Zizzi - Sheffield Meadowhall — Restaurant in Sheffield

So disappointing from start to finish. We arrived and were left standing at the entrance for around 10 minutes, staff were walking past us but not acknowledging us. We got seated and then were left sat at the table for about 15 minutes, staff seemed to be concerned about something and chatting in the corner. One of the waitresses came over to us and explained that the system had gone down and they were trying to get it back running but couldn't take orders until then. The system being down was fine, obviously the staff cannot help this however it would have been good if we had been told sooner rather than being left sat wondering why we were being ignored. We also were not offered a drink the whole time we were waiting, I understand the system being down but we weren't even offered tap water. After about 30 minutes the waitress came to take our order, I assume at this point they had the system back running. The starters came and the food itself was fine but we finished our starters and were left again for a long period, from memory I think it took around 15 minutes for somebody to come and clear them away. The mains came out and again the food was fine but once again, when we had finished we were left waiting for such a long time! I would've understood if the restaurant was busy but there were only 5 other tables in the whole restaurant. Then we wanted to order dessert, we asked which desserts were on the set menu to which the waitress replied "all of them" and immediately rushed away not giving us the opportunity to order, we were then left again waiting to order dessert for at least 10 minutes and the only reason we managed to order was because we had to go up and speak to the staff ourselves. I asked for a jug of tap water which nobody ever brought over but by this point I couldn't even be bothered to chase it up. Following the desserts nobody came back to us, we were left for 20 minutes until we eventually managed to get the attention of a member of staff and asked for the bill. The waitress came over to take our payment, we asked to split the bill and she put the card reader on the table and then walked away to the other side of the restaurant to deal with another table, leaving us alone trying to work out how to use the card reader. We managed to sort it out and promptly left before the waitress even bothered to come back and check if we had paid. Good job we are honest as we could've easily walked out. Such a shame as we generally enjoyed the food but the service was so poor I would not return to this site. What should'e been a 45 minute - 1 hour meal took...

Not often we get to eat out without 3 kids in tow, usually Zizzi would not be an option for us (I get it, not everywhere wants to cater for children). On this occasion sans children we picked Zizzi for lunch.

Unfortunately the one item we craved (Calamari) was not available, another consequence of the post-Covid and transportation crisis. The staff were quick to inform us of that however I would say it might be prudent to display a sign or something, as many queued up outside for long periods without being informed until they were seated.

It also transpired that they only accepted card payments, again not an issue for us personally but the table seated next to us only found this out after requesting their bill and it was a little awkward to witness. Something else they may wish to advertise before people queue or place an order!

As for the food itself, the starters, fondue and meatballs were amazing, cooked fresh (or at least did not taste frozen/reheated). Mains were decent but not amazing but OMG the honeycomb cheesecake was decadent! Overall ending on a high so can't fault that.

Service wasn't the fastest but was polite and as it got busier we did see more staff doing the rounds which was good.

Our only complaint and the reason its 4/5 is the drinks. Wife ordered a couple of cocktails/mocktails and whilst they were served looking appealing they lacked in taste and flavour. Almost like the main ingredients that make a cocktail pop (the fruits and flavours) had been diluted or served very conservatively. Strawberry and mint was red/pink but tasted of watery juice and the passion fruit cocktail was the same especially when paired with the passion fruit cheese are that had that flavour pop with its coulis.

Takeaways: ask what's not on the menu before queuing and you might save yourself yourself wait and if you want good cocktails go to a proper bar and not a restaurant. (These rules probably don't just...

Shocking service on Sunday evening, we waited 20 minutes to be seated - assumed all the tables were reserved and that was why but when a staff member finally came over she said all the empty tables free ‘sit anywhere’ We tried ordering online but we couldnt see a table number - tried to ask a staff member but they just ignored us, avoided eye contact or stood chatting to each other. Finally after 25 minutes we managed to get someone’s attention - ordered our meal and asked for pasta crisps with our order to be told not to order as we would get them free with drinks - we were grateful for this information but we never received them. Food took 40 mins - still no drinks until half way through the meal. Wanted a cocktail and a pudding to finish the meal, after trying to get a staff members attention for ages we gave up and walked upto a staff member to pay as we had done enough sitting and waiting and she asked how meal was so we said meal was lovely but service is shocking and we did want pudding and cocktails but we’ve waited for that long we had been in there over 2 hours! due to staff taking forever we had to leave as we were attending a concert. She said yes well it’s been a horrible day in here today so that’s why, do you want drinks cos I’ll get them now! So we declined, paid for the meal and left. Love this restaurant so much but the staff members attitudes have put me off returning. Also the staff member who puts parmasan cheese on the meals was that angry with whatever she grated the cheese all over the table and our knees but hardly on our pasta! Terrible attitudes. And we weren’t the only tables complaining, at least 4 other tables complained and even spoke to us saying after the meal saying they’d had the same experience and also saying how bad the staffs attitudes were...