Tavolino Bar & Kitchen — Restaurant in London

Awful experience and treatment. Asked if we could have a table with a view. Manager told us that the tables had been assigned for people making reservations by others before us. This was without any reference to a computer. Pointed out that we too had reserved a table several weeks ago and had not come to the restaurant randomly. Manager ignored us and was never seen again. Interestingly, table with view was still empty when we left. Waited 30 minutes to be served. Notably other guests arriving after us were served first. Asked for ice to be in our soft drinks but order arrived without ice. Drinks quickly and randomly dumped at table. Meal to celebrate my son’s birthday. Expected to share 1 drinks menu with party of six. Food average with pizza burnt at base. As waiter walked by asked if food was ok but didn’t stop for answer. Request for black pepper was made an onerous task. No desert menu offered even when prompted. When asked about ice cream flavours available, waiter barked out random ice flavours at my 11 year old son. Waited for 20 minutes for son’s ice cream which came half melted sloppy with happy birthday spelt incorrectly on plate …summed up our experience.

To your response:

I did not intend to post 3 reviews however, they do equate to the number of times we tried to get the waiters attention for service. Why would I request a table with a view if I had already been allocated to a table/view in the first place? The empty table I pointed out asking to be seated at remained unoccupied throughout our meal. Everyone in our group was unhappy with our treatment just not me therefore, I resent the insinuation that I was the only one 'frustrated' - we all were. Secondly, it was almost 30 mins as we were all getting fed up waiting to be served. Other reviews also cite the lack of attentiveness from your staff. We DID ask for ice to be served in our drinks. - why would I complain if this wasn't the case? The waiter did bark at my son to the point he left the ice ice cream uneaten as leave he just wanted to leave. Curious if the waiter will confirm that the pool of ice cream was untouched...When he did bark at my son, I was visibly unhappy with this which you deem as my frustration. Your response is full of inaccuracies/staff bias of our experience and represents the poor ethos of your company as a whole. Your last comment 'look forward to see you again' is both patronising and condescending'. My review is verified by historical reviews of your restaurant which mirror the experience people of Asian heritage being treated poorly. Sad to see that this is still epidemic within your restaurant culture. Ultimately , you staff's behaviour ruined my son's birthday meal which he had been looking forward to for weeks- for that you should be ashamed of yourselves rather than trying to push/avoid any accountability. You even mis-spelt the word birthday on his melted desert! In case you have a modicum of decency, we are going celebrate his birthday in a respectable eating establishment...

As it was a nice day we picked this restaurant due to being outside by the river. We booked a table for 7 guests on a Tuesday lunchtime over the phone and tried to reserve outside seating but was informed this was first come first serve. It was 2 of us hosting clients so we arrived 30 minutes earlier to try and get a table. There were for 4 tables for 4 available and a table for 2 available scattered across the outside seating however the front of house manager/seating organizer was incredibly unaccommodating to make a table of 7 for us (we advised we were happy to squeeze on a table for 6). Firstly they said there was no way they could ask a table who had literally just arrived before us to move one table along so that they could push two tables together to make it work. Then she said there was a table for 2 who might be moving near one of the tables for 4 but then proceeded to seat people who arrived after us at that table for 4 saying that 'they cant block guests from sitting there' even though we were there first and there were other tables for 4 they could sit at. There was also a table for 4 (2 tables of 2 pushed together) with two people sitting at it drinking wine and a table for 4 next to it which could be simply moved across and would have worked perfectly but again, they said they didn't want to disturb those guests in anyway even though they weren't even using the second half of the table in anyway. Luckily by the time the clients arrived who were willing to wait 10 mins a table became free for them to move although it was in the shadiest part and extremely windy (cant completely blame the restaurant for the weather I suppose...)

The food quite mediocre compared to some of the delicious restaurants available just a short walk away in Borough, especially for the price. The starters were basic with the pizzettas being quite dry. the n'duja arancini was really tasty. lamb ragu I quite enjoyed but agreed with the others that it was very 'lamby' and didn't have much taste or other flavours expected such as tomato or garlic. One client had the spicy pork and n'duja tagliatelle ragu which he did say was really nice. The desserts were a bit of a let down with the 'cheesecake' being more like a coffee mousse served in a cocktail glass and tasted like the Tiramisu. We are lucky to eat out a lot as part of the industry I work in and this was subpar at best and feels like a tourist trap due to the views of Tower Bridge.

I really hate to leave a negative review and overall am quite easy going however I found the whole experience really frustrating and if we hadn't been with clients I would have walked away after 5 minutes. It really was disappointing and think the front of house staff need complete training on how to accommodate guests. For larger bookings there should be some ability to reserve seating outdoors and/or staff better prepared to accommodate...

Not a great experience for a retuning customer at all. On arrival, our waiter disappeared up the stairs and around the corner, so did not accompany our party which included an elder person to our table. When we did arrive upstairs, the waiter was rearranging other tables and simply pointed us to our table. Orders were made and starters arrived. Surprisingly had to ask waiter for vase with water to hold our flowers during the meal. The last visit allowed for the making of a cocktail (not on the menu) to be tried and ordered, but we were not so fortunate this time around. Starter was 'ok'. The main dish of 2 pieces of lamb/spinach puree with a separate side of spicy potatoes, was served beardly warm. This was sent back and returned with a 'fresh' plate, some 13mins later. Off course, at this point, the potatoes were cold. 1 plate of Seafood Tagliatelle was not finished but no means to take away was provided. Had to wait a bit to get the attention of a waiter so that we could settle the bill, (probably due to the some of them being on lunch as well).

During one of the previous visits (all in 2021) they also provided an unique, Earl Grey gelato that sadly is no longer on the menu (at no cost), as one of the standard options was very disappointing. Nice turn around for fresh Michelin star 2021.

Whilst they have had some issues in the past (dirty plates, lower service level, not tasty dishes), generally the visit is ok. This visit however, was quite some distance off a 'reasonable' level for food, service and overall cost. It has dropped down a lot.

Perhaps a change of management, inexperienced staff or just a really bad shift was the reasons behind this. As the drop in service this time was much more pronounced.

Previous visit (Sep 21) was much more memorable as staff were very engaging and focused on their clienteles' experience.

Be warned, the price will be substantial but the experience...