Pierluigi's — Restaurant in London

I have visited this restaurant twice - once for my mother-in-law's 65th birthday (4 years ago), and then again for an evening out with some friends at the end of last year. My initial visit to the restaurant in November 2015 was unremarkable - the Italian food was of decent quality, and the restaurant wasn't too busy, but the overall experience was not distinctive or especially memorable.

More than 3 years later, I returned for a girls' night out (7 December 2018). It was a Friday night in December so I expected it to be busy, but I was not prepared for the difference in experience. As I approached the restaurant, there was a fight between 4 people going on outside the restaurant, which was serious enough that I called 999. Not the best start to the evening, but not the restaurant's fault.

Once inside, I was surprised to see so many tables tightly packed into the restaurant, and it was pretty noisy. But again I dismissed this, assuming that my experience would be similar to the meal from 3 years prior. But things could not have been more different, and the meal became memorable for all the wrong reasons. To start with, I had ordered a large glass of white wine, but shortly afterwards the waiter knocked it all over my dress, coat and handbag. There was no apology, and a replacement glass of wine was not forthcoming. I took myself off to the toilet to dry off, and on my return there was still no apology or explanation. I then had to ask for a new glass of wine from the waiter as there was no replacement offered.

Later, when ordering for the main course, one of my friends who only eats vegan food asked the waiter for some suggestions for what she could eat, as there were no vegan options clearly marked on the menu. Ultimately she requested a vegan pasta dish that she wanted the chef to make for her. When the waiter brought out the dish to her, it was different to what she had asked for, and he abruptly said, 'The chef thinks this is better for you' before putting her plate down and walking away. I was shocked that any waiter would say this to any customer and deem it an acceptable thing to say. My friend shrugged it off, saying that she has come to expect this from restaurants who either don't care about vegan customers or are simply too lazy to accommodate specific dietary requests.

At the end of the meal, the bill arrived with the usual service charge added. Given the poor experience, I told the waiter we would not be paying the service charge. He duly sent over his manager, who understood why we were annoyed and waived the charge. He also offered to pay the dry cleaning charge for my clothing. It is a shame that this wasn't suggested at the time I was drenched in wine, as it would have felt more genuine.

Overall my second experience at this restaurant will be my last. Friday night or not, Christmas season or not, I simply cannot excuse such poor attitudes from waiting staff. The food and atmosphere is average, and certainly not good enough to tempt me back. My advice would be to try elsewhere - there are better restaurants in this area, with genuinely good service and better food. I definitely won't...

Wow - what a disgrace. I see they have moved my original review of their restaurant to a 'Pierluigi' restaurant in Italy. Well here is my review again, because everyone should see how unprofessional and underhanded this restaurant is.

ORIGINAL REVIEW:

Most snobbiest, disrespectful wait staff / not worth the price (tourist trap)

This place tries to pass itself off as a nice fine dining Italian restaurant, but they couldn't care less about the service as they are all about trying to take your money.

After already ordering our cocktails, we were asked by 4 other waiters for our drink orders, while it took half an hour for someone to bring us our bill after asking several times.

The appetizers are ok and are fine to be small portioned, but they were extremely stingy with the pasta mains, which were plain and not were worth the expensive prices.

When trying to pay the waiter, he had the nerve to tell us what we should tip by insisting on typing in the tip himself on the card machine!!! Who does that? It's one thing if the restaurant chooses to have service included in the bill, but if they do not then NO you do not tell the customer what amount to tip, and NO you do not just type it in the machine for them. (EDIT: I see they now include service in the bill - this is fine but I suggest you really evaluate their service before agreeing to pay).

I emailed management about this, and they did not care one bit - they just said that the waiter probably forgot to tell us tip is optional when trying to type the tip into the card machine. WHAT??? The status quo is that the customer decides how much to tip (as it is clear that it is not included in the bill, and it is standard that you add tip on the card reader) - so when a waiter rudely tells you how much to tip and tries to type it in for you, this is NOT right.

Absolutely the worst restaurant experience I've ever had. If you want good food and a good experience, you might as well go to any of the other many italian restaurants down the street - because paying more for this restaurant will not get you better food or a better experience....

I visited on a Friday night with 3 friends. The atmosphere in the restaurant was fun, very busy but also a good vibe for a Friday night. The restaurant was buzzing in a great way. The staff were attentive to start with, taking our coats and show us to our table.

Our waiter recommended the specials to start- asparagus cooked in butter with Parmesan and a poached egg and ravioli with burrata. There was nothing special about the specials. The portion sizes were recommended to share, however were not appropriate sizes to share. The asparagus was over boiled and bland, the poached egg was over cooked and I couldn’t taste any Parmesan. The ravioli was bland and dull. I would not recommend the “specials”. Over priced and boring.

Moving onto main, I ordered Cacio e Pepe and it was overpriced, and again, boring. My friends also ordered pasta dishes that were over cooked and over priced. Hugely disappointing.

The wine was also overpriced, the cheapest bottle was £47 and it was nothing special. I also had to top our own wine up after our waiter forgot about us for a while.

The cocktails were my favourite part of the experience. I ordered a Pierluigi Mule and it was great.

The toilets were covered in someone vomit and was left in that way for a while. The Dj was good- however not really the vibe I want to eat my pasta in.

Overall, I felt I was robbed on Friday. We paid nearly £400 for a mediocre meal. It was badly cooked and extremely overpriced. If you’re thinking to go here, I wouldn’t bother. There’s lots of other restaurants on the high street that have great food for a quarter of the price....