"Disappointingly poor food and awful service"

A review of La Margherita by Liz Rawcliffe written on Monday 19th of February 2007

My partner and I don't go out for dinner very often but when we do we spend a fair amount of time looking for the perfect place to go. Looking at reviews, La Margherita looked just that. We booked well in advance but turned up and were shown upstairs, away from the bustle of the downstairs restaurant and into a room that more resembled my Grandmother's living room than a quaint Italian restaurant. There was music, but only what you could hear from the speakers downstairs. We were given the food and drink menu but the first we received in the way of service was 15 minutes in when we were asked for both food and drink choices. There were 2, and at times 3 staff waiting on the upstairs of the restaurant, none of which seemed willing to help. When the food eventually did arrive, we weren't offered black pepper or any other condements, although other tables had them. I had finished my first drink by the time the meal came but didn't receive my second until after I'd finished my meal as it was verging on impossible to catch a waiters eye, or even call one over.

Moving on to the food - I opted for the Fiorentina Calzone which was bland and flavourless. It was packet full of spinach and egg (hard boiled and chopped up) with a tiny amount of tomato sauce on the top and an even smaller amount of mozarella. We decided against desert; realising you've already spent £36 on such disappointing food and service didn't make us feel like giving the restaurant any more of our hard earned cash! We asked for the bill and waited another 10 minutes until the waitress walked past us and realised she'd forgotten it. 2 hours but only 2 courses later we left feeling very let down. A Bad day? Possibly, but for me the truly awful service combined with the bad food is too much of a coincidence to be a one off. .

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