Carluccio's (Putney)

I don’t think I have ever been more disappointed in a meal than during my recent trip to Carluccio’s in Putney. I ordered the goat’s cheese and pepper salad for £7.50. What arrives was limp lettuce of only 1 variety (looked like it came from a bag), lumps of goat’s cheese and small bits of red pepper. Yes it is what the dish was described as but there was nothing more on the plate, no garnish, no dressing, no presentation, and the portion was extremely small. I would pay no more that £3.50 for this if I had known what it would look like. £7.50 is extortionate. I also had to wait for 10 minutes for my dish to arrive after my partner had been served his warm dish – meaning it went cold. A very disappointing experience and it has put me off visiting in the future.
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1 Overall rating
Food 0 | Service 2 | Atmosphere 3 | Value for money 0
Wednesday, May 04, 2011

A group of six of us dropped by for lunch on a beautiful day - staff were very helpful in pulling tables together so that we could all sit on one big table outside. Our orders were taken promptly, but unfortunately, it was down hill from there. We opted for the set menu. Starters arrived at different times and half our group were given the wrong starters and had to send them back. We then waited over 40 minutes for our main courses, with one of my friends waiting even longer. One main courses was wrong, another arrived lukewarm. The staff were very polite and apologetic, but seemed stressed and harassed, even though the restaurant didn't seem too busy and there were a lot of staff around. Desserts were the same- big delay and another mix up with orders. We asked to see the manager, to agreed not to charge us for the wine, but simply couldn't explain why food orders kept gettiing mixed up - it's seems difficult to understand how a modern chain restaurant, with electronic ordering systems can repeatedly bring the wrong food out, particularly when we were ordering from a limited set menu, so the orders were fairly straight-forward.

It's such a shame - a beautiful spot by the river, but the service was so poor that while I'll probably go back for a coffee, I would be very hesitant about going back for a meal.
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5 Overall rating
Food 6 | Service 2 | Atmosphere 7 | Value for money 6
Saturday, August 14, 2010

We had enjoyed good meals at this branch at Caluccios with our two young boys. However, on this occasion it was a disaster! Almost 45 minutes before our food arrived and each dish arrived separately with almost a 10 minute wait in between. The staff looked either hassled or resigned to the chaos as people waited for their orders to arrive. A tray of glasss lay smashed on the floor as toddlers tottered by, narrowly missing injury. The waiting staff stood by chatting or bustling around the mess and it was just pushed to one side. Our boys' children's menu was on the mean side, my chicken risotto was inedible - one lone piece of chicken floating in flacid, over-cooked rice and my husband's parpelle pasta with mushrooms looked like something that had been concocted with luke warm washing up water. However, after such a long wait, he knocked it back without enthuasiasm. Our waitress offered to deduct the cost of my meal without hesitation (it was as though she was used to criticism of the food) but it all left a very sour taste all round. Will we be going back? I'm not sure but it seems a shame as it used to be such a happy, relaxed and good value for money place to meet and eat good quality Italian food.
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Katie
4 Overall rating
Food 3 | Service 4 | Atmosphere 5 | Value for money 4
Friday, April 17, 2009