We recently visited and were not pleased with the wait times and service. It seems this ASK is prioritising Deliveroo orders over its customers in the restaurant. From ordering, we sat waiting with young children an hour and a half without our food arriving and without staff checking on us. We couldn't even get tap water!! The entire dining experience was slow and took over 2.5 hours in total, which was not by our choice. Several other tables seemed to have children in meltdowns for waiting on their food too.There was no lemon "shots" which we did politely ask for, but never received. The calamari was undercooked, pale, and unpleasant. The pizzas and pasta were basic and fine, but just not a good standard for eating out and paying extra for.The toilets were a mess to the point staff's solution was to lock two of the three cubicles, causing queues. There was no hand soap available either. The bench/booth we sat at was filthy and dirty hand marks all over the seat.Staff acknowledged the food was slow yet did not apologise. The slow, poor service was the second time it has happened recently. We won't be back to this ASK any more.
Wisner Neto
Not the best experience,Went in with my partner for nice dinner before our movie session. We had food delivered feom here before and it was amazing so we had some expectations build up.They got my partner's plate completely wrong so it went back, which is fine - it happens. When we got her king prawn and crayfish fresh pasta, it had only 3 praws and 5 small pieces of crayfish. Sauce and pasta were also juts sort of a blob with no real fresh flavours to it. Now looking at photos of this same dish on the reviews here we can tell it was a night and day difference in all aspects.While we were waiting for the correct dish to be made mine just sat on their counter and they yad to re-heat it later too. No one came to the table to check on the food during all the time we were eating, making the overall experience just a disappointment even if it had a nice environment.
Lyndsey Turner
Worst experience ever in ask Italian Basingstoke this evening !On arrival never got the usual lemonade there were 8 colleagues on shift and the chefs so not under staffedOrdered chicken lecca lecca that wasn’t cooked and prawns that were over cooked had to send the chicken backWaited an hour for mains to come out and when they did we witnessed a waitress kick cutlery with her dirty trainers into the cooking area through the doorApart from one waiter the others were rude de motivated and lacked any kind of hospitality skillsWe could not eat our mains due to them being watery and no longer wanting to eat from cutlery that may have seen the end of someone’s trainersWhen speaking to the manager she agreed the particular colleague shouldn’t have kicked cutlery and also agreed there was lack of any service or morale ! Over all terrible experience and won’t ever be going back !
Susan Robinson
We were a party of 9 who pre booked. 6 of the party arrived 10 minutes, early the remaining 3 on time. Drinks orders were taken but 20 minutes later no food order so we had to ask for someone to come and serve us. Just for information the restaurant was not busy with only 1 table of 2. After being in restaurant 1 hour we questioned where our food was as by this time there were 4 more tables who had partially received some of their order. The waitress just put her hands in the air and said ‘what do you want me to do’ . She then went on to argue that we hadn’t been waiting an hour which was a complete nonsense. We had 2 child menus in the group and when we asked where the starters for the children were, she again argued that we hadn’t ordered them, when this is a set menu where there is no choice for starters. When the children’s desserts arrived it consisted of 1 strawberry cut into 4 and two grapes cut in half (making 4 sections). You wouldn’t even give this to an infant as gone in a couple of bites. Not once was there a true apology. It was only when the food arrived with different waitresses that we received attentive service asking if everything was OK. We were given a bowl of chicken nuggets half way through our meal but still no apology for the bad attitude of the waitress and the delay. All the waitress had to do in the first instance was apologise for the delay and find out how long it would be. One of the excuses was a chef had gone on his break. We pre-booked so no excuse for this. We could understand if a busy restaurant but with 3/4 waiting staff with a handful of tables this is unacceptable.I would not recommend this chain in any circumstances.
