Cinquecento — Restaurant in London

Mixed Experience at Cinquecento: Great Pizza, but Disappointing Service

I visited Cinquecento in April, to celebrate my birthday and wanted to share my experience. While the quality of the pizza and the overall ambiance of the place were impressive, certain aspects of the service left me disappointed.

Let's start with the positive aspects. The pizza at Cinquecento was undoubtedly delicious. The flavors were rich, the crust was perfectly crispy, and the toppings were fresh and flavorful. It's evident that the pizzeria takes pride in crafting high-quality pies that are sure to satisfy any pizza lover.

The atmosphere of Cinquecento was also commendable. The restaurant had a pleasant ambiance, with cozy seating arrangements and a welcoming decor. It provided a comfortable setting to enjoy a meal with friends and family.

However, I encountered some issues that affected my overall experience. Firstly, I made the mistake of bringing a cake for my birthday celebration without checking in advance if it was allowed. When I asked the manager if we could enjoy the cake after our pizza, I was informed that it was not possible. While I understand and acknowledge my oversight, I was disappointed by the manager's slightly annoyed response to my request to keep the cake in the freezer.

Furthermore, the manager mentioned that she would make up for the inconvenience by offering a tiramisu with a candle for the birthday celebration. Unfortunately, this promise turned out to be false, as no dessert was ever brought to the table. It was disheartening and felt like a letdown, especially considering it was my special day.

Adding to the disappointment, the restroom facilities were in poor condition. One of my guests experienced a rather uncomfortable situation when they got trapped in the bathroom due to a broken lock. This incident was distressing, and it would be advisable for the pizzeria to address such maintenance issues promptly to ensure the comfort and safety of their patrons.

Moreover, when I kindly asked the manager if she could slice the cake so that we could easily eat it outside, considering the rainy weather, she refused to accommodate the request. This further added to the frustration of not being able to enjoy the cake as planned.

Additionally, I noticed that the overall demeanor of the staff was somewhat rude. This lack of friendliness and warm hospitality diminished the overall dining experience.

In conclusion, Cinquecento offers delicious pizza and a pleasant ambiance, but I was left disappointed by certain aspects of the service. The manager's initial unaccommodating response to my cake request, the failure to deliver the promised birthday dessert, the broken restroom facilities, the refusal to slice the cake for outdoor consumption, and the generally unwelcoming attitude of the staff left a negative impression. I hope the pizzeria takes this feedback constructively to improve their service and ensure that all patrons have a positive experience.

Despite the shortcomings mentioned above, I appreciate the effort put into crafting exceptional pizzas and hope that 500 works on addressing these areas to provide a more enjoyable and customer-focused experience...

I thought I would trial this venue before booking it for a larger group meal.

I'm not sure what to think...the food was good, but there is room for improvement in other areas.

The waitresses seemed nice, but to be honest if I wanted to be served by a teenager with little experience then I would go to a chain restaurant. The menu also seemed to be predominantly pizza, with a few other dishes available.

I was served an open bottle of water upon being seated which, given the automatic service charge of 12.5%, and the fact I was not asked if I wanted any water, gave the impression it was either tap water or complementary. It was only upon seeing the bill that I realised I had in fact been charged for it.

I asked for any recommendations that might go with the dish I ordered (gnocchi), but the waitress said she wasn't sure, and then went and got the manager! In her defence I don't think this was done out of spite, but it did seem a little awkward to get the manager involved when I was simply (and politely) asking whether chicken would go with the dish. An experienced waitress (or waiter) would and should be knowledgeable of such things.

Several minutes after ordering, the waitress came back and informed me that they did not have any black truffle - if they are out of a particular ingredient, I would expect to be informed while being shown to my table, or at the time of ordering. Furthermore, I wouldn't normally mind if an ingredient is unavailable, but truffle is the one ingredient that made the dish £10.00 or so more expensive than the other dishes; I asked whether I could add something else to the dish instead, or whether they could adjust the price accordingly, but the waitress just gave an unclear answer and again didn't seem to know what to do. In this case, I just ordered something else that wasn't my first choice.

The gnocchi I had instead was nice, albeit a little plain, though I then ordered some meatballs which complemented the main course nicely.

During the course of the meal, two gentlemen with a dog were subsequently seated next to me. I was never asked by the waitress (nor by the two men) if I was happy with this - this is not a spacious restaurant, and the dog was physically up against my leg. I like dogs, but there is a time and place for them, and this restaurant certainly wasn’t it; the whole situation just seemed wildly inappropriate, both on the part of the restaurant and the diners with the dog.

Overall, I get the impression this restaurant is masquerading as something it is not. It is really a casual pizza parlour, but its decor and location in a smart neighbourhood amongst Michelin-level restaurants give the impression it is of an equally high calibre, when it is not.

Unless you just want a quick pizza with unexceptional service, I can think of other better Italian restaurants in the area. Which is a shame, as I thought I would...

Good pizza, awful service.

Short version: It took us 3 hours to eat 3 meatballs, 4 pizzas and 4 desserts. It took them almost an hour and a half to get us a table. The order got messed up twice, the dessert was bad and the waitress just got defensive like it was our fault for being picky.

Long version: I went today with three other people. Went in to leave my name and number of diners and patiently waited outside for over an hour even though we were told 15/30 minutes. As we chased the guy at the entrance, he said there had been a mistake as one of the waitresses crossed out my name from their list before she left at the end of her shift. He asked us to wait a further 5 minutes while they sorted this out. No apology to this point. We finally go in and sit down, we place our order and shortly after we get our wine. Time goes by, a table of two next to us pays their bill and other two people sit down, order and get served starters, then mains. We still don’t have our starters at this point. We ask one of the waiters, he goes to ask and after a while the lady who took our order comes back to say that the order never made it to the kitchen so she placed a rush order and our starters should be with us in about 15 more minutes. Again, no apology. Starters arrive, pizza arrives. Food is good. We finish our mains and go ahead and order one tiramisu and three rum baba. We get the tiramisu shortly after. Very good by the way! 15 minutes later, no rum babas in sight. Again the lady who took our order comes around to say that it would be three more minutes for them to arrive. The babas finally arrive and they were really bad. We couldn’t split them open with a spoon, they were cold inside and we could taste they were probably poorly thawed and tasted old and stale. We call the waitress who served us and told her we thought they weren’t good. Her reply was something like “yeah but we are not in Naples, these are not classic Neapolitan babas”. Not sure if she said that because she’s from the north of Italy and heard our accent from the south but anyway I made her notice that on the menu it literally says “rum baba: Neapolitan specialty”. She takes them away. We ask for the bill, we ask to get the service charge removed, pay and leave. Now, mistakes happen, we are all humans here. But it’s unacceptable that there was no apology at any stage during this adventure, but actually all we had were annoyed behaviours like it was all our fault. Not even when we asked to have the service charge removed she asked for feedback or if anything had gone wrong, but she simply went away to get a new bill. We just felt she couldn’t wait for us to leave. Really disappointing experience, which is a shame because the pizza and the tiramisu was good. But in no way this is acceptable customer service, and I’ve never asked to get the service charge removed from my...