Al Duomo, Brighton

Last weekend, around 25 of us went to Al Duomo in Brighton. We'd been able to book it at relatively short notice so we weren't expecting it to be great... but as it turns out, "not great" doesn't quite cover it.

We were absolutely CRAMMED onto our table on the top floor - fair enough, they'd squeezed us in at the last minute after all - but over the whole meal they failed to remove any of the extra wineglasses, cutlery or even the olive plates and bread baskets so we had to do a lot of shuffling to make room for our meals.

Service was fast but far from friendly; there's something very off-putting about a sweaty, glaring waiter standing over you waiting for you to finish your main course. Our waiter seemed to have issues with personal space, too; the way he insisted on kissing the birthday girl and stroked my back every time he went past would have been unpleasant even if he hadn't been pouring with sweat. He made it pretty clear that my choosing a starter dish as my main course was inconvenient (although it was difficult to see how), and my request to have cream with my dessert instead of icecream was apparently just too much for him; I got the icecream anyway, but with literally a teaspoon of that frothy artificial cream you buy in spray cans. I was particularly amused when he failed to bring sugar for my partner's espresso, disappeared for ten minutes, and then actually told my partner "well you should have asked sooner" when he was told that the espresso had gone cold waiting for sugar; needless to say, he did NOT offer to replace it. The other waiting staff spoke little English, and seemed frequently to have no idea what dish they were serving.

Anyway, to the food. I had the Bresaola, which turned out to be a good choice as you can't get taking stuff out of a packet very wrong. It was served with olive oil, lemon juice, rocket and - unexpectedly since it wasn't on the menu, although it wasn't a problem - mascarpone, and was actually quite nice. My friends' pizzas were a mixed bag; from what I could gather the toppings were mostly fine if a bit bog-standard, but some of the bases were tough as if they'd been microwaved. The only meat dish our table had was the shank of lamb, which was TINY but apparently tasted OK, and was served with packet roasties and gravy - fine in a pub, a bit of a mick-take when it's costing you fifteen quid. My partner's pasta was frankly rubbish, and in spite of gluten-free pasta being offered on the menu his request had apparently been ignored. The sauce was basically cream and tiny, slightly suspect cubes of very-reconstituted-looking chicken - with lots of pepper and parmesan it was at best edible. Desserts were standard bought-in fare; apart from the above-mentioned problem with the cream, the only complaint was that some of them were maybe a little stale.

All in all, I wouldn't bother again. I'd expect better food for less money than Al Duomo charges, and the manners of the staff - especially our main waiter - were really pretty objectionable.

As a group of 6 we decided to head to Al Duomo for some pre theatre food. I'd seen on their website that they offered a very reasonable meal offer. 3 courses for £10 or 2 for £7.50 I think (but not very much really). The early evening was sunny and very warm so we opted to eat outdoors and ok, the tables and seating were a little wobbly and could probably do with updating but still for the price I wasn't expecting too much. I went for pizza as I'd heard reviews that praised it's wood fired cooking. We had a variety of starters including Whitebait, which was delicious, garlic mushrooms (plenty of) and bruschetta (looked nice enough). I wouldn't recommend the pasta mains as they looked pretty plain but the fish and pizza dishes were lovely, I had a traditional margheritta and it was almost as good as one I had in Naples (local fresh ingredients in Naples being the difference). We all (but one) plumped for the tiramisu which was very satisfying, creamy and not too filling. Someone else had chocolate cake which was huge and had to be finished off by everyone else having a taste, making it a good one to share perhaps ;) All in all for the money I couldn't fault it. If they could perhaps smarten up the outside seating (solid wooden benches perhaps?) then it would make it a lovely place to go.

Always busy, I often eat here with friends and family never disappointed good value and friendly staff much better than a few years ago

An awful place. Bad service, terrible terrible Italian food and full of loud drunken hen parties. Quite possibly the worst attempt at Italian food I have eaten, bears no relation to authentic Italian food.

It was like eating a microwave meal in a nightclub. Did they care when our party of nine complained.

A truly loathsome dining experience.

Very surprised at the poor reviews of the Al Duomo restaurant. We always have a great night out here and the food is excellent.

Having eaten at Al Duomo previously, I took a group of six friends there and was surprised by the very poor service. We had to leave after waiting 45 minutes for our starters, which failed to appear, despite being told twice that they were "on their way". There was no explanation or apology from the waiters beyond "we are busy", which was clear to see. The manager's assistant was sympathetic and we left her to deal with the party of 20 on the neighbouring table who had been waiting for over an hour for their starters.

Service at Al Duomo was the slow and the worst I have ever had in the UK. Refused to pay service charge and was subjected to a torrent of abuse.

The best part was the Manager standing outside the the restaurant on a busy Sunday, screaming obscenities at what he referred to as "ignorant English peasants" - try explaining that to yor six-year-old daughter. Probably needs a lesson in marketing techniques.