Romas — Restaurant in Northern Ireland

NO SAFE PROCEDURES IN PLACE FOR SEVERE ALLERGY SUFFERERS

Start with the worst - a mum of two (toddler and baby) attended in our party and informed serving staff that both have dairy allergy when ordering our food. The mum is a breastfeeding mum (on holiday) and has been avoiding dairy in the time spent with us so as not to pass diary onto her baby through her breast milk. The toddler cannot take dairy now that she is on solid food.

Unfortunately for us, the vegan meal was served with carrots tossed/cooked in butter, (which in itself should not have occurred given this was ordered as part of a vegan meal), but which was only noticed at the end of the meal after the toddler started to break out in hives. Having been spoken to separately by waiting staff, chef and management, the only recompense was apologies and 20% off the food bill. The serving staff said a note had been made on the docket and the chef said he had been too busy to notice - note this was a Tuesday evening at 5.30 and the restaurant was only about half full.

Words are cheap and had the toddler suffered a severe reaction that may have required ambulance attendance, the 20% off the food bill would have done little to recompense our family. Thankfully the parents were quick to administer medication.

We recommend that the restaurant respond to this review about how their procedures are to be changed to ensure someone else does not suffer more seriously than we did. Thankfully the parents had the correct medication and epi-pen with them.

The attitude and culture to responding to this incident was all wrong. By consequence, the kitchen is at worst negligent and disrespectful - and at best, careless. I would not trust this kitchen with taking adequate respect over anyone's food allergies, intolerances or avoidances, particularly as the vegan meal was served with butter.

Food - 1* due to the above and while some of us enjoyed our food around the table, the vegan option was noted to have little taste from the vegetables.

Service - 3* waiting staff attentive and polite, but again didn't seem trained on how to handle our incident and were keen to pass the blame of communication to the kitchen.

Atmosphere - 3 - nothing notable. We were escorted to a comfortable set of tables for our party size, but we left feeling angry and let-down by the response and lack of consideration for our...

As a local, Romas has always been a favourite of mine. Although the service I received today was shocking. The 'host' or manager, whatever she is to be called was rude from the moment we walked in the door....she didn't even lift her head to speak to us when we arrived, simply said 'table booked?' And continued looking at her laptop. The way she then spoke to a young member of staff was so rude and inappropriate in front of customers. Dictating she take us to a seat and was rude in the way she demanded she give is the menus 1st. Just plain rude and ignorant. Thankfully the food was delicious but she then continued with her attitude when I went to pay the bill! I presented my Perks card and without any pleasantries or apologies, she went on to tell me the perks card will be 'done away with' but as off right now, Romas are a listed venue on the perks website. She then said 'I suppose I'll accept it on this occasion.' Totally rude and clearly not someone who should be working in the...

AVOID IF YOU HAVE ALLERGIES Came here today for an early dinner with friends and family and ordered an open chicken sandwich. I told the waitress I have a milk allergy and she said she would inform the chef. When my meal arrived I could see that the bread was wheaten bread which is made with buttermilk. I asked the waitress to take the meal back and cancel my order. I was too scared to order anything else because if the chef doesn’t know that wheaten bread is made with buttermilk and they served it to someone with a milk allergy what else would they miss? Felt so awful for my family and friends I was seated with because it just made the whole experience so awkward sitting without a meal whilst they all ate. All I got was a ‘sorry about that it’s been taken off the bill’ from who I think was the manager. So sad because it’s such a lovely place with a nice atmosphere but for my own health and safety I won’t be back, and for anyone else with severe allergies...