Amaretto Ristorante Pizzeria Golders Green — Restaurant in London

In principle, I would give this restaurant five stars for food, friendliness and atmosphere. Pity then that my meal with a friend was totally ruined by a group of four or five youngish men sitting at the back, from Eastern Europe, who started yelling at each other across the table. Nothing aggressive - just ear-splittingly loud shouting to each other in some guttural language or other, with peals of very loud laughter. It got so bad that my friend and I literally could not hear each other speaking and had to leave.

I called over a young man whom I thought was the manager, a very pleasant gentleman, and asked him to ask them to keep the noise down. He sighed and said 'I have already asked them twice'. I suggested that they be asked to pay and leave, as they were annoying not only us but other diners too. He was very apologetic but said that he could not do so as he was not the manager. I asked him if they were regulars and he said 'Yes, but they normally come at lunch time'.

If you don't care about ear-splitting noise from over-boisterous diners, then I'd recommend Amaretto, but if having a conversation with friends is what you want, then Golders Green offers plenty of alternatives and if you don't mind going a bit further afield, avoid this branch and go to Amaretto in Edgware, where I have had plenty of pleasant lunches without such 'regulars' turning up and ruining the event.

I doubt that the management will be concerned about this, and I don't blame them - five people, however anti-social - mean good business and why turn them away for...

We'd been meaning to try this place for years and finally gave it a go, probably not the best choice we could have made.

On arrival for supper, only half of the lights were on - possibly, in an attempt to hide the ageing decor that had seen far better days - and having been shown to a table we were provided with 'battered' menus that could do with replacing, although the offerings were comprehensive.

Don't get me wrong, the food was alright, certainly nothing special, but the accompanying salad 'garnish' was obviously not fresh and withered lettuce is really not attractive, but service levels were our main issue, as with only two servers, kitchen staff were even delivering food and the restaurant wasn't even that busy, (maybe half-full at best).

As mentioned, food was OK, presentation was lacking, but the dark and dismal atmosphere, linked with very poor service, will probably see us choosing not to return, which is a shame, as their location is great, the menu is expansive and the potential's there, but clearly, the desire by the owner/manager to 'up their game' needs to happen before improvements can be made and with so much other choice available, we'll likely not risk...

Went today late morning and had breakfast, the food was pretty good. The reason I only put three stars was the service, the waitress was so miserable not once did she smile and quite honestly was borderline rude. She was in no hurry to do anything and it wasn't busy only four tables used. The guy out back cooking came out and was so different and cheerful. I always tip between 10-20% of the bill but today I gave nothing, that made me feel bad but she really did not deserve it. Someone needs to explain that she would make loads in tips if she was friendly and smiled.

I returned a few weeks later and have to say that to start I thought that the service was going to be the same. But it had clearly changed, the same waitress didn't smile or make conversation to start with but by end of the visit she was smiling and was friendly. The guy was very friendly and food was amazing love the breakfast and will definitely eat...