Arte Pizza Restaurant — Restaurant in London

Money is clearly more important for Arte than good customer service.

We had an extremely disappointing experience with Arte in Enfield. I booked a table for my family of 4 for the same day 6pm. My young son became unwell with a stomach bug that afternoon, so I regrettably called Arte to cancel our booking. I was informed ‘as per the T&Cs when booking on OpenTable’ that I would be charged £10 PER PERSON (i.e. £40) if we didn’t turn up. However as my son felt more and more unwell - I stayed at home with him and my partner took our young daughter to the restaurant to avoid being ‘fined’ £40.

Arriving at the (largely empty) restaurant, my partner explained our situation to the staff. He and our daughter would order food for themselves, as well as a takeaway for me and our son back at home, so that the restaurant would not be losing out. They had a table for 2 (rather than 4), stayed for hour (reasonable length of time to eat with kids) and left having paid £48 in the end.

BUT... we discovered we had still been charged the additional £20 for me and my son not attending! We called the manager to say: not only did we attend our booking, spare the other diners catching my son’s stomach bug, order for the 2 family members there AND 2 family members not there, pay over £40, free up the table for walk-ins for 4 people AND spend the same as we would've if we'd all attended, but were told it was in the terms and Arte had right to take the money!

The excuse given was that we had taken potential bookings from others diners. We explained that if all 4 of the family had attended, we would have bought same dishes and stayed for same length of time (1hr). The only difference being that Arte now had additional seats and we saved other customers from being exposed to our sick child - no fun for anyone.

Financially, Arte got what they would have if we all turned up. The only difference we freed up seating. The manager refused to accept this. We thought out of good customer service (if nothing else) they might agree not to take advantage of the fine print of £10 per person for cancellations (we didn’t cancel) and double up on the profit they made from our unfortunate circumstance. Other than being opportunistic, there was no justification in their decision with all other reasoning being flawed.

We asked to speak to the owner, and were told “We’re family business, the owners are my parents and I’m the manager so if you want to make a complaint feel free, you won’t get anywhere” - lovely.

This experience is such a shame as one of our first attempts at an evening family meal, hoping to become local regulars at Arte… but after such poor customer service and ethics, we will certainly not be returning. We did what we thought was the fair thing to do. Arte saw opportunity to make extra...

I wrote a 5 star review of this place about 6 years ago, but not now. Fed up with having to coach waitress(es) about what's needed for the table, particularly when it's not at all busy. No wine coolers offered up even after 2 bottles of white were put on the table, etc, etc. Prices gone up ridiculously. To be fair, most restaurants have after covid, but this place has really over indulged itself. £6.90 for a small bottle of beer? Food still very good, but when considering all round value for money, it's not good at all. I walk out from there wound up. That's not what it's all supposed to be about, is it?? I don't write this review after a one off experience, but after a few very similar ones. Won't be going again, and this is something I rarely say about any restaurant. It was originally great when first opened, but since COVID the painful service and inflation busting prices make it a poor option. Would rather spend my time and money elsewhere.

Dear Arte Pizza Family, in reply to your response.

I fully take your point re. the craft beers, and to be fair to you there are other options available.

You seem to be positioning your restaurant at the upper-mid sector of the local market, with your reasoning being you won't cut corners. This is certainly admirable. However, it is not my job to monitor your staff and then complain. As I said previously, this is not a one off experience, so either the waitresses are not being trained properly or have trouble understanding what's required. Either way, to warrant where you position yourself, this issue should really be addressed, particularly when 12.5% is automatically added to the bill as service charge.

You mention ‘respect’. This is a two way ideal, and I find it quite disrespectful to customers that the management team offers up a waitress, who despite being extremely polite and personable, is obviously lacking certain skills.

You also mention sadness at my comments. I never expect ‘bargain’ prices anywhere I eat, and have previously been so pleased to be able to enjoy a family business like Arte Pizza. However, from my more recent visits, the management team really needs to be more considerate of the overall customer experience, or it will start to feel not too dissimilar to that of a restaurant chain. Personally, that's something I...

I rarely leave reviews for food I have ordered, but this experience deserves one.

I ordered two pizzas from Arte for my birthday as it was a special occasion, and what I received was not just disappointing — it was shocking and downright insulting. One pizza arrived looking like it had been dropped, folded, and stuffed back into the box like an afterthought. The toppings had slid completely off one side, leaving half of it bare and the rest an inedible mess of cheese and sauce.

The second pizza wasn’t any better — it was crushed and misshapen, clearly mishandled, and looked like it had been delivered after a car crash in a Formula One car. I’ve genuinely never seen such a careless presentation of food from any restaurant I've ordered from previously , let alone one that charges a significant price for this standard. For reference it is on average £40 for two pizzas!

What makes this worse is that this was meant to be a birthday treat with my family. Instead, I ended up embarrassed in front of my wife and guests and had to scramble to find something for us to eat before the night was out.

The restaurant have always avoided taking full responsibility for how their food arrives to the customer by blaming Just Eat, Deliveroo and Uber eats for their pizzas being cold, late or worse destroyed — just two boxes of disaster. For the price I paid, this is completely unacceptable.

No offer of an urgent replacement, even after the staff saw the pictures of my food. Was just told to take it up with Just Eat, when we know that for a refund to be processed you have to go through a full claim. It leaves a sour taste after showing such loyalty to the restaurant. I honestly want to love this restaurant and have given them numerous chances hoping things will be different but I can not justify ordering from here again, as the likely-hood your food will be cold, late or damaged are far...