Ristorante Frescobaldi — Restaurant in London

Disappointing experience while dining at the restaurant. We visited on a Friday, and the hostess greeted us warmly and made us feel welcome. This initially gave us hope for a positive experience ahead. However, certain aspects of our time there left much to be desired.

The menus were handed to us quite late, which we didn't mind. Despite the restaurant not being overly busy, there were delays in serving our drinks. We sensed that our waiter might be new, but at that point, it didn't bother us.

For starters, we ordered vitello tonnato (which was nice) and prawn carpaccio (unfortunately, very disappointing). Strangely, the carpaccio dish arrived warm, which was odd for us. Coming from Puglia, Italia, where this dish is a staple, I'm accustomed to it being served cold. The warmth robbed the dish of its usual flavours, and considering the higher price tag, this was a letdown. We did voice our concerns to the suspected new waiter, but we didn't dwell on it.

The plates took an unusually long time to clear, and once again, we brushed it off. However, the main courses faced delays as well, pushing our patience to its limit. I opted to ask the waiter for updates. The manager intervened, assuring us our meals would be ready in four minutes – a promise that went unfulfilled as we continued to wait. Meanwhile, the restaurant began to fill up.

In short, we eventually received our mains and decided to cut our losses. What truly bothered me was the manager's lackluster apology, blaming the restaurant's busyness and overwhelmed kitchen. As someone who has worked in a five-star hotel restaurant in Knightsbridge, managing a high volume of customers, I understand the importance of communication between the front and back of house to ensure seamless service. Thus, the manager's excuse fell flat, especially since I had photographic evidence of my starter and main, taken an hour apart.

We opted not to pay the service charge, prompting the manager to question, "You didn't like the service?". Back in my day in hospitality, when customers contested the service charge, we involved managers to address their concerns and gather feedback to ensure satisfaction. Regrettably, the manager in this case failed to meet that standard, opting instead for excuses.

Considering the restaurant's location and pricing, we held higher expectations. Despite our disappointment, we maintained our politeness until the end. The one person who stood out was the hostess, who treated us like cherished guests rather than mere entries on a bill. Her warm smile upon our departure and her inquiry about our experience left a positive impression. In fact, I intend to express my gratitude in writing to commend her...

I’ve come to write this review 6 months later as I haven’t had the time to put my feelings into words. On my birthday in November, we went to Frescobaldi. It was an obvious choice as my family and I were frequent customers. It was a disaster from the start, we were given a waitress named Simona, which from the get-go was extremely rude. I thought perhaps she had had a bad day and dismissed it as I didn’t want my birthday evening to be spoilt. The night progressed from bad to terrible. I asked for my favourite black truffle pasta only to have the reply that they only have white truffle. When starters came I was amused to see that my sister had ordered a chicken dish that was covered in black truffle. This meant that they obviously wanted to capitalise on us and offer us the more expensive option. Again I tried not to let me get this down. The rest of the night was filled with the waitress being increasingly snappy and offering rude comments. The food was awful and not how we know Frescobaldi’s standard to be. In fact, the chicken was so bad that it wasn’t even eaten. When it came to paying for the bill, she asked how the meal was and my father said very politely that it wasn’t how it usually was as we were frequent customers. This appeared to enrage her and she appeared to get violent, pushing her head forward only mere inches from my dads face telling HIM off. I asked her to leave as it was my birthday and I was getting unhappy. I decided I would rather let her “win” and enjoy the night. But when I asked her to do this she proceeded to attack me with verbal assaults. I ended up in tears, crying and we left the restaurant. On the way out, the manager (who we hadn’t even seen all night) appeared at the door and asked what the problem was. I was too distressed to answer my boyfriend explained the situation. He tried to apologise half heartedly and promised that he would reply to our email as we wanted to explain the situation clearly. My boyfriend wrote the email that night when we came home and 6 months later we never received a reply. This is a testament to how terrible this restaurant is. We wrote a long and serious email about this issue and we never even received an apology or reply. Simona the waitress was one of the most vile people we have met. The manager was not interested in his job and clearly still isn’t. I strongly advise you not to visit this restaurant as the food standards have dropped significantly and the service is absolutely terrible. You’ll end up spending over 1000 pounds for a meal and running out in tears with no care from the staff. Never again, I can’t imagine it will be open much longer if this is the standards...

Booked a table for 6. Few of my table arrived before me and when I arrived she asked what drink would I like. I replied with tap water as I didn’t want to order for the table and make someone pay for something they might want and wanted to discuss either them first. Problem 1: The waitress pulls a shocked and disgusted face and I’m there like what the… they gave us bread and butter which we asked for, on top of olives and cheese which we did not ask for. Problem 2: they billed us for these. Meal came and the food is overpriced but decent. I ordered lobster pasta - yum. Problem 3: As the evening goes on, the waitress does not even serve me water (we all ordered still water in the end) but serves everyone else. Dessert came and the same waitress gave us a free dessert as it was someone’s birthday - ‘on the house’. Problem 5: the bill. Lots of hidden extras all over so I ask for the manager. A cover charge? A cover charge for what? ‘Oh the table and cutlery’. Okay but cover charge is usually for the bread and butter. Fine moving on. Cheese and olives? We didn’t order that. ‘Oh it comes with the bread and butter’. On the house cake but you’ve charged us? No comment. On top, they gave us 10 bottles of water which we didn’t ask for, no staff asked us if we wanted more drinks, they just topped it up for you. Honestly, what a shambles of a restaurant. Glad I checked the bill and managed to get all of the hidden charges off the bill. This restaurant needs reporting to trading standards. Completely unacceptable and...