Rustica Trattoria — Restaurant in Sunderland

Very disappointed with this restaurant. A party of 4 of us were really looking forward to this as part of a belated birthday celebration. 2 of us had already eaten at Tavistock restaurants previously and as a consequence we had high expectations of this relatively new restaurant. On arrival at our table the drinks and food orders were taken immediately, the staters and drinks were brought out soon after. The garlic bread was ok, nothing special. After finishing the starter, table was cleared and we waited around 20 minutes when a guy, whom I assumed was the manager came to ask if all was OK. We said we were still waiting for the mains to arrive and he replied " Just relax, that's why you came out tonight "! He kept dashing into the kitchen and coming out with an insulated bag, which we assumed were for delivery orders. We waited patiently for around another 45 minutes until I approached a waitress and told her we had waited over an hour for our main course. She said she would enquire with the kitchen staff as to how long this would be. She then returned to inform us it would only be a couple of minutes. The food arrived almost immediately after. 2 of the party ordered pasta dishes and the other 2 chose chicken dishes but all 4 of us were disappointed. The butter sauce which accompanied the chicken was brought out in a separate ramekin dish and was just lukewarm. The chicken dish was tasteless and the seafood pasta was mediocre too. We expected a lot more from this restaurant, particularly as it wasn't busy at all. We didn't envisage that we would wait over an hour between courses and we certainly expected good quality, tasty food! On the whole a very disappointed party of 4 who feel very let down by our experience. It seem like this restaurant prioritise food deliveries over the patrons who are in the restaurant and actually putting bums on seats! Neither of our party...

disappointed with our visit this time after previously visited and loved it. I was a party of about 16 for a birthday party and booked in for 5pm. I was told that we had to pre order the food we wanted nearly a week beforehand so no room for a change of appetite. For my starter I ordered a prawn cocktail which arrived after half an hour and which consisted of loads of sliced lettuce and small rubbery cheap prawns with very little runny sauce. There was no flavour to it at all not even a slice of lemon and I left most of it as even my grandchild tried it and said it wasn't nice. Then there was a wait for the mains to come for over a hour and a half! I ordered chicken pepe but requested that garlic be added when it came there was no garlic and Luke warm. The dish also had a taste that I can only describe like a bbq fuel taste. My grandson ordered spaghetti bolognaise and tucked into it after having to wait 2 hours to get his meal. He was disappointed he said it was rank and tasted like a frozen meal even the garlic bread was stodgy and greasy. Considering there were people coming in much later after us and being served their food I feel this isn't good enough. I don't know if they were short staffed but surely if you know you have a big party of people due you are better prepared. I ordered drinks at the bar of a pint of beer,2 x lime and soda water and half a lemonade and cola only to be charged nearly £18. I queried this later on only to be told I had been charged for pints instead of half's. This was rectified but how often had this happened to others. Don't know if it's down to accepting online orders but I feel this restaurant is declining in quality and taste whilst charging...

This was our first visit to the fantastic Italian restaurant. The fist thing we noticed when we entered was how clean, tidy and well presented it was which we feel is a must in any eating establishment. As it was just opening time we were asked by Joseph if we could just take a seat and gave us menus to browse while we waited. He returned and showed us to our table. Again the restaurant area was very clean and well presented. My wife decided on having the Kiev pizza and I opted for the calzone pizza and we also ordered a bottle of the house white wine. When our meals arrived they were pipping hot and looked fantastic. My wife's pizza was cooked perfect and just the right size and amount of topping. The base was nice and soft not like some pizza that we have had which are very hard. My calzone was also cooked to perfection and with plenty of filling. Again nice and soft which is just the way I like it to be. A ramekin of sauce to pour over was great rather than having it all over the calzone as some restaurants do. The house white wine was very palatable and accompanied the pizzas very well. Service was first class and could not be faulted in anyway. The prices are also very competitive, pizzas were £8.95 each and the house wine was £17.95. Overall we would rate this restaurant 10/10 for everything. Thank you Joseph for a great dinning experience and when we are in the area next we will be back. If you have not tried this restaurant we would definitely...