ASK Italian - Glasgow — Restaurant in Scotland

A Disappointing Experience Despite Good Food

I recently dined at Ask Italian with a group of friends, and unfortunately, our experience was far from pleasant. Although the food was generally good, with the notable exception of the calamari, the service was abysmal and left us feeling extremely dissatisfied.

Upon arrival, we requested a table for seven, but were told the restaurant was fully booked. However, the patio had only two people seated, so we asked if we could sit there. They eventually agreed, but the troubles were just beginning.

We sat on the patio for 20 minutes without anyone coming to take our drink orders. We had to go inside to ask for service. This set the tone for the rest of the evening. Throughout our meal, the staff frequently got our orders mixed up or completely forgot them, requiring us to repeatedly remind them.

When the food finally arrived, the waitress placed my bowl of risotto on top of my friend’s spaghetti, covering my bowl in tomato sauce. When I pointed out that the bowl was dirty, she dismissively said, "It's just sauce," and put the bowl in front of me. I had to ask for something to wipe it off myself.

To top off the evening, getting the bill was an ordeal. I had informed the male waiter beforehand that I wanted to treat my friends to drinks and appetizers and asked if the bill could be separated accordingly. He assured me it would be no problem. However, when I went inside to ask for the bill, the female staff member I spoke to was extremely uncooperative. She rudely told me they couldn’t separate the bill and said, "I'll print the bill and you can separate it yourself." I mentioned that her colleague had agreed to separate it, but she was unhelpful and rude. After a trip to the bathroom, I returned to find she had left the full bill on the table, disregarding my request entirely.

This waitress’s attitude was not only unprofessional but downright rude, adding unnecessary frustration to what should have been an enjoyable evening. Despite the good food, the overall experience was severely marred by the terrible service.

I hope the management addresses these issues, as good food alone isn't enough to compensate for such poor service. I won't be returning, and I can't recommend this...

Whilst quite cheap, convenient and convivial, our experience at ask left a lot to be desired. The waiting staff were excellent, which they needed to be as so much about the meal needed questioning. Firstly the tap water, which had a really strange taste and had to be returned. The second bottle of tap water was much better. But it left me feeling that maybe they were doing it deliberately to force us to buy soft drinks. Our main meals arrived. I had seabass and my husband had pasta. They dealt very well with a gluten- free inquiry. My side order of beans and peas was frozen so this also had to be returned. Once it was brought back. It was the right temperature and tasted quite nice. The worst thing about my meal though was the roast potatoes, which had clearly been cooked more than once before, probably cooked from frozen and were quite burnt. They were pretty much inedible. The sea bass was nicely cooked apart from the soggy limp skin. I didn't send these back to lack of time and I really didn't think they would improve the second time around. The cost was quite reasonable but I would have preferred my food to be decent. Well done to the waiting staff. Food needs a coat...

Incredibly poor experience sadly. Huge 'Ask' fans and the restaurant where we used to live was our 'go to'! . We drove into Glasgow specifically to go and couldn't have been more disappointed. Service was slow with it taking ages to even get seated despite a very quiet restaurant. Should have taken this as a sign! Some items on the menu we wanted not available. Starter didn't arrive at all, some food was not served hot and was returned, and even the basic chips were simply undercooked. Some members of our table went hungry. After complaining, and presumably in recognition of the awful experience, the bill was waived. Unfortunately it isn't really though because we had vouchers for the restaurant which expired today and currently wasting even more of our time thinking about who else could use these at short notice (in a different restaurant of course) so they don't go to waste. We would certainly not return here and as a final aside I would recommend some attention to the toilets ( no toilet paper and one completely blocked loo). On a positive note, our server was apologetic however this didn't mean our evening was spoiled any less. You have to do...