Zizzi, Surbiton

A few days before I went to the restaurant to book a table for 4 for a birthday celebration and asked if a table was available which I wanted was told no problem gave my mobile no in case there was and heard nothing. On

arrival we were shown to a table elsewhere and when I asked what about the

one I wanted was told bluntly that it was not free as they were expecting a

large party. The large party who turned up were 4 like us. I went back to Zizzi,Surbiton a few days later to complain but got nowhere asked to speak to

the Manager and said if I could not have that table why did I not get a call.

Because of the attitude I will never go there again and I know others who wont.

We went in and were the only two customers so you would think service would be excellent - wrong! The blonde male waiter was obsessed with his looks and could not stop preening himself - whilst forgetting about our drinks and food. He was chatting to the bartender about his plans for the evening and failed to bring our food until someone came out to remind him.

Such a shame as the Zizzi in Guildford is excellent. I live in SUrbiton and I secretly was hoping that Zizzi would close and Pizza Express would take over the beautiful building. We now have Pizza Express and we are going to go there from now one.

Four of us visited Zizz's (Kingston Upon Thames) on 13 Feb 2011. The delay for our order to be taken was beyond a joke where my friend had to get up and request some service to the gathered waiters having a chat after a 30 minute wait. Please note it was a Sunday evening and the place was half empty. I ordered a chicken ciabatta salad with avocado. When it arrived I went straight for a slice of avocade and it was rock hard. I informed the waiter who was still putting down my friends main courses and he took it to the kitchen. The response was that because avocado is listed on the menu they gave me the only avocado they had left in the kitchen eventhough they knew it to be rock hard. We were all so surprise let alone they gave me this unedible avocado but the fact they admitted they did it knowingly instead of saying the dish was off the menu so I could pick something different. They offered not to charge for my meal which was fair enough.

Then to desert, my boyfriend and I ordered the oven baked bread and butter pudding to share and we were warned it would take 10-15 minutes which we were fine about. 35 minutes later were understandably were not happy anymore and when my friend confronted the manager she was outrageously rude and non apologetic. The experience was a shambles and we were all very annoyed when we left. To say the least we are all going to avoid this restaurant in Kingston like the plague. Such a shame!

Zizzi Surbiton, 13.12.10.

We had seating booked for 7.30 and arrived promptly. We were given glasses of water and our drink order was taken 30 minutes later. Our main meal order was taken 45 minutes after arrival. When we asked for our shared starters the staff were vague. The manageress was called and asked about our starters and she was quite rude. we eventually received the starters 70 minutes after our arrival. The main meals arrived on freezing cold plates, hence food was only warm, one of our party didn't get a main meal as they had run out of the food that was ordered. We were asked to pay a hefty service charge which we refused, they did take it off the bill. Needless to say we will not be going back.

Zizzi in Surbiton is in a beautiful old building, and the atmosphere is great, it is just a shame that the service is so bad, and the food so disappointing. We went with a group of 8, hardly an unmanageable number, and our visit was a uncatalogued of disappointments. We were shown to a dirty table, and whilst a member of staff did turn up with a cloth and some cleaning spray, she just left it on the table and disappeared, so we eventually just wiped up for ourselves. It took 20 minutes for them to deliver a glass of water, and my main course arrived a full half an hour before everyone else's, meaning that it was cold by the time the rest arrived. Portion sizes were also amazingly disparate, with people ordering the same dish receiving a half the amount of food as their neighbour. We questioned all of this at the time and the staff were delightfully vague, utterly obtuse, and largely absent. To top it all off, the pasta wasn't cooked - and I don't mean al dente, I mean spaghetti all stuck together in one immovable crunchy block. Spectacularly poor all round.

Our food took over an hour to arrive. Our requests to chase the order were largely ignored.

When the food finally arrived, the calzones were burnt and therefore the crusts were inedible.

I wouldn't go there again and certainly wouldn't recommend Zizzi.

It was with great delight that a good 'chain' style restaurant opened up in Surbiton last year. Although Surbiton has numerous other restaurants, just sometimes you want to go somewhere where you already know what to expect without venturing too far afield! You won't be disappointed here. Zizzi's sells good Italian food at reasonable prices. We love the ambience and styling at the Surbiton restaurant - soothing colours and great loos! The pods toward the back of the restaurant are also great if you want a small private party and make it feel quite exclusive. I have never had a bad meal at Zizzi's and love the fact that the service is usually quite slick and the food is tasty. In my opinion, Zizzi's is now the restaurant chain of choice over Strada.