Eggplant Parmigiana Eggplant Parmigiana
Essenza

Essenza

210 Kensington Park Road Notting Hill Gate London, W11 1NR, 03710, United Kingdom

Pasta • Pizza • Italian • Seafood


"The cook should hang his hat up and move on. Everything was frozen not fresh, garlic prawns were smelly and the chef must have known this as he tried to disguise the smell by smothering paprika all over it! Gambas al ajillo is one of my fav dishes and I order it a lot, never seen it served like this before so it leads me to believe he was covering up the bad smell. We didn’t eat the dish and the barely awake waiter didn’t bother to ask why we didn’t eat it, just took it away. Calamari al andaluz was dry, rubbery 100% pre fried then frozen then refried. Horrible. We told sleepy, (our waiter) that we would be sharing the starters and he smiled and said ok, like I was asking for his permission, no side plates, nothing. We were all eating out of the plates in the center of the table. The mains spaghetti bolognese (bolognese from a tin tastes better! Pasta dry crunchy in places, the pizza hard as a rock with no authenticity at all but worst of all was the mustard chicken!!! Vomit worthy!!! Chucks of re heated chicken, some pieces cooked but still cold in the middle smothered in this onion mustard concoction that looked like slimy mucus! Absolutely inedible, we did not touch it. Of course the servers just took it away without even asking as if they knew if they asked it was going to be bad. Taking advantage of unsuspecting tourists like this is just not on. Absolutely rubbish,"

Giorgio's Ristorante Italiano

Giorgio's Ristorante Italiano

70-72 Otley Road Headingley, Leeds, LS64BA, LS6 4BA, United Kingdom

Pasta • Pizza • Italian • Pollo E Carne


"Booked in here for Tuesday 24th April evening when the weather was rubbish and I had the holiday blues so didn 't want to cook and the added bonus of a Groupon voucher to use also swayed my decision. Parking isn 't great to start with and I 'd guiltily parked outside someones house down from the cinema entrance : We entered for them to address us quizzically and claim that even though I 'd called earlier to book us in with my Groupon voucher reference they had nothing in the diary.. We were seated anyway at a very small table squashed right up at the back we had to 'bump ' passed 3 other tables which I found quite rude to the people sat down. We had no sooner got our coats off picked the menu up then we were pounced on to take our drink order efficient maybe or just a bit too eager? We ordered a bottle of red wine anyway not the house which I thought was a bit steep for a basic wine! and it was brought quick as a flash they then expected us to be ready to order we had only been in the place 8 minutes! The waitress was sent back to us and we ordered the meat antipasti to start, followed by the Gnocchi for me Lasagna for the Mr. We were brought a bread basket when the wine was produced however the butter given was solid clearly not to be used!The bread was nice and fresh though. Again, i didn 't even get a sip of my wine before the food was placed in front of us had it been pre prepared sat waiting to be ordered? The starter platter was to feature ' A selection of Italian meats and cheeses served with artichokes, olives and homemade bread ' the only bread we had was from the initial bread basket and I wouldn 't call 2 olives a selection! The meat was good quality but we felt a tad disappointed overall. We then had to wait 15 minutes for our main! My Gnocchi was nice, if a little bit bland, so I needed to be a bit over generous with the seasoning myself it lacked a bit of bite to be honest but the portion size was good. My Mr didn 't have may complaints for the Lasagna other than it could do with a bit more meat! maybe just a man thing! While we were eating, the close proximity of the tables to each other caused a few 'moments ' with the waiters a full portion of chips lost down the back of a diners chair and a bottle of beer knocked off the table when his bum stuck out a bit much in squeezing passed! Not really what I want to watch when having my dinner. We asked for the bill and sat for nearly 10 mins before I got up and went to the counter to ask again they were in no rush to get it paid either so we took the bill to the counter and paid there. I can see a lot of people are impressed with this place and go back on a regular basis I 'm not won over after this visit however. the tables are too close together the service is either too eager or too laid back where is the happy medium the beer wine list is a bit pricey the menu descriptions are a bit over zealous or they need to actually deliver on the description the food lacked seasoning. From when I observed during our meal, they are not short of business and do a good student trade. I 'm not sure for the 'professional ' couple however they have the right service/food/price quality balance I would be looking for to go regularly."