Al Forno (New Malden)

On Saturday the 26th November my partner, a couple of friends and I decided to go to Al forno's in New Malden for the first time to try it out. We are regulars at both the Kingston and Wimbledon Branch but have recently moved to Worcester Park.

On arrive they were very warm and friendly. However we sat down to order drinks and I ordered a White Wine Spritzer (I'm 35 weeks pregnant). When the waitress (Rosabella) then brought out our drinks and kept trying to give my drink to everyone else I was a bit confused. After clarifying with her that is was mine she looked at my stomach as if to say but you cant drink... then she proceeded to go to the lady working behind the bar to tell her and I caught them both looking at me in disgust. A short while after she was doing something else near our table and she just would not stop looking at my stomach.

It was a very uncomfortable feeling and I felt like I was being judged on the fact that I was having one drink - its not as if I ordered a bottle of wine or doing shots of tequila. I just feel it was VERY unprofessional of her and for that one reason it has made me HESITANT to return.
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Lisa Piagesti
7 Overall rating
Food 9 | Service 5 | Atmosphere 5 | Value for money 9
Monday, November 28, 2011

Having lived in New Malden for a long time, I have been to Al Forno scores of times since it's opening. I think the food has always been good, except when they are having personnel issues like they did last night.

Credit where credit is due, the starters were very good, we had garlic mushrooms, seafood, the winner was the salmon stuffed with prawns. However, the service was poor, the waitress had a very loose grasp of English and her male colleague even worse so. Took a long time to take our orders but then again that doesn't bother me that much since we were talking and have a nice time.

The problems really came along with the main courses. Myself and my brother ordered the Steak Gorgonzola - I have had a good few times before and it is excellent when it is done right. The steaks arrived and they were well done, grey meat no blood at all - we had ordered them to be medium-rare. So we sent these straight back.. The steaks came back and this time they had been cooked perfectly for medium-rare, however the sucker punch was, the sauce they put on the second steaks did not have any gorgonzola in it. It was the base cheese sauce which they use for every cheese pasta dish they sell. It was bland and nothing like the usual excellent sauce. I did complain about this as well, but I wasn't going to send it back again as I was too hungry!

The service was bad throughout, the waitress gave us the dessert menus and then stole 2 of them back off us to give to another party.

We told the manager it was my brothers birthday - usually the birthday person gets a slice of chocolate cake and some ice cream, and my brother was going to order a piece of cake off the menu. However they rang the bell and sang happy birthday and brought out a solitary scoop of ice cream! Although this is a nice thing for them to do, he did actually want a slice of cake as well!

Al Forno won't be seeing us for a while unless they get back the decent chef, the one who wears a bandana and makes lovely pizzas, and some waiting staff who know what they are doing.

If you want a decent Italian meal with decent service, go to iL Camino near Tescos. They are far superior, if a bit more expensive.
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Adam S
5 Overall rating
Food 6 | Service 2 | Atmosphere 7 | Value for money 5
Wednesday, August 04, 2010