Peppone's - Menu

I, my man and our two young men wanted to visit peppones when our first meal came out of that. we had long been waiting for me to take on a function of Christma... read more I, my man and our two young men wanted to visit peppones when our first meal came out of that. we had long been waiting for me to take on a function of Christmas 2019 and the picky bits were delicious. we had tried to close it before! so we have the opportunity to book post covid. we have raised ourselves to a really warm welcome and were greeted by the owner, which was really nice. the waitress was also very pleasant and I must say if I was the best rating only in the service, it would be higher, as no complaining on this front in contrast to other reviews. However, we were only told as we came to the table that they were on a reduced menu that was not mentioned at all on the website, or when we were booked via the phone. there were only about 4-5 starters and a handful of pasta and main courses. our young people didn't want to eat on it, and when we asked if there was just a spaghetti bolognese or a spaghetti in Pomodoro sauce, we were told no by the waitress. So we ordered them something we knew they wouldn't eat, which meant we spent over £100 on a meal that our children hardly touched. our eating was good, but by no means excellent, which was a real scandal, as my experience with the pickling pieces had left me with high hopes! when the bill came, we were also quite overwhelmed to find that we served glass diet coke bottles and had spent near £25 on drinks. real shame, but expensive for what it was. we may return if it is back to the full menu to see if it was a disappointing experience, but would not take the children and as much as we do the first time!

We've just returned from our dinner at Peppone's and I wanted to give our review while it was fresh in my mind. Firstly, I can, in theory, completely envisage v... read more We've just returned from our dinner at Peppone's and I wanted to give our review while it was fresh in my mind. Firstly, I can, in theory, completely envisage visiting the restaurant under certain circumstances and having a wonderful time. Unfortunately, this evening wasn't those...circumstances for us. We were greeted warmly by the chef, who, when we enquired how he was, said he was tired. Yikes, but hey, we asked! As he showed us to our table he explained that he *had* saved the best table for us as we'd reserved early, but then he'd given it away to other customers who wanted to move inside. So, we were shown to a table in the middle of the restaurant that we immediately noted was uneven. Our drinks order was taken quickly, at which time we informed the waiter about the wonky table and asked if there was something he could wedge it level with. The first thing he said was just lean on it'.... Thinking I'd misheard I asked again and he said he'd see what he could do', he never returned so we made do with the wonky table for the rest of the meal. Our drinks order was fulfilled in good time, unfortunately the same cannot be said for our food order. Firstly, it's worth knowing that the current menu is vastly reduced from the website, this is understandable in these times. There was no explanation of the dishes on the menu so we made use of the free wifi to look up dishes. And so we waited. And waited. And waited. We waited as other diners who had arrived after us had their orders taken. Half an hour later I grew a tad fed up and caught a waitress' eye who explained the chef takes the orders (more on that later) and he'd be with us in a moment. So, we waited a while longer while the exuberantly verbose chef finished his conversations at other tables. Finally our orders were taken. The wait for our food wasn't at all bad, no complaints there. Unfortunately the food was not great. Definitely not bad, but not great. My boyfriend had chicken in what he said tasted like a jar of Dolmio (yikes and chips that he said were obviously McCain's oven chips. I had chicken with mushrooms that I enjoyed. Unfortunately the potatoes that accompanied it, while tasty, were cold. As were the veggies. What Peppone's needs is a **** good manager, because nobody seems to know what they're doing. Every member of staff seemed to have one very specific job which they didn't deviate from. The *only* person who took dinner orders was the chef. The waiter who took our drinks order 'just lean on it' guy) seemed perpetually confused, resulting in the chef yelling at him several times while we were there. The female waitress took pudding orders. She might have had other duties but we didn't witness them. So, we had chef Pepe taking customers to their tables, taking orders, regularly leaving the kitchen to converse with customers, cooking the food (one assumes), advising on wine choices, recommending changes to customers' orders, as well as playing DJ (he obviously decided the atmosphere needed livening up as he played several very loud disco style songs towards the end of our meals, accompanied by disco lights. Yes, really After finally getting our bill (only one person was able to do that, so we had to wait... again) we were then disappointed to find we'd been overcharged for drinks. Finally we got to pay the correct amount (we had to wait for the one and only member of staff who could take payment) and leave. In conclusion, we didn't stop laughing all evening, unfortunately for all the wrong reasons. I can't help but think that if Chef Pepe was able to have faith in his staff to take care of things front of house and leave him to focus on the food, this restaurant would be significantly improved.