Fino Pizzeria & Cicchetti — Restaurant in Wakefield

I attended FINO tonight with 4 friends and left with an undeniable sense of disappointment. We had booked a table for 19:00 and were seated promptly. It got to around 19:25 and no one had taken our food order which I thought was odd. I saw a chef walk past so asked if he could get someone to take our order, which he did immediately.

Unfortunately, as the evening unfolded, my excitement of being with friends and in a nice ‘appearing’ restaurant slowly faded. These feelings were replaced by frustration and irritation.

Within my party, only one person ordered starters and this came out at around 19:50. This was finished with plates collected at 20:00. At 20:10 we were told the mains would be coming on the way. At 20:20 I chased this up again, citing we had work shortly and would have to leave soon. The waitress said “WE ARE JUST A BIT BUSY AND I HAVE LET THEM KNOW”. I asked the waitress if she could speak to a manager to speed things up.

This is where the night turned really sour. A male, who I have been told is the assistant manager and called “SHANE”, stormed up to our table and said “WHAT IS THIS ISSUE?” It was in a very demanding tone and it interrupted our conversation. He was totally rude and we were all in shock. It was like a teacher shouting at naughty school children!!

I told Shane that we had been seated since 19:00 and still not had our mains. Shane immediately replied “YOU ONLY ORDERED AT 19:40”. There was a completely lack of sympathy or compassion from Shane and he had really aggression in his tone of voice. I told Shane that he clearly had an attitude problem and it was not acceptable.

Shane then said “THE FOOD WILL ONLY BE A COUPLE OF MINUTES”. I told Shane that if this was passed to us by the waitress then there would have been no issue or need for escalation. Shane apologised and said he would take the sides and drinks off the bill (which was done). When the food came out we had the following qualms: Hawaiian pizza - Was originally sent without pineapple, which was never requested (and completely defeats the purpose of a Hawaiian) - This was then sent back to the kitchen who just threw pineapple on top and sent it back to us, it was not remade or recooked so the pineapple tasted hard and uncooked. Garlic Bread - This was stale and inedible, it was barely eaten Pasta - Dowsed with Pesto.

We did not dare speak up or raise further concerns as we had already been shouted at once, and there was already items taken off the bill. We were also told there was a “new chef” who was blamed for just about everything by all the waiting staff.

I am so totally disappointed in FINO. I have been 2-3 times before, since 2019 and I have recommended it countlessly to people who live in Wakefield. It used to be a cosy, respectfully ran establishment with amazing service and now it’s turned into the pits of hell.

There is a cost of living crisis, if you are spending your HARD EARNED money, please please please go SPEND IT ELSEWHERE. Spend it where you’ll get GOOD food and WELCOMING service.

I also forgot to note that during the night, whilst waiting for food, we could hear two people (assuming the chefs) shouting at each other at the top of their voices in the kitchen (heated argument!) so much so, that the waitress had to come and shut the doors to block out the noise. Total chaos.

This was a disgraceful visit and I will be telling everyone about it. There is clear gaps in the service and management that need immediate attention. I won’t be visiting again and I hope...

Visited Fino as a small group booking - unfortunately it was a disappointing evening from start to finish. It took 30 minutes from sitting down to having drinks orders taken, over an hour for starters (2 of which were forgotten about) (granted, those 2 were deducted from the bill) The slow service continued throughout and resulted in a couple of us going to the bar to get our own drinks - the servers were more than aware that it was a disaster and were very apologetic, our main server said they would be deducting 20% off our final bill as an apology to our group. We accepted this and moved on.

However when it came to paying the bill, this hadn’t been knocked off. So we had to remind them what had been agreed. Not long after, we heard (maybe the owner) shouting at our waitress (she was only a young girl) and he sent the MOD up to us to tell us that the waitress “had no authority” to declare a 20% discount as she “is only 16”. We expressed our disappointment with the evening, the slow service, cold food and forgotten food - however they would not honour the 20% discount. In the end, we had a 10% discount knocked off our bill. Which simply wasn’t good enough for the evening we had experienced, we were out celebrating a birthday and it wasn’t the atmosphere we wanted. We were there almost 3 hours - just for starters and mains. So it was a very disappointing evening, I’m not sure what went wrong down the line, but I have to say none of us would return based off...

Looked for a local Italian for a quick date night meal and I happened to find Fino. I'm very glad I did! I went for the pollo e funghi and my girlfriend had the penne arrabiata. Both meals were amazing and my girlfriend wanted tagliatelle instead of penne pasta, not a problem! The meals were full of flavour and were exactly as described on the menu. Mine was full of garlic which I very much enjoyed however some may find it over powering, so it's good to discuss with your waiter beforehand.

We had cocktails and mocktails with our meals and again, what a great choice these were. 2 for £10 for any two cocktails on the menu, they were full of flavour, not watered down and just exactly as described (a running theme here) The 2 for £6 mocktails were again full of flavour and great value for money.

Our waiter was Joe and he deserves a special mention as I haven't had such good service in such a long time. Joe was very friendly and inviting, professional but not over the top. He made sure we had what we wanted and that everything was all okay with our meals throughout. Nothing was too much trouble for Joe and I'd return based on his service alone!

The building Fino is based in is also ideal, it's a grade 2 listed building I believe and it has been decorated to suit the space perfectly. Very cosy, good furnishings and surrounds and just a nice atmosphere whether upstairs or down.

Overall I was very happy to visit Fino and will soon be back to try more of the...