Otello

When friends booked a table for our two families, having not visited before, I was a bit apprehensive after reading the last two reviews.

But we were pleasantly surprised. Serice was attentive, everyones food was appetising and arrived in good time.

Despite being a very wet Friday evening, the restaurant was 2/3 full when we arrived at 7:30pm, and there was a good atmosphere.

Food was reasonable value, but the only gripe we had was a charge of £4.95 for a childs portion of ice cream.

We are most likley to be making a return visit
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B.Kelly
Friday, January 04, 2008

Myself and my family are also unimpressed by the staff at this restaurant.

The service tonight was very hurried. The food seemed to be slapped down on our the table and snatched away once we had finished. Some of our orders took ages to arrive and when we made a polite enquiry as to how long it would be the response was poor.

It's a shame because the atmosphere and food are quite good, but the staff let the place down big time.
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Benn
Monday, December 24, 2007

We went in here tonight for a meal and when we sat down the waiter came over and told us that the restaurant had changed owners last week and there was a new rule that said we had to pay for the meal as soon as we ordered it, then they would bring us the food after we paid.

We were a part of 3, who had been out for the night in Brighton, and we were quite surprised at this demand for payment upon ordering.

We asked why this was the case and the waiter went away for a minute, when he came back he said the management suggested we find some place else to eat!

Quite frankly, we have never been so insulted in our all lives, I consider the attitude of the staff, and the management, to be an utter disgrace.

Be VERY careful if you plan on entertaining guests at this place, because they might do the same thing to you and ask you to pay up front, then tell you your not welcome in the place.
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Samantha Jones
Monday, December 10, 2007

love otello restaurant and now the new otello foodhall which is great we brought some lovely products from local producers really yummy.
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Wednesday, December 05, 2007

I've just visited Otello's new coffee shop next to the restaurant & have to say I was so disappointed. The shop looks amazing from the outside with really inviting displays tempting you in so I went in to get a take-away coffee during my lunch break. The service was so bad - painfully slow for one cup of coffee and the staff just looked miserable. I would expect a few teething problems and maybe service to be a little slow given the fact the shop has just opened but there is never an excuse for miserable staff who don't greet you with a smile or make any attempt at providing an acceptable level of customer service. In my opinion there is already plenty of choice for coffee shops in Hove with Costa Coffee, Cafe Nero and Starbucks all within walking distance. Otello's is going to have to try harder if it wants to win over customers. Unfortunately, the coffee isn't that great either!
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Kat
Tuesday, October 16, 2007

My family and friends have used this restaurant regularly since it opened and love it. They welcome children and really have a very good way with them treating them like little people instead of a nuisance. The food is consistently GOOD.

As for the two comments below..

It makes one wonder if people go out intent on finding fault , why don`t they just eat at home !!
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annabell - View all reviews by this user
Tuesday, September 04, 2007

These people are having a laugh!

Easily the worst (I want to say Italian, but that would be stretching the truth!) meal We have eaten in a long time.

Complained but no apology or refund, or even a free coffee!

Its obvious that cutting costs at one end but not the other is the idea at Otello.

DONT GO!
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Tim
Friday, August 31, 2007

My wife and I have just reurned from an appalling early evening meal at Otello. I should say that over the years we've visited quite a few times and although the quality of the pizzas has varied a little we've both considered it to be one of the better pizza places in the city.

Tonight we were kept waiting ages to be served (it was about 7pm but already very busy). We only ordered 2 pizzas, a side salad and a bottle of wine but the food took so long to come we'd almost finished the wine by the time it came. My pizza looked pretty grim and was the wrong one so I then had to wait ages for the right pizza to arrive. When it did arrive it looked horrible and tasted worse (Quattro Stagioni by the way!). The ham looked grey and was tasteless while the egg was virtually raw. I was so hungry that I ate about a third but then gave up in disgust. There hadn't been a word of apology so far so I asked to see the manager who explained they were short staffed (look out for the notice in the window advertising fo waiting staff vacancies-if it's still there I'd suggest you walk past!). He accepted the restaurant was having problems and didn't charge for the pizza but if they know they can't cope with a full restaurant why not close some of the tables down instead of ripping people off with lousy food and service?! I can only assume they'd prefer to serve lots of mediocre to poor meals and rely on future passing trade than serving a smaller number of good quality meals to people who'll return. By the way the salad never did arrive but after an hour and a half we'd comletely given up on that. My wife did say her pizza was fine by the way although on the basis of my taste while I was waiting for my correct order to arrive I thought the cheapie ones from the supermarket taste better.

Truly the worst pizza I've ever eaten so please do look out for that notice advertising for waiting staff and if it's still in the window walk on past or risk paying for inedible rubbish.
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Ian Grace
Saturday, August 11, 2007

Dined in Otello on Saturday night and had a great evening. The food really was superb, very flavoursome and I liked the atmosphere as there was quite a buzz. All in all, was pretty good value too. Would definitely eat there again.
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Fiona
Sunday, July 01, 2007

I have to say this is one of my all time favorite restaurants, i have dined here on many ocassions since the restaurant first opened. Otello's can get fairly busy on the weekends so would always advise to book a table but i have just up on the spare of the moment and have always been able to find us a table. Food is always top quality and plenty of it for the moeny. I never leave feeling hungry and most of the time cant order desert. The service is efficent and i have never been kept waiting long to order or for the food. It's friendly and welcoming and suitable for all ages. I will keep eating here for a long time to come.
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Sophie C
Wednesday, May 30, 2007