Bar Italia Review

I feel of late my reviews on Fluid have veered to the negative. When I venture out to a pub or restaurant I want to enjoy the experience. I really do! I want good beer, fine foods and witty conversation (to drown out my witless ones). In other words, even though I’m Scottish, I don’t go out searching for a lousy time. Actually, you may surmise – I’m Scottish I certainly don’t want to go out, have a lousy time and pay for it (we prefer not to do the latter at all!).

You can see where this review is heading; it’s just lacking block capitals and a giant arrow.

A friend and I were going out to the cinema and fancied a quick bite. Lothian Road is stacked with small eateries of all descriptions and we fell on Bar Italia mainly because it was early on a Sunday evening and was the only one that had customers.

Having been shown to our table we both ordered pasta starters and pizza mains, I had a delicious spaghetti carbonara, followed by a fine, fresh spicy chicken pizza.

So if the food was good, what went wrong?

One word, service.

Well three to be honest as there should be a ‘lack of’ in front of it.

Firstly we were sat in the smoking section and weren’t asked if that was where we wanted to be. It wasn’t and the restaurant was three quarters empty so there was no need to be sat in the midst of a blue gray haze.

Then there was the glasses our drinks arrived in, both were dirty.

My pizza knife was encrusted with cheese from a previous meal.

So was the one they gave me when I asked for a replacement.

The third was mercifully cheddar free (when I started at least).

We finished our main course and the waiter cleared away our plates and glasses and we sat and waited to be offered a sweet menu, coffee or something to finish off with.

And we sat.

And sat.

And… you get the idea.

We tried getting eye contact with a waiter but failed.

A gentleman was sat at the table next to us, was served, ate his pizza and had left before anybody deigned to ask if we wanted anything else.

After it had become clear that we would be waiting a while I’d actually taken note of the time, we had sat for thirty five minutes in a pizzeria not even a third full and been totally ignored.

When finally somebody asked if we wanted anything else, there was only one thing for it, the bill. It wasn’t cheap; two starters, two cokes and two pizzas came to £32 and this didn’t include service – which saved a scene.

I realise that service is difficult to get right but there’s no excuse for not covering the basics: clean cutlery, passing out the sweet menus and remembering that the customers are actually there. Fortunately we were en-route to our night out but if we had simply been going for a meal then the evening would have been ruined....read more

Customer Reviews for Bar Italia

Average (based on 3 votes): 3 Atmosphere: Value: Quality:

The following customer reviews are not endorsed by Fluid Edinburgh and are simply those of users who wish to publish their independent experiences of Bar Italia.

“I've been going to Bar Italia with my girlfriend for at least one year and I've never been disappointed. It's a busy Italian restaurant with very tasty food at a reasonable price. I'm just writing this review to make some justice to the restaurant, as some previous reviews are quite unfair! NO...you don't need to be drunk to go there and enjoy a very nice meal... do bear in mind that being quite a busy place you might have to wait a few aditional minutes to get served. This is quite normal and happens in every busy restaurant. The food, I suggest the seafood filled pasta, the calzonne and as dessert the canolo sicilliano... you'll not be disappointed unless you're a bitter picky bastard... Give it a go...”
Atmosphere: Value: Quality:
John, Edinburgh (3 years 8 months 8 days ago)

“Absolutely catastrophic. The worst house wine I have ever tasted and two very average pizzas which took an hour to arrive (restaurant was about 1/5 full) because waiter and pizza chef somehow contirved to mislay the order check. Bill was presented with 10% service charge which was the final insult. This was deducted along with another 50% for the substandard food, wine and service supplied. Frankly, they were lucky to get any money at all. Avoid unless very drunk and very hungry. This being so, you'd be as well going for a kebab.”
Atmosphere: Value: Quality:
John Hunt, Edinburgh (4 years 4 months 10 days ago)

“We went to Bar Italia after a concert at the Usher Hall and had an excellent meal along with fine red wine. The meal was reasonably priced, the staff were very friendly and the atmosphere was great. The only complaint I would say is that I was served MUSHY canned peas with my steak (yuk)!!”
Atmosphere: Value: Quality:
JANE, scotland (5 years 2 months ago)

Additional Information

• Cuisine Type: Italian
• Dress Code: Not Specified
• Group: (Independent/Freehouse)