shem_r0
Came here for the first time ever with my boyfriend for our anniversary dinner and was so excited to try the carbonara as it looked so good on the picture on the online menu. When it came out it looked nothing like the picture, it was genuinely just boiled pasta with olive oil and cheese. It tasted watery, bland and oily with absolutely NO ham at all!! I told one of the waiters that I had ordered a carbonara and was presented with what seemed to be plain linguine to which he responded ‘just needs a bit more sauce’. They brought out my dish again and this time it had ham on it although it still looked nothing like advertised. I gave it the benefit of the doubt and gave it a taste and it tasted the exact same. Bland, oily boiled pasta. I genuinely lost my appetite after 3 bites and felt scammed that this dish was £14 so I tried to call over a waiter and this is when the TERRIBLE customer service kicked in. I understand that the restaurant was busy but I was sat there for about 20 minutes with my hand up and said excuse me to every waiter that walked by just to get ignored. It was honestly humiliating. I finally got the attention of a waiter who didn’t come over and instead told me to wait and he’d be over in a minute but after 10 minutes of waiting he still didn’t come over and in the mean time we were STILL trying to speak to a waiter. Meanwhile I heard a man behind us, complaining about cold pasta and I went to ask him if he had complained, and he said that he did and they managed to take it off the bill. Finally a waiter came and I told him about the disgrace of a carbonara that was served to me and I asked for it to be taken off the bill to which he apologised and agreed to do. Then we just sat around waiting 30 minutes for anyone to come back and give us the bill. I was so upset and frustrated I was trying to hold back tears as I was REALLY looking forward to eating here for our date (I was so hungry too lol). Then it got even worse… the waiter had just gone to get us a bill to which another waiter came up to us and asked us if we wanted the bill. I told her it was already getting taken care of but then she came back with the bill full price without taking off the price of the carbonara. I told her we were meant to have the carbonara taken off the bill to which she crumpled the receipt in my boyfriend’s face, scoffed and walked off. We then had about 4 waiters crowded around us over this issue which was really overwhelming and embarrassing. The waiter came back with a new ‘upgraded’ bill to which she said the manager had given us a ‘manager discount’ of £7 off, I was appalled as we had been told that the carbonara would be completely taken off the bill as I didn’t even eat it and not some measly £7 discount. After arguing with her, she told me that I had to speak to the manager if I wanted it changed so I demanded to speak to the manager but never got to, it’s whatever because the waiter finally came back with the THIRD bill which took off the carbonara. All that hassle just to leave with an empty stomach. It was honestly the worst restaurant experience of my life, I cried as soon as I got home because it was so frustrating and humiliating. This is my first time writing a review on anything but the food & the customer service was so bad that I felt compelled to write this review. Do yourself a favour and never visit this restaurant. It needs a lot of work. I also have pictures of my bland pasta and all the receipts. I understand that maybe they are a troubled restaurant and low on staff but the bland food is definitely not worth the extortionate price. The customer service was terrible as well and usually I’m quite compassionate towards waiters as I know it’s a rough job, but they didn’t even come to check on us once. We practically had to beg to be heard out. As a restaurant please do better, I sincerely don’t want anyone else having this bad of an experience.
Megan Brook
Worst experience in Ask Basingstoke I've ever had.Whilst I appreciate they were understaffed, the service was appalling.Upon arrival, we weren't offered our free taste of the raspberry lemonade, and once we had ordered, it took our drinks 45 minutes to arrive. And that was after chasing up where they were.We watched people who had arrived after us, receive their starters AND their mains before us, all because as a party of 5, we had ordered pizzas.Apparently other customers took priority, because we had ordered 5 pizzas.Upon chasing up where our food was (we didn't order starters) we were told they were in the oven, and would be 8 minutes.Twenty minutes later, our food arrived (with us having watched it sit out on the cold pass for 5 minutes).This was a whole 1hr and 45 minutes after we had sat down!!At this point, the restaurant was empty, and they were prioritising cleaning and payments over food getting cold.Halfway through our meal, I then had to chase up where our sides were.We had intended to spend more money, by ordering desserts, but at this point, we all just wanted to leave and go home.We received no check backs with our food, and even whether we wanted more drinks whilst we waited.And whilst waiting to pay, the table next to us finally got their food...and found a hair in it!!The whole experience was appalling.None of our party will ever be going back, because despite being understaffed, the staff they did have there, didn't seem to care about their customers at all.Worst service ever.Parking: Festival place has 1000s of spaces
loggyboy
Food was good, once it arrived! Sat for over 30mins between finishing each course. Arrived at 115, we didn't get our desserts till 3:30. Staff seemed more interested in talking to each other or using their phones in the kitchen.
Emily Mccombe
Unfortunately the service recently has been awful. I find it really sad to say this because I love the food at Ask usually and I return time and time again despite the service for the food. It has been bad service for a while but this time it was too much. We arrived and as we were seated we were told they were a bit busy (despite 4 members of staff visible on the floor and only 12 tables of customers) and please be patient. Which we were, however waiting over half an hour without even having a drinks order taken or being acknowledged by a member of staff is taking the mick a little bit. We saw 2 other tables in our area (which was crammed virtually shoulder to shoulder despite loads of space elsewhere in the restaurant) sat for as long as us also without drinks and 2 tables who entered after us got served before us. 1 table that had no drinks gave up and walked out, and I have to say I have never walked out of a restaurant but in this case we had no choice. I hate complaining but I do feel like it needed to be said. This is not acceptable.
