastic bands - I was still chewing it when the main arrived. We had eaten pizza at home the day before so we wanted something else. I had pasta arrabiata, which didnt have any chilli heat. My partner had Linguine alle Vonglio, as she likes seafood. The prawns still had the shells on (not what you expect with pasta), and were really tough. The clams were nice though. Then we had desserts. I had Tiramisu, which was ok, but definitely alcohol free (should have some). My partner had profiteroles as she likes chantilly cream. Well they looked disgusting, so bad that I offered her to share my tiramisu. The filling wasnt white, but a horrible yellow colour, that looked the cream was old, had split or they were filled with mustard coloured custard. Well when we left, which was less than 2 hrs, the upstairs was more empty than full, as was downstairs. Two things I thought were inexcusable was the waiter was rude & abrupt, and they had a widescreen TV on upstairs with the football on. We didnt go out to watch the TV, we can do that at home. All in all, we wont be returning here as we have had MUCH better meals in Prezzo, Zizzi & Pizza Express. One star is generous, very...