A week ago I purchased a 4 course meal deal for 2 ($49 only) from Ouffer.com.Au.
I had previously been to Cicciolina Newtown about 3 years ago and had loved the experience back then. So I thought there is no way I am going to miss out on this deal.
I am just back from Cicciolina, I must say that my 4 course authentic Italian meal can simply described as a "4 course dining disaster". The experience was simply shocking. The deal allows customers to choose entrees, mains and desserts from a list of about 30 different and awesome items on the menu. When we asked the waitress (Sofia) to give us the menu, she comes with a menu that has not more than 7 items to choose from. She said for entrees you can only get the garlic bread and for mains you can choose from a list of only 4 items. I was utterly shocked. I was being ripped off in my face. I told the waitress in a very polite way that there probably is a misunderstanding as to why I am being offered this because the deal says that I can order whatever I want. She just would not agree. I then asked to speak to her manager. She said she does not have a manager on the floor. She then started saying that she will charge us for glass of coke which she willingly offered to swap for the wine (we do not drink wine). I then said that I would complain to Ouffer and her boss. I told her I am not leaving the restaurant without ordering and eating what I paid for. She was amazingly rude and started to negotiate. These were her exact words “ because our kitchen is not very busy I will allow you to choose whatever main you want from the menu”. By then I was pretty annoyed. I put my foot down and I demanded that I get what I paid for. She then in a very disgruntled way allowed us to order what we were entitled to.
For entrees we had the Calamari Fritti and Garlic Prawns. I swear this is true – The Garlic Prawn entrée had only 4 of the tiniest prawns and mind you this entrée actually costs $15 on the menu. So we were paying about $4 for each Prawn. The Calamari Fritti was ridiculously salty. For mains we ordered the Linguini prawns and Rissotto Funghi. They offered us baby portions. We had a look at other tables in the restaurant and the food that was served to them; the portions were way larger than ours. For dessert we ordered the pana cotta and the orange cake. The pana cotta was lovely but the orange cake was disgustingly stale. It was bitter to the core.
By now dear reader you must have realised that the management and staff at Cicciolina are absolute Hippocrates. They do not offer customers what they have promised to and websites like Ouffer and the others should distance themselves from such restaurants.
Guys, there are far better Italian restaurants in Sydney. You should not go to Cicciolina because it’s not worth your money and time. I had the most horrible dining experience that I will go nowhere close to this awful restaurant.
I then wrote an email to ouffer at [email protected] asking them for an explanation and to invetigate into the matter. All that they did was send me a copy of their terms and conditions and offered no explanation. I am very disappointed with ouffer and would recommend customers not to use this dodgy website.
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