Gemma T
I just wanted to thank the staff for thier compassion and patience tonight. They not only catered for a family of 8 and sang Happy Birthday to 2 of us but most importantly, really helped with my nephew who has special needs. He was very overwhelmed and the staff did all they could to help. The food was delicious and timely and we are really grateful.
Resort55805046980
Took ages to get seated from front of house staff. Ordered peroni which came and was warm. Dinner was bland and service was poor. Wasn’t offered black pepper or Parmesan. All in all poor restaurant.
What a great place to eat. It was a full house yet the busy staff were never less than friendly, attentive and nothing was too much trouble. The food was served promptly and to a high presentation standard and it tasted just as good as it looked. It was my first visit to this restaurant and it won't be my last.
Coinneach Hurford
The food was really good, The Calamari was really light on the batter and great taste. I then had king prawn and crayfish tagliatelle which was also very nice. Also had a pudding, the small platter of 3 options to share, I would say the brownie is extremely small, however the tiramisu and salted caramel Panna cotta was lovely. The service was good enough and the atmosphere was okay, wasn’t blown away per say but the quality of the food helped.Vegetarian options: good options for vegetarians and even vegans, a good even split about 50/50Parking: Parking would be within the festival place car park. 2-3 hours will cost you £4. 3-4 hours will be £4.50 .Kid-friendliness: They have a starter, main course and dessert for £7.50 which does seem pretty decent value considering there is 3 courses.Wheelchair accessibility: The entrance is ground level with seating plan on the ground level, there is an upstairs level also which they could accommodate to other guests if you would need the seating downstairs
Hollie R
We had a great experience at Zizzi in Basingstoke. Unfortunately we didn't like our pizzas originally but we were able to get 2 new ones with no hassle. Great food and overall the service was great, especially Jodie!
hunny222016
We popped into Ask Basingstoke as a birthday treat for my granddaughter during her shopping trip, unfortunately we were greeted and advised that due to a busy early lunch and lack of staff, those that were on duty had not had breaks! We could not be seated although we’re only two adults and one child, absolutely disgusted and we were not the only small party refused entry
matthew blackman
fantastic restaurant, fantastic chain great food optionsreally tasty and very good professional
We recently visited and were not pleased with the wait times and service. It seems this ASK is prioritising Deliveroo orders over its customers in the restaurant. From ordering, we sat waiting with young children an hour and a half without our food arriving and without staff checking on us. We couldn't even get tap water!! The entire dining experience was slow and took over 2.5 hours in total, which was not by our choice. Several other tables seemed to have children in meltdowns for waiting on their food too.There was no lemon "shots" which we did politely ask for, but never received. The calamari was undercooked, pale, and unpleasant. The pizzas and pasta were basic and fine, but just not a good standard for eating out and paying extra for.The toilets were a mess to the point staff's solution was to lock two of the three cubicles, causing queues. There was no hand soap available either. The bench/booth we sat at was filthy and dirty hand marks all over the seat.Staff acknowledged the food was slow yet did not apologise. The slow, poor service was the second time it has happened recently. We won't be back to this ASK any more.
Not the best experience,Went in with my partner for nice dinner before our movie session. We had food delivered feom here before and it was amazing so we had some expectations build up.They got my partner's plate completely wrong so it went back, which is fine - it happens. When we got her king prawn and crayfish fresh pasta, it had only 3 praws and 5 small pieces of crayfish. Sauce and pasta were also juts sort of a blob with no real fresh flavours to it. Now looking at photos of this same dish on the reviews here we can tell it was a night and day difference in all aspects.While we were waiting for the correct dish to be made mine just sat on their counter and they yad to re-heat it later too. No one came to the table to check on the food during all the time we were eating, making the overall experience just a disappointment even if it had a nice environment.
Worst experience ever in ask Italian Basingstoke this evening !On arrival never got the usual lemonade there were 8 colleagues on shift and the chefs so not under staffedOrdered chicken lecca lecca that wasn’t cooked and prawns that were over cooked had to send the chicken backWaited an hour for mains to come out and when they did we witnessed a waitress kick cutlery with her dirty trainers into the cooking area through the doorApart from one waiter the others were rude de motivated and lacked any kind of hospitality skillsWe could not eat our mains due to them being watery and no longer wanting to eat from cutlery that may have seen the end of someone’s trainersWhen speaking to the manager she agreed the particular colleague shouldn’t have kicked cutlery and also agreed there was lack of any service or morale ! Over all terrible experience and won’t ever be going back !
