Pasta Evangelists - Greenwich — Restaurant in London

Disclaimer: this is for the restaurant dine in, and not the pasta making class it appears they do.

I don’t even know where to start. Our whole experience here was absolutely woeful, subpar and just generally disappointing. If I could give zero stars I would.

First of all, we called earlier in the evening to book a table for 7.15pm to avoid any disappointment had opted to walk in. We arrived on time, yet we had to wait 10minutes plus to be sat because who knows what they had messed up on their side.

We were finally sat, and then as soon as we were sat we were told some of the menu items were not available tonight. We said ok that’s fine it happens. It turns out that it wasn’t some, it was MAJORITY (Food and drinks).

Starting off with drinks, we wanted to order apple juice. We were told there’s no apple juice. We went to order coke, there was no coke. We went to order lemonade, and the waiter explicitly said this was in stock, only to come back 5 mins later and say they did not have this but would give us a complimentary item from the starter menu. We ended up just getting the DIET coke.

Now onto the starters, the waiter brought me Mac and cheese bites, when I explicitly ordered the garlic bread so they had to take it back. We also got some breaded ham and mozzarella which was lukewarm and mediocre. Disappointing and no attention to detail.

Now when it came to ordering our mains, we knew what we wanted, and unfortunately we couldn’t order everything. So we picked from what they said they had. Only for the waiter to come back 5 mins later and say sorry we don’t have the Alfredo, and then showed me what they do have. I kid you not it was like 3 pasta dishes!!! This was a different waiter to the one who took our initial order and I don’t know if he chickened out or what, because he let his colleague deliver the news. Staff need to communicate better with each other or at least have a clue of what’s going on.

I was then forced to pick from pasta dishes I wasn’t particularly in the mood for. Had I known this is all they had, I would not have come here.

Lo and behold, the main course now arrives. WELL, half of the main course. One pasta dish which was mine is the one that came, even though the other dish was ordered well before I had to change orders. 5 mins go by, the other dish still isn’t here, 10 mins go by the other dish still isn’t here. I complain after 15mins and they reassure me it is coming. 20mins, nothing is here, and this was the last straw, as I have nearly finished my food, whilst my partner is just staring at me eating. I go to complain, this time directly to the chefs, and they say it is coming. Finally after 20 or so minutes the food gets here, and it is disappointing. They tried to blame it on a new employee but I am so sorry, blaming this on a new employee is stooping to a low level. Asked for a refund for the dish that came late, and honestly did not finish our food it was subpar.

It was just a collection of catastrophes and I am making sure to single nobody out. Chefs were at fault, waiters were at fault, every single person in that restaurant who was an employee was at fault.

They make you pay before getting your food as well, as it makes disputing service provided and refund requests much harder.

I get a better dine in experience at McDonald’s, quite frankly. Worst dining experience I’ve had in a long time, and they will not be seeing me again. The other pasta evangelist we have been to was great, and a stark difference between that one and this one across the board. Please take tips from Pasta Evangelist Evangelists Chiswick - Georgio in particular, otherwise you will only get more and more...

We are regulars here. However - not sure what happened (perhaps change of management) but the manager is a BULLY!

The food is top knotch which is why we come back a lot. No fault on the flavour, the authenticity and the quality at all.

A few things we noted: They are looking to hire, so we assumed they are short staffed. So we were 100% sympathetic to a slower service. There was only 1 shop floor waitress, again, we expected the service to be slow.

However, after 30-35 min wait for our drinks which was brought out with 1x main course. 5+ mins later our starter was brought out. The 2nd main course (for my partner) came out - wrong. We told the waitress and she went and got this changed. By the time I ate and finished my course (approx 20-25 mins) - 10 mins later (note: no one on shop floor to ask either), my partner got his lunch finally.

The entire order came out in the most bizarre timing. Drinks to come with Main course and then starters as if it’s a dessert is really odd.

I asked for the manager (whom I noticed was pottering around the restaurant picking up a few plates and wiping down some tables but took no initiative to greet guests at doors), immediately blamed the waitress who was clearly still training. I asked WHY she felt it was the waitresses fault that the chef couldn’t figure out that starters should come before mains? And why the chef thought it was appropriate to let dine in customers wait for nearly an hour for what is pre-made food.

She continued to blame the waitress saying shes “new” and “doesn’t know the process”, and exactly to that point - I wondered why the manager didn’t take more initiative herself?

The system is entirely automated. You use the iPad to pick your drinks and dishes and pay via the app.

So in what world is it the waitresses fault that the chef was unable to decifer starter from mains?

I would go as far as say that the waitress is sweet, apologetic and hard working, they are short staffed and she is clearly learning and taking on too many roles. Her only fault (in my opinion) was that she served us drinks after 30-35 mins (it was just a wine)…

The manager is a total bully and pushed all the blame on the new comer which I personally find hard to swallow as a customer. Seeing people get bullied in the workplace ruins the whole atmosphere.

However - still worth going as the food is so delicious! I hope the manager gets more training and most importantly - a moralistic awakening. What...

From the moment my partner and I walked in, we stood at the front stand where a sign asked guests to wait to be seated. We waited for over five minutes, even though there were only about five people dining inside. No one came to greet us. I noticed some staff in the kitchen, and one of them called out to the waitress. Her response was simply, “What?”

Eventually, the waitress came over and, in a noticeably frustrated tone, asked if we had a booking. When we said no, she told us there was probably no space and that she’d have to check with her boss. We asked for a table for four, and her manager immediately came over and seated us at a perfect table in the corner — so clearly, there was space available.

After we sat down, the waitress ignored our table for another 15 minutes, even though she kept glancing in our direction while setting up other tables. We finally had to call out to the manager, who said she’d serve us shortly. When the waitress finally approached, all she said was, “Yep?” — no greeting, no apology.

While ordering, we were told there was no cheese available, which seemed very odd. We placed our food order and asked for a bottle of red wine. When the wine arrived, the waitress simply dropped the uncorked bottle on our table without a word or any service.

Our first two mains arrived about 20 minutes later, followed by the remaining two dishes about five minutes after that. When I asked for Parmesan, the waitress gave me a look of clear irritation before finally bringing some over.

To be fair, the food itself was very good — well-cooked, flavorful, and clearly made to a high standard. Unfortunately, the service completely overshadowed the quality of the meal.

About 20 minutes after finishing, I had to wave to get the bill. When we asked to split it into two, the waitress acted as though it were a major inconvenience, telling us we could only pay by item or have one person pay the full amount to sort it out later. In the end, we had to pay item by item, with one person covering the shared bottle of wine.

Overall, while the food was good, the experience was completely undermined by what was easily some of the worst service I’ve ever...