Carluccio's — Restaurant in Reading

"WOW" - too disorganised amongst staff members; a extremely wobbly table and with no Salt & Pepper on our table either! Dissapointing when we've been pleased with all of our past Caruccio dining experiences!

On Sunday 27th August, 2017 at 13:46pm - Table 2009/1; CHK - 9072 - £27.08; Server: 588 - Lena; WS#: 1

Hubby and I chose to dine alfresco and spent the first 3 minutes trying to stabilise table with many napkins from being a very unstable / wobbly table that'd be unsatisfactory for any guest to be eating and drinking Off. In addition to that; during our meal we had to borrow Salt & Pepper from guests at a neighbouring table. It'd be appreciated if prior to opening establishment to public; Staff checked tables stabilities & S/P.

The 1 Star was only given because Lena was placed in a awkward situation; caused by another staff memb.

Our drink waitress and Lena were both very efficient in the taking of our order and drinks arrived in a timely fashion. However, Unfortunately for Lena; a staff member from the kitchen ended up delivering us our main meals and she also question why we wanted our starters: (2 x Bruschetta Tom) with the meals she'd just delivered. Well Hun; it is a Starter and therefore it really should have already been served B4 our main dish - hence why it's called a Starter; Anyways, we insisted we'd like now to eat with our mains and so she delivered.

After biting into our main meal: (2 x Beef RaguPasta) we both immediately noticed that these were not our meals; instead we were both served someone else's Vegetarian Paster dish. Lena our server soon appeared to inform us that we'd in fact been served someone else's order and that a staff member from the kitchen had got the tables mixed up! Genuinely apologising many times over for her mistake - Lena did offer to have our meals replaced with fresh meals as per our original order; however, we were in town and dining prior to a pre-scheduled appointment and so time wasn't on our side to accept waiting for a re-cook. However, we would have definitely had enough time to accept had we been offered a Complimentary Dessert or Coffee as a "Good-Will" gesture for our inconvenience caused by her fellow colleagues mess up!

This experience has left a sour taste in our mouth as prior we're regular dininers of the...

My first meal in Carluccio's for quite a few years. The last was breakfast. As soon as you enter the shop greets you as well as the staff who say hello. You are able to freely browse the shop before entering the restaurant. At times of seasonal change, the shop sometimes has discounts like black Friday which has up to 20% off on items!

We were warmly greeted when walking up the stairs to the restaurant and were swiftly seated. The waitress was incredibly nice, friendly and was very attentive (not the over excessive type however). We ordered our drinks, then starters and main with the side too. I ordered a smoothie and the waitress told me that we didn't have it as the seasonal menus were changing. So she did recommend a good number of alternatives which is great to see as I had to make decision quite quickly. I ended up getting a cranberry juice instead but said to my partner how great she was with recommending something else.

The focaccia arrived and was incredibly tasty, full of flavour but its a shame it was a little small. That's just me with a big appetite though! The mains were ready just in time a couple of minutes after finishing and both were extremely nice. Both were full of flavour and very filling. It would be nice to see some discounts available in Carluccios as i don't think i have ever seen discounts there.

The food isn't the cheapest but not the most expensive but it is really good and the service does make up for the price. However, I think they would be able to attract more customers and revenue through main meal discounts or off food bill like their competitors.

Overall, if you havent been to Carluccio's before, definitely go. You will not be disappointed. The food and service are great and we really enjoyed...

Came here with my fiancée to celebrate our anniversary, really lovely place altogether, even if there were a few minor faults.

Starters were nice, if a little odd in terms of portion sizes. The mushroom soup was so much that it couldn't be finished, and the beef meatballs were served as a pair, I would've liked at least another two on the plate as they were really nice.

Ordered the carbonara and tuna steak for mains. Tuna was cooked to well-done, weren't asked how we'd like it cooked. My fiancée really enjoyed it despite this, minus the brocoli (she's just picky like that). Carbonara was absolutely phenomenal, genuinely the best I've had in any Italian restaurant. Portion size was perfect, sauce was just enough to coat the pasta without flooding the dish, the pancetta was plentiful and just crisp enough to elevate the dish, by far the best dish we had.

Ordered ice-cream for desert, waited an inordinately long time for 3 small scoops, even if it was decidedly tasty.

Drinks, peppermint tea (lovely, according to my fiancée), lemonade which was really nice, and mango juice which was a little overly sweet.

Next time I'm back in Reading, I'm ABSOLUTELY swinging by again for a meal. Service throughout was ample, the staff are all friendly, and don't breathe down your neck, hovering around your table. A very...