Il Gusto d'Italia — Restaurant in Preston

Better than the plethora of tacky outlets that seem to do everything - you know the sort of place they have plenty of in Preston open till stupid o'clock in the morning - Jacks of all trades but masters of none and usually greasy crap in a box.

Nice inside, with pleasant enough staff and a clean kitchen that can be clearly seen which is always good; at least you can see how clean the place is. However, I ordered a take out which was hot and ready when I arrived.

When in Ashton I usually go to Antonio's on Watery Lane nearby - don't think they have a website or do deliveries but I usually call and collect when in the area. So I am comparing with Antonio's as they are similarly priced, have a similar menu and are just 100 or so yards away.

The pizza was fresh and the bread component exactly what I would expect from such an outlet. However this is where the the similarity ended.

I expected more salami and didn't find a single olive on the pizza despite it being listed as an ingredient! Chilli - really? You could have fooled me. Minimal cheese. The coverage of the topping fell between an inch to and inch and a half short of the rim of the pizza all the way round (that's 2 to 3.5 centimetres in new currency). Pleasant enough but I don't like paying for crust. Do you? Effectively a 10" pizza became a 7"-8" pizza because of this.

Just got the impression it was the minimum they could get away with. Not a great experience. Shame really as it looks a nice place to dine out. If the take out is anything to go by then I have to say I will continue to shop at Antonio's.

One thing I will say is that Gusto Italia's pizzas are preferable to the Jack of all trades outfits that deliver greasy crap in a box. Definitely preferable. So if you're ordering from there just make sure you tell them you actually want to see plenty of ingredients all the way to the edge of the pizza if possible - minimal crust.

Gusto Italia just wasn't worth the money for the amount of ingredients and pizza coverage. Don't think I will be...

Come for a special occasion and just been left on edge about whether or not I'm going to be asked again and again if there's something they can do. Was told 2 minutes for food and 40 minutes later there's nothing. I appreciate the update but I don't appreciate being wrongly told when we're gathering people back to the table. The grilled fish was actually deep fried cod. The side order was forgotten and we had to ask. The mushrooms were tasteless. The staff removed plates from tables without people having finished their meals. We were updated there's no fresh mint and he'll have to go to a shop to get some but it's too late for him to do that when we'd been asked twice whether or not we wanted drinks. We've just watched three people walking in and out the kitchen in normal clothes as they please along with a customer who's also complaining. An Italian born customer was deeply offended at the waiters comments about where in Italy doesn't make you a foreigner and it's completely ruined the night.

The young waitress we had was absolutely lovely and if we could give her huge service gratitude without it going to these buffoons we'd be happy to do so.

We won't be back, it's not been a busy night and it's felt like sitting in a bad comedy roadshow with everything that's...

Booked 7 days in advance for meerkat meals, stated meerkat meals while booking. Asked how meerkat meals worked before ordering, we were told it wasn’t available on the set menu, fair enough. Table of four, two went for the set menu two went of the main menu. When the bill came we were told we couldn’t have meerkat meals because different options had been selected on the table. This should have been explained on the several occasions we asked. Fully understand the set menu was already a promo but expected the two people who ordered from the main menu to be eligible for the offer. Serval mistakes were made with the order and drinks order, food was average. Staff not able to answer basic questions without checking. Someone (clearly the owner/manager but said he wasn’t) tried to explain the situation and said ‘they often have this problem with meerkat meals.’ If you keep having this issue then clearly you aren’t explaining your offers clearly and are misleading people. Overall average food, wouldn’t recommend to friends and family and...