Sunday, October 14, 2012

Il Gusto (in London), avoid this place like the plague!


Il Gusto: Absolutely terrible place.

First thing we sit down, and ask for some tap water, while we decide what to eat.  They say that there was no tap water available, even though I live in the area, and pay taxes & rates to receive tap water from any establishment (by the way this IS your legal right.  If anyone asks that demand tap water and ask what they wash their plates in).  I was with two other friends from out of town so did not want to make a fuss.  So I went along.  He ended up giving us 3 bottles of bottled water, when we probably would have been fine with 1 or 2.

Then, as for 3 people, we ordered two starters and two meals (we were a bit full then), the waiter mentioned that the portions were very small, and strongly urged that due to the time it would take to make each dish that we should order another meal, (which was presumably already cooked, and easy for him to serve).  As we said fine, he then asked if we wanted garlic bread, which we said no, at this point annoyed   (That will cost you a tenner!)

Over 30 minutes later, and still no sign of food.  When I asked they said it was coming, and that they were very busy.  However the restaurant wasn't even half full.  Anyway, when the food finally came, two were OK (the ravioli and the lasagna), while the spaghetti meatballs were terrible.

Toward the end we quite annoyed, as we were ripped off I mean paying it got even worse.  As we went to pay in cash, (the bill was £45), the waiter comes over, and quickly takes the bill out of our hands, mentioning that there's a 10% additional service charge on the bill.  (HE DID NOT DESERVE ANY REWARD AS HE WAS QUITE RUDE, ARROGANT, AND PUSHY).  He then just took the bill out of my hand before I had change to reply (he had taken 50).  We were discuss this for awhile and decided that it was not right, and thus called the waiter, when 3-5 minutes later I pressed him for change, he mentioned that there was a 10% service charge.  I was thinking.."For what service??"  I doubt this ass hole (I won't name him but he has curly hair on the sides and is bald in the middle) would give us any of the 10% back, but I pressed him on the issue.  I correctly pointed out that even if there was 10% he should have given me back 50p (45*10 = 4.5, which means he owned me at least that).  Only when I pressed him, did he actually give it back.  A small bit of victory from a terrible place.  The only service that was there was his apology about the time it took to provide the food- ONLY when he was taking the money.  
He mentioned that the service today was very busy (it wasn't), and it was much better yesterday.  Well I wasn't there yesterday, and don't think I will ever be back again. 

I do realize that some places might unfortunately have the same name as this establishment.  The place I am talking about is:
Il Gusto:
11 Craven Road, Paddington, London, W2 3BP.  It always seems that restaurants near busy places (Paddington is a huge transport hub in London) seem to have crap service, as they don't really care if you never come back again.  However, if you're reading this, you've just saved yourself a horrible evening. 


1 comment:

  1. I agree. It's a terrible tourist trap !

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