We were a party of 9 who pre booked. 6 of the party arrived 10 minutes, early the remaining 3 on time. Drinks orders were taken but 20 minutes later no food order so we had to ask for someone to come and serve us. Just for information the restaurant was not busy with only 1 table of 2. After being in restaurant 1 hour we questioned where our food was as by this time there were 4 more tables who had partially received some of their order. The waitress just put her hands in the air and said ‘what do you want me to do’ . She then went on to argue that we hadn’t been waiting an hour which was a complete nonsense. We had 2 child menus in the group and when we asked where the starters for the children were, she again argued that we hadn’t ordered them, when this is a set menu where there is no choice for starters. When the children’s desserts arrived it consisted of 1 strawberry cut into 4 and two grapes cut in half (making 4 sections). You wouldn’t even give this to an infant as gone in a couple of bites. Not once was there a true apology. It was only when the food arrived with different waitresses that we received attentive service asking if everything was OK. We were given a bowl of chicken nuggets half way through our meal but still no apology for the bad attitude of the waitress and the delay. All the waitress had to do in the first instance was apologise for the delay and find out how long it would be. One of the excuses was a chef had gone on his break. We pre-booked so no excuse for this. We could understand if a busy restaurant but with 3/4 waiting staff with a handful of tables this is unacceptable.I would not recommend this chain in any circumstances.
Came here for the first time ever with my boyfriend for our anniversary dinner and was so excited to try the carbonara as it looked so good on the picture on the online menu. When it came out it looked nothing like the picture, it was genuinely just boiled pasta with olive oil and cheese. It tasted watery, bland and oily with absolutely NO ham at all!! I told one of the waiters that I had ordered a carbonara and was presented with what seemed to be plain linguine to which he responded ‘just needs a bit more sauce’. They brought out my dish again and this time it had ham on it although it still looked nothing like advertised. I gave it the benefit of the doubt and gave it a taste and it tasted the exact same. Bland, oily boiled pasta. I genuinely lost my appetite after 3 bites and felt scammed that this dish was £14 so I tried to call over a waiter and this is when the TERRIBLE customer service kicked in. I understand that the restaurant was busy but I was sat there for about 20 minutes with my hand up and said excuse me to every waiter that walked by just to get ignored. It was honestly humiliating. I finally got the attention of a waiter who didn’t come over and instead told me to wait and he’d be over in a minute but after 10 minutes of waiting he still didn’t come over and in the mean time we were STILL trying to speak to a waiter. Meanwhile I heard a man behind us, complaining about cold pasta and I went to ask him if he had complained, and he said that he did and they managed to take it off the bill. Finally a waiter came and I told him about the disgrace of a carbonara that was served to me and I asked for it to be taken off the bill to which he apologised and agreed to do. Then we just sat around waiting 30 minutes for anyone to come back and give us the bill. I was so upset and frustrated I was trying to hold back tears as I was REALLY looking forward to eating here for our date (I was so hungry too lol). Then it got even worse… the waiter had just gone to get us a bill to which another waiter came up to us and asked us if we wanted the bill. I told her it was already getting taken care of but then she came back with the bill full price without taking off the price of the carbonara. I told her we were meant to have the carbonara taken off the bill to which she crumpled the receipt in my boyfriend’s face, scoffed and walked off. We then had about 4 waiters crowded around us over this issue which was really overwhelming and embarrassing. The waiter came back with a new ‘upgraded’ bill to which she said the manager had given us a ‘manager discount’ of £7 off, I was appalled as we had been told that the carbonara would be completely taken off the bill as I didn’t even eat it and not some measly £7 discount. After arguing with her, she told me that I had to speak to the manager if I wanted it changed so I demanded to speak to the manager but never got to, it’s whatever because the waiter finally came back with the THIRD bill which took off the carbonara. All that hassle just to leave with an empty stomach. It was honestly the worst restaurant experience of my life, I cried as soon as I got home because it was so frustrating and humiliating. This is my first time writing a review on anything but the food & the customer service was so bad that I felt compelled to write this review. Do yourself a favour and never visit this restaurant. It needs a lot of work. I also have pictures of my bland pasta and all the receipts. I understand that maybe they are a troubled restaurant and low on staff but the bland food is definitely not worth the extortionate price. The customer service was terrible as well and usually I’m quite compassionate towards waiters as I know it’s a rough job, but they didn’t even come to check on us once. We practically had to beg to be heard out. As a restaurant please do better, I sincerely don’t want anyone else having this bad of an experience.
