Novelli at City Quays

1. I visited this restaurant on the 11th of August to celebrate my birthday, expecting a pleasant dining experience. The ambiance and outdoor seating were indeed charming, and the food itself met my expectations. However, the positive aspects of my visit were overshadowed by the glaring issues with service that turned what should have been a special occasion into a frustrating ordeal.

   I had reserved a table for 4:00 PM, but despite arriving on time, I did not leave until 6:20 PM. This wasn’t by choice—I spent the majority of my time waiting for each course to be served. The delays were unacceptably long, and it quickly became clear that the restaurant was severely understaffed. Watching other tables experience similar delays only added to the sense of disorganization and poor management.

   The experience took a further downturn when we received the bill. My partner noticed that we had been charged full price for each dish, rather than the £28 special offer for a three-course meal that we had selected. This mistake could have easily gone unnoticed, and it’s concerning that such an error occurred in the first place. While the issue was corrected after we pointed it out, it left me wondering how many other customers might have been overcharged without realizing it.

   To add insult to injury, we were also hit with a £9 service charge. Given the painfully slow service and the overall disarray, this charge felt like an absolute slap in the face. It’s one thing to pay for good service, but to be charged extra after enduring such a disappointing experience is simply unacceptable. The lack of staff, the billing errors, and the audacity to impose a service charge despite these issues suggest a serious need for management to reassess their operations.

   This was supposed to be a memorable birthday dinner for all the right reasons, but unfortunately, it will be remembered for all the wrong ones. I hope the management takes these concerns seriously because, as it stands, I cannot recommend this restaurant to others, nor am I likely to return myself.
   Kind regards
   Anthony

2. I was recommended to come here by a friend as apparently the lamb here is good. For starters we ordered gin cured salmon and duck rillete. The gin cured salmon wasnt really enjoyable and it didnt really pair with the overly sweet bread and the cheese didnt really help, the duck rillete was enjoyable and it had good flavour it was nice with the crunchy toast. For the main meal we ordered dry aged 8oz rump steak, the irish lamb and the roasted beef sirloin. The rump steak was ordered medium but it was closer to medium well and it was a bit dry and side of chips had nice seasoning but were personally a little to big. The irish lamb was tasty and it was juicy. The beef sirloin was also tasty along with the side of dauphinoise potatoes ordered seperately. For dessert we ordered winter berries vacherin, salted caramel tart and creme brulee. All of the deserts were very good. Unfortunately when we were examining our water glass, napkins and cutlery we noticed the cutlery and water glass had many streaks which were kind of noticable and hard to ignore the napkins also had a bit of dirtiness which is probably hard to notice in the photos. The water served had notable amount of chlorine flavour which was dissapointing. The overall cleanliness of this place was underwhelming especially the seating, the floor which had many crumbs and tables which seemed to be a little damaged too. The atmosphere wasnt particularly fitting to the food due to this. I would go again for the food but the dirty environment is not enticing.

3. I really can’t say enough good things about the AC Marriott. I stayed for 5 nights, food was delicious, staff were lovely and friendly. The Friday night entertainment was exceptional, honestly the very best live singer I have ever heard!

4. We brought our Australian relative here and we had an amazing dinner. We had views of the Titanic building and H&W which was beautiful and the food was so good! Very well presented and cooked to perfection! The service was also really good! Very professional and friendly. Will definitely be back!

5. I was shocked by the poor quality of food on offer at dinner. The first photo attached was meant to be “gnocchi”, which was actually just fried potato and marinara sauce/ketchup. I sent it back and got the risotto, which was frozen peas and full of garlic clove butts (photos also attached.) it’s possible that this was just a bad day for the restaurant, maybe the chef wasn’t there. Both my breakfast and lunch service were really lovely and the staff for breakfast and lunch were really wonderful.

Comments are closed.