Dolce Vita Wakefield — Restaurant in Wakefield

I've always had good service from Dolce Vita, but unfortunately yesterday evening (NYE) they let me down. Having booked a table for 10 people including 2 children and having paid an £80 deposit (adults only) for 6pm, the booking details being verified on 3 occasions, we got to the restaurant to find they had set the table up for 8. They strangely offered us high chairs for a 7 and 4 year old, which was obviously not suitable. They hurriedly added a further 2 chairs and cramped us all up. I was not happy with this, but they didn't even stay to listen and didn't do anything to my suggestion of adding another table for 2 to the set up, or moving us to another table for 10. One person ended up seated between the 2 adjoining tables which had over a 1 inch height difference (not an ideal place to put your plate!). The service was rushed, we only got offered a drinks order once, which was at the end of our meal, and all had to go to the bar ourselves. The one person who dared to suggest a drinks order, was told by the waiter that he had come to do the food order and if he didn't do that now, it would be another half hour before he came back to us. He did kindly add a bottle of prosecco and brought that for us. We were unfortunately seated at the back of the restaurant in the bottom corner, where it seems the entertainment would be later that evening, so we got the music at full blast, that we could hear our own conversation and flashing lights in our faces, that annoyed one person enough, that he couldn't wait to go home. All in all, a disappointment and I won't be rushing back. I've always recommended Dolce Vita for it's food and service and there ability to cater for large groups, but this was a shambles. I appreciate finding staff is difficult and there are sicknesses etc, but if you can't offer a reasonable customer service, don't take so many bookings. I believe they had booked 3 covers from 6-8pm that night with the gala evening event from 8pm. Sorry to leave a bad review, but on this occasion...

It’s very rare I post a negative experience, but I went here for my birthday meal and it was really not a good experience. I’ve been before, with the previous owners and always loved the place. This time was a massive disappointment and I don’t think any of my family wish to go back. It was really loud, we were on a long table so it was hard to speak to everyone. The wait on food was very long, we booked in for 7pm and didn’t get our starters until an hour and half later. We didn’t leave until 10pm. The calzone was burnt, the fillet steak very chewy, the garlic mushrooms frothy rather than creamy, the lobster sauce more brown in colour and not rich or tasty. It was just strange. The staff were working hard and said they were short staffed, but it was just a really bad experience. Two in our group had ribeye steak, which looked lovely, my fillet was the worst I’d ever had. And it wasn’t over cooked, so shouldn’t have been so chewy but was just an awful cut of meat for £26. I’ve been to Capri at The Vine, which is also busy and noisy but the food is spot on, as is Rinaldi’s. If this is under new management I won’t be going back, really rubbish birthday meal and we...

One star RELUCTANTLY, I’d prefer none. We were going to see a film so wanted to get something quick and tasty, had been past many times so thought we’d give it a shot. Went in around 630, ordered a Penne and a Risotto and a starter of olives. Nice easy quick dishes. Olives and drinks arrived with in a few minutes. By 740, we were STILL waiting for our main courses, despite being told at 725 that they were “on the way”. We could have walked out without paying for our drinks, there was so little attention paid to us. There was a large birthday party in, but that doesn’t excuse ignoring customers completely. I went to the bar to give them the money for our drinks, explained that we couldn’t wait and the maitre d got shirty and said to me to “ not make a show”. No apology, no offer to hurry it up, nothing. £20 down the drain and going to the pictures hungry. We will DEFINITELY not be recommending it or going...