Worst experience in Ask Basingstoke I've ever had.Whilst I appreciate they were understaffed, the service was appalling.Upon arrival, we weren't offered our free taste of the raspberry lemonade, and once we had ordered, it took our drinks 45 minutes to arrive. And that was after chasing up where they were.We watched people who had arrived after us, receive their starters AND their mains before us, all because as a party of 5, we had ordered pizzas.Apparently other customers took priority, because we had ordered 5 pizzas.Upon chasing up where our food was (we didn't order starters) we were told they were in the oven, and would be 8 minutes.Twenty minutes later, our food arrived (with us having watched it sit out on the cold pass for 5 minutes).This was a whole 1hr and 45 minutes after we had sat down!!At this point, the restaurant was empty, and they were prioritising cleaning and payments over food getting cold.Halfway through our meal, I then had to chase up where our sides were.We had intended to spend more money, by ordering desserts, but at this point, we all just wanted to leave and go home.We received no check backs with our food, and even whether we wanted more drinks whilst we waited.And whilst waiting to pay, the table next to us finally got their food...and found a hair in it!!The whole experience was appalling.None of our party will ever be going back, because despite being understaffed, the staff they did have there, didn't seem to care about their customers at all.Worst service ever.Parking: Festival place has 1000s of spaces
Food was good, once it arrived! Sat for over 30mins between finishing each course. Arrived at 115, we didn't get our desserts till 3:30. Staff seemed more interested in talking to each other or using their phones in the kitchen.
Unfortunately the service recently has been awful. I find it really sad to say this because I love the food at Ask usually and I return time and time again despite the service for the food. It has been bad service for a while but this time it was too much. We arrived and as we were seated we were told they were a bit busy (despite 4 members of staff visible on the floor and only 12 tables of customers) and please be patient. Which we were, however waiting over half an hour without even having a drinks order taken or being acknowledged by a member of staff is taking the mick a little bit. We saw 2 other tables in our area (which was crammed virtually shoulder to shoulder despite loads of space elsewhere in the restaurant) sat for as long as us also without drinks and 2 tables who entered after us got served before us. 1 table that had no drinks gave up and walked out, and I have to say I have never walked out of a restaurant but in this case we had no choice. I hate complaining but I do feel like it needed to be said. This is not acceptable.
I just wanted to thank the staff for thier compassion and patience tonight. They not only catered for a family of 8 and sang Happy Birthday to 2 of us but most importantly, really helped with my nephew who has special needs. He was very overwhelmed and the staff did all they could to help. The food was delicious and timely and we are really grateful.
Took ages to get seated from front of house staff. Ordered peroni which came and was warm. Dinner was bland and service was poor. Wasn’t offered black pepper or Parmesan. All in all poor restaurant.
Restaurantji Recommends
What a great place to eat. It was a full house yet the busy staff were never less than friendly, attentive and nothing was too much trouble. The food was served promptly and to a high presentation standard and it tasted just as good as it looked. It was my first visit to this restaurant and it won't be my last.
The food was really good, The Calamari was really light on the batter and great taste. I then had king prawn and crayfish tagliatelle which was also very nice. Also had a pudding, the small platter of 3 options to share, I would say the brownie is extremely small, however the tiramisu and salted caramel Panna cotta was lovely. The service was good enough and the atmosphere was okay, wasn’t blown away per say but the quality of the food helped.Vegetarian options: good options for vegetarians and even vegans, a good even split about 50/50Parking: Parking would be within the festival place car park. 2-3 hours will cost you £4. 3-4 hours will be £4.50 .Kid-friendliness: They have a starter, main course and dessert for £7.50 which does seem pretty decent value considering there is 3 courses.Wheelchair accessibility: The entrance is ground level with seating plan on the ground level, there is an upstairs level also which they could accommodate to other guests if you would need the seating downstairs
We had a great experience at Zizzi in Basingstoke. Unfortunately we didn't like our pizzas originally but we were able to get 2 new ones with no hassle. Great food and overall the service was great, especially Jodie!
We popped into Ask Basingstoke as a birthday treat for my granddaughter during her shopping trip, unfortunately we were greeted and advised that due to a busy early lunch and lack of staff, those that were on duty had not had breaks! We could not be seated although we’re only two adults and one child, absolutely disgusted and we were not the only small party refused entry
fantastic restaurant, fantastic chain great food optionsreally tasty and very good professional