Ask Italian is situated in the middle of a busy retail park in Horwich and only a few minutes walk from my office. Any time we have a team lunch out - it's always here and it's always great. Pizza is, obviously, always my first choice here. Their pizza bases are thin and crispy and they love to experiment with a huge choice of toppings too. The pizza pictured, was lovely! I have tried some pasta dishes here too - the mushroom tortellini being one of my favourites. If you ever find yourself in Middlebrook retail park and get hungry - I would recommend Ask. read more

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I have wanted to try out Ask, in Bolton for a while now, located at the Middlebrook Retail Park in Horwich, it is in quite a nice location, next to Bella Itallia, just up a lif in the retail park, as this is located in a large retail park there is alot of competition for this cusine type such as Bella Itallia or others, including Nando's for Chicken and Chiquito for mexican food. The staff here did seem quite nice, and inside it was the quite a nice place as well with some italian decor going back to the roots of this restauraunt, this was nice. I ordered a Gluten Free Margharita Buffala pizza, which simply is a Margharia with Buffalo Mozzerella, it was quite nice, albeit there was probably too much buffalo mozzerella, and big lumps of it, the base was quite nice too but sadly it was a little soggy. I also ordered some potatoes to go with my meal, they were quite nice with the oil they put them in and a nice gluten free side, if you are a coeliac like myself. The service did seem quite quick, but I felt rushed as they come over when I hadn't decided what to order yet, and then came nowhere near me so I had to do a huge wave across the restauraunt, like a kid would do to say goodbye. The pricing seemed reasonable, especially with my Tastecard which gave me 2-4-1, albeit this was only one lot despite there being 4 diners overall, which was a shame. Overall, this is quite a nice place, but is sadly too much on the average side to warrant anything over 3 stars. read more

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Really very very good! I love that this is an Italian chain where it's NOT the old kitch Disney-fied Italian restaurants of yesteryear with wood panelling and cheesy music. It's modern, fresh and bright, with clean sharp lines and modern fixtures and fittings, managing to feel both comfortable and sophisticated at the same time. The service is friendly and very professional and efficient. The menu itself has a good variety without being overwhelming, and prices are on the slightly-pricy range, but no more so than other big restaurants. The food itself is incredible. It's perfectly cooked and seasoned, and you can most definitely tell that it's fresh... just try the peppeoni dough balls and balsamic vinegar/olive oil to verify that for yourself! I really enjoyed eating here, and look forward to doing so again in future! :) read more

I've eaten at Ask Italian and I must say What a nice place, what a horrible staff management! The restaurant itself is, given that it's a chain, very standard, but modern and clean. No special atmosphere here, but I've seen worse. The pizza was great, very nice crust and good ingredients Once we finally got the order, that is. When I came in first, I was told to come back half an hour later despite enough empty tables waiting for guests and I started to understand why: The place is horribly understaffed, and, looking at other reviews for other Ask Italian restaurants, doesn't seem to be the only one. It comes off as a very obvious ploy to save money and it shows. Food was getting done but the waiters Only 3 for a peak hour! struggled a lot to keep up. Despite all the stress, the service was still great and the waitress was very polite and apologetic about the wait. The food was definitely nice for the price and the drinks were okay (though I wouldn't recommend getting a dessert, they are overpriced) so I didn't mind the wait too much, but it definitely put down the whole experience. I recommend either bringing enough patience or going to a different, decent Italian place that knows how important a full staff is! read more