Needs Tweaking
Lovely setting in Pinner High Street – so far so good. On entering the restaurant we were quickly shown to the table that we had reserved for a birthday celebration, where some of the others had already arrived. From the start it was clear that there was no real organisation, as there was confusion about the number of people ordering from the set menu and it seemed as though the waitress had not listened to instruction. What didn't help was the fact that she seemed to be running the show on her own while the other two stood around chatting. I ordered from the set menu and was astonished at the amount of food on the platter for 2! In the end there were 4 of us eating from it and still there was far too much. It was like something out of Man V Food! Similar story with the main as the Calzone could only be described as vast. However what I did manage to eat did taste very good! It also would have been helpful if the waitress had cleared the starter plates and platters prior to serving the main. In addition, no new cutlery was provided and it was fortunate that I had carefully harvested my old cutlery, in anticipation of this. Half way through the meal some of our group started to get cold and we had to speak to a member of staff about the heating situation. Nothing was done so some coats went on. The bucket collecting rain water dripping through the ceiling behind our table added to this misery and coupled with the lack of music made for bad ambience. As it was a birthday celebration one of our party had approached the restaurant with regard to using our own home-made birthday cake, something which they were very accommodating about. It was brought over to our table complete with candles. Some of the group did order dessert and there were comments made that the pistachio ice cream had turned. Was happy that I had stuck to taking home a piece of cake in a doggy bag! Despite points made above, we generally had a nice time but had to overlook a few things (serial whinger would have had a field day!). Final insult was when free bottle of bubbly was charged on the bill. In total the bill was sent back three times for amendment – not that I think they were trying to swindle us but rather showed lack of organisation and to some extent ineptitude of serving staff, who to be honest could have done with a bit of assistance at times from colleagues. Zizzi Pinner seem to be muddling along a bit. If they get their house in order this could be a nice little eatery.