All reader reviews by scrumptious

Orso

The appeal of this place baffles me. We have eaten there three or four times in the past year and each time I have been struck by how ordinary the food is. But what has tipped me over the edge and see me vow never to return is the restaurant's continued use of broken crockery. This may seem churlish, and the odd chipped plate won't kill you, but every time we have eaten here we have been served food and coffee in chipped crockery.

Yesterday, we spent almost £300 on lunch for four, and each of us had at least one chipped or cracked piece of crockery. It's not 'kooky' or 'laid-back', its unhygenic, unneccessary and totally unacceptable to expect people to pay a huge amount of money and serve it to them in this way.

Thursday, March 31, 2011
Overall rating
Food 3 | Service 5 | Atmosphere 3 | Value for money 1

Ciao Bella

I've been going to Ciao Bella for years and I'm not entirely sure why.

Regularly, food arrives around 3-4 minutes after ordering so its either microwaved or hastily reheated and is often tasteless, with staff hoping that slathering it in parmesan will mask the tastelessness of the dish.

The staff are, without fail, at best disinterested, at worst downright rude. On our most recent visit we asked for a table for two, only to be seated right next to a huge table of drunks who'd been in for lunch and now that it was heading towards 6pm they were settling in for the night. The restaurant was by no means busy and my companion and I we were unable to hear each other or enjoy our food without being disturbed by this boorish rabble. We didn't complain because we decided that we'd had enough, and after many years of putting up with it we were through with Ciao Bella.

Londoners deserve better.

Saturday, March 19, 2011
Overall rating
Food 3 | Service 1 | Atmosphere 2 | Value for money 3