Borchelli

Today we had lunch at Borchellis and unfortunately experienced some terrible customer service and attitude, by who I imagine was a manager. Yesterday I had called to booked and informed them we would have a pram for our newborn, and today when we arrived our reserved table was at the back of the seating area. It was tight with tables and chairs so we were unable to fit our pram next to our table without great difficulty, and asking people eating to relocate their seats. We had politely asked if we could move to another empty table with easy access for our pram. We arrived at 11.30am so there was about 15 empty tables around us and many more suitable options without people on them. We assumed this would be a simple request as we were one of the very few people at the restaurant at this time, and we didn’t wish to disrupt the couple enjoying their lunch so we could wedge our pram in to the back section of the seating area, but apparently this was not the case. The tone that we were spoken to was quite confronting, everyone eating at the front of the restaurant was watching. I explained to the manager the pram would not fit beside our table, which she strongly disagreed and said that was the only table we could sit on. When I tried to fit the pram in, it was in fact too large and I had to ask the couple beside us, during their meal to pick up their seats and move, in a near empty restaurant. They moved over which then blocked off the staffs access to another large table, making the whole experience a stressful, and unnecessary from the beginning. Why we couldn’t have been sat somewhere in a near empty restaurant, that didn’t cause a scene with the manager and me disrupting a couples lunch I’m not sure. The food on the other hand was great. I’m disappointed to have had such a negative and avoidable situation, because we will not be returning.

Fantastic food. Super authentic. It is always extremely busy so be sure to book. It did take 30mins to get our order taken but as I work in hospitality I understand that most places are struggling to find enough staff to keep up with busy demands so this did not impact my view on the quality of the restaurant. The veal and spaghetti marinara were amazing. Not a scrap left on our plates!