Polpo Notting Hill Gate - London

This was my first and last visit to this restaurant. We arrived in the late afternoon to find the restaurant half-empty, but the service was still slow. Despite a busy lunch rush, the slow service was not justified with fewer people in the restaurant. I was unfamiliar with the menu and ended up ordering something unknown, which turned out to be a disappointing version of chicken satay. The dish did not satisfy my hunger and left me feeling very hangry.

When it came to the food, we both chose the sea bass with broad bean artichoke vignole (which was a bargain at £11) and the zucchini salad with some delightful arancini to start. The company of the charming woman made for a lovely evening. The food met our expectations, but what really stood out was the exceptional service from the team looking after us. They were welcoming and made the evening very special. A big thank you to Tonchi, Kristo, and Sheila for a most enjoyable evening. I heard that Polpo will be closing, but I hope the wonderful staff find new opportunities elsewhere. I also hope that the charming woman from Notting Hill will join me for dinner again in the future.

The food is average at best. The prices may seem reasonable at first, but the portions are small and you'll likely need to order multiple dishes to feel satisfied. It took two hours for our wine to arrive, even though the restaurant was half empty. When our food finally came, some dishes were missing without any apology or explanation. The waiting staff appeared disinterested and avoided interacting with us at all costs.

We inside with my GF for dinner, we got a nice table by the window. They brought us menu, but for 20 minutes no-one approached our table, we had to wave several times to order the aperitif. After that again, 15/20 and no-one came to take food order of ask if we needed help. We called again a waiter who said yes I 'm coming and he went behind the bar to talk and laugh with his college. At that time we decide to leave withoit even eat. It really seem that managers and waiter don 't care about customers. Very poor experience, I definitely won 't go back with such a huge ammkunt of restaurant in London.

We arrived to be shown a table for 2 at the back of the restaurant because an available table by the window had not been cleaned. The server took our order from memory, brought the wrong wine and then having taken it away (we discovered afterwards) charged us for it. And at the end of the meal a 12.5% service charge was added to add insult to injury