Zio — Restaurant in Northern Ireland

Well.... what can I say ? The service from start to finish was a comedy of errors. We arrived at the restaurant at our reserved time 18:30 only to be told that our table wasn't ready. We were told to go and stand at the end of the bar, where we were not only in the way of servers returning glasses but all seven of us crowded into a small corner with a couple eating their meal, who were undoubtedly made to feel uncomfortable with our presence. After waiting 25 Minutes standing awkwardly in the corner, the hostess told us that our table was finally ready. They had put seven chairs around two small tables that clearly only seated six people but somehow wanted one of us to sit at the end of the table and try to squeeze our dinner plate in-between 2 others ? We complained only to be told 'thats fine' but we refused and they finally gave us appropriate tables with enough space. The food we ate was very good, cannot fault the food at all. However, I had my two sons age 10 and 6 dining with us and they are both very plain eaters and only orded chips and a garlic bread each. All our food came out except 1 of my son's garlic pizza breads, which was his main meal. so while we all sat and ate our food my son was left sitting waiting at least 15 minutes only to be given a rushed, smaller, over done garlic pizza compared to the other we had received at the right time. At this point it started to feel like a bit of a joke. I know some establishments get busy and have to wait for guest to leave but there isn't even an appropriate place to wait for a table. The waiter was very apologetic but the hostess didn't even bat an eyelid and in my opinion was quite rude. Not asking for charity, I know it's a business, but in an establishment with a bit of class I think we would of been offered something off the bill or even a complimentary drink as an apology for what was clearly and uncomfortable dining experience from start to finish. Would I return for the food ? Yes. Would I return for the service ?...

Firstly the food was incredible, very well cooked and reasonably priced, and It is nicely decorated with plenty of seating. I ordered my steak rare which was cooked beautifully very soft and well seasoned my wife ordered the steak well done and jokingly commented "very very well done" and here began the first concern, the waiter advised it will be done well done but not burnt as very very well done would ruin the flavour, Which is a true and fair comment but set an odd tone. One of my daughters ordered pasta from the child's menu and the other ordered pizza and it was again beautifully cooked. When we ordered desert the kids got ice cream and my wife asked for chocolate cake and asked for it to be warmed. When it arrived it was not warmed so I asked the waiter if we could have it heated as requested. This began a five minute argument that they don't warm the cakes as it "compromises the appearance" and it would "no longer be a cake, just a chocolate puddle" I stated he doesn't need to heat it for that long, just warm it through but it was a very unnecessary argument as my wife did not want a cold slab of cake and didn't care what it looked like. The waiter eventually agreed to heat the cake and it arrived (still looking like a cake) and my wife advised me was very nice. This conversation however ruined the mood of the night for us as evidently the waiters opinion on how food should be 'presented' was more important than both the happiness of the customer and the enjoyment of the dish itself. Overall very nice food however a slightly pretentious atmosphere from the waiter spoiled an otherwise...

Usually love Zio’s and always would book a table for birthday dinners and anniversary dinners, however having been tonight I have to say it will be a while before I go back. First issue I occurred was that we had ordered 2 large glasses of Coke along with a jug of water, to which we only received a jug of water. It was only when we were brought our starters I had to ask the waiter about the 2 glasses of Coke that we were still missing. Starter and main courses food wise was great, couldn’t fault the food. Once our main was over took the waiters a while to clear the plates and proceeded to ask did we want to see a dessert menu to which we said yes. We got the menus without any issues but were left sitting for half an hour with no one coming to take our dessert order. We ended up getting up and going to pay. Finally when paying the waiter at the register asked was everything all good with the food etc. to which I replied food was lovely but we were going to get dessert but were left sitting for half an hour so we didn’t fancy waiting any longer - he completely ignored what I said and just handed me the card reader to pay. Again I have no flaws with the food as it is always delicious but the staff tonight really let...