Pasta Di Piazza — Restaurant in Newcastle-under-Lyme

We have been frequent visitors since 2000 and eventually got to know many of the staff, such as Christine, who has served us over the years, and, more recently, Lister.

On the 8th of March, we attended, and after ordering the food, it was served, we noticed that Penne ai Gamberetti bowl was hot; however, the pasta, salmon and prawns were cold; calling the waitress to explain, and she offered to get it replacement, within minutes the waitress returned, however, this time the food was warm as was the bowl; however, the wife then noticed the flakes of chilli that she had added to the food prior where still there, so calling the waitress over again, we informed her of this.

However, she advised that the dish was replaced; we then questioned the chillies STILL in the food, and she advised that the chief must have re-added them.

When the wife tried the food, it was hot, as was the bowl. However, the time to replace being so quick, she decided the food had been warmed up in a microwave. So, to be on the safe side, she only ate the pasta. We called for the bill and incorrectly received one for the table in front of us, so we had to speak to the person behind the bar, who advised the waitress to issue the correct table bill.

Checking the bill, we questioned that the food was still on the bill; when we questioned this, she fetched a manager over whom we had never seen before, and we explained the situation.

The manager’s tone changed for the worst; when we explained, she went and fetched the chef out of the kitchen, and at one point, both she and the chef had their voices raised to the point people were turning around and looking towards the table.

At that moment, a statement sprang to mind: What happened to “right or wrong; the customer is always right”? At this point, we have NEVER felt so embarrassed, to the point that my wife, in a loud voice, said ’enough is enough’ you are upsetting our son with all your shouting to the point people appear astonished at your staff's outburst towards the public we will NEVER return, and do not feel comfortable recommending customers to this establishment.

Sadly, standards have slipped quite a bit over time, and it is definitely not as good as it used to be.

This incident marks a departure from the years of positive experiences we've had at your establishment. We regretfully say we can no longer recommend this restaurant to others, nor do we feel comfortable returning, given the staff's lack of understanding and respect during...

We were very well looked after in this restaurant. Upon arrival, the Italian music and the soft lighting made us relaxed and ready to sit, chat and eat. There were four of us and we had pre-booked, and thankfully so, as the restaurant was full to the brim on a busy Friday evening. Our servers were all Italian, which is pretty hard to come by in a lot of local Italian restaurants and they came across as attentive, knowledgeable and extremely friendly and welcoming. The whole restaurant felt homely; decked out for Christmas it had the right combination of class and fun and drew you in with open arms. As we were shown to our seats, the rich smells of tomatoes and herbs overwhelmed the senses and we were ready for some good food. Firstly, we were a table of fussy eaters, not very well received in some restaurants, so after browsing the extensive menu, my friend wanted to swap out some ingredients and substitute them for others; this was no problem at all, in fact, the server even suggested substitutes for us. Next we wanted to share four mains to split between us, as we heard that the portion sizes could be quite large. After ordering two pizzas and two pasta dishes we had just settled with our drinks and the food was on it's way, piping hot and perfectly presented. They weren't wrong when they told us about the portion sizes, they are massive, and you get plenty for your money. Whether it would all fit in my little belly though, was another matter. The servers came round with the parmesan and black pepper, but being the indulgers that we are, we don't know when to say stop, so after asking if we could keep them on the table, the servers were more than happy to let us have them at our leisure. The pizzas were served perfectly; rustic, aromatic and crisp, and the pasta dishes were doused in rich, velvety Neapolitan sauce which went down a treat. Looking around, this is a very adult-friendly restaurant; mature, classy, slick, I am not sure it is a family environment, the lack of children screaming, misbehaving or generally being around was very welcomed. It was enjoyable to sit and enjoy the food and good company without the distractions of loud music, children, or people trying to shout to get a word in. The only qualm we had was that it was a little too warm inside, the heating was right next to our table and so we were a bit too hot throughout. Will definitely...

If I could give 0 stars I would. Honestly the worst experience I've had at a restaurant. Where do I start, we had a booking for 7.30 and were made to wait outside for 20 minutes until 7.50 until the walk in queue had reduced. When we got in eventually, a waitress asked if I had a table booked so I said yes and gave her the booking details and she walked away and I followed her presuming she was taking us to our table, she then stopped and walked away from me and went behind the bar to start pouring some drinks for another table. I was highly confused so I walked back to the entrance and another waiter asked me very rudely if we had a booking and if we did what was the name. So I told him we were getting seen to but I gave him the details so he could get us seated quicker. He asked us to follow him to the table and when we got to the table it hadn't even been cleaned so he asked us to wait whilst he cleaned it. We finally got seated and was given the menus. We were not seen to for another 30 minutes to even get drinks. The service was appalling and I don't blame the waitresses or waiters for that, I honestly blame the management. So an hour into being there and we hadn't even been served drinks. Skip forward to when our starters arrived and we got prawn cocktails, the prawns were tough, chewy and tasted of water. 100% frozen salad prawns so we had to send them back and they have a window where you can see into the kitchen and I watched the waiter take them back and the chefs started shouting at the young man I felt awful but thats the way it was unfortunately. We were able to re order our starters and I got the garlic bread and when it arrived it was just swimming in grease it just wasn't edible. I wish I took photos now but we eventually cancelled our whole order, paid for what we got and left. My brother had travelled 6 hours to see us and this was such a disappointing evening. I WOULD NOT recommend unless you are looking to pay quite high prices for awful pre...