Joya Italian Steakhouse
6 Grand Parade, Bath BA2 4DF
Date of visit: Wednesday 27th September 2023
Upon arrival, the building seemed to be in good exterior condition, however there was no visible parking other than a loading bay outside. The restaurant seemed small from the street but continued further back than expected. The front door was blocked off with a sign stating to use the side door which was around the corner in an ally way with the door surrounded by bins. When entering the restaurant, it was occupied by only one other table and with one waitress serving the table and working the bar as well as running downstairs to the lower floor to collect and serve food. The waitress seemed friendly but unenthusiastic and inattentive as she was glued to her phone more than fifty percent of the time. The menu had an easy-to-read layout, and an array of options surrounds your steak choices.
My colleague ordered a Sirloin steak with the rosemary salt, garlic and parsley butter and peppercorn sauce at the price of £26.95, which was accompanied by 1 singular small tomato. The steak was "cooked to perfection" in their words but overcooked for a medium-rare order. The peppercorn sauce had a good taste, however, was very runny and buttery to the point of being sickly. And then a portion of chips at the price of £3.50 which we both agreed, resembled unsalted McDonalds chips at best. Accompanied by a pineapple juice for £2.00 in a pineapple shaped glass and a dried pineapple slice, this was an enjoyable, refreshing and good value beverage.
For myself I ordered the spaghetti and meatballs at the price of £15.95 which overpriced immensely especially due to the minuscule proportion of the plate which was unfortunately below average as it was swimming in grease and oil and the pasta itself was undercooked and hard not the mention the frozen meatballs which were cold in the middle. To wash down the unsufferable amounts of oil I had a regular can of coke for the disgusting price of £3.20 which is £2.20 more than a supermarket.
The desserts however seemed a fair value for money as they were larger than expected proportions. The Chocolate fudge cake with a side of vanilla ice cream at £7.50 was extremely enjoyable especially the homemade ice cream the other downside with the extreme overuse of icing sugar. On the other hand, the Crème Brulee was in a large but shallow pot which seemed to have been microwaved for 2 seconds as the pot was room tempt and the crème brulee was stone cold and did cause me to feel momentarily sick.
The decor had obvious effort behind it, but there were small imperfections that completely off balanced the look of the restaurant. For example, next to no lighting for the stairs going to the second floor of seating, the seating itself being very cramped and non-wheelchair friendly, and small things such as paint jobs and filling. The table décor was simplistic and presentable, however there was a lack of condiments on some tables, such as ours. The blue and copper theme was quite nice and fit the restaurant, and the bar was decorated well, with ample lighting. The surrounding area of the bar was very cramped with tables pushed against the bar and closely together. The route to the bathroom was an experience and a half, walking downstairs, past the foul-smelling kitchen, and past the repulsive cleaning supply closet that was ironically, not clean. The bathroom was not kept in good condition, with over-flowing bins and lack of toilet roll in the cubicles.
Now let's discuss hygiene or lack thereof. From a quick glance it seems clean and upkept however when you look at the glasses there are marks on all of them. They aren't cleaned and dried they just seem to be swilled with water. And after ordering our meals I knocked my fork on the floor when moving the drinks menu. The waitress kindly swapped it for a clean on from the table next to us. However, she then put my dirty fork in the place of the fork on the other table so now that table will eat with a fork which has been on the floor. Not great. On top on that, after the other party left the waitress barely contacted the table when wiping then down with no spray or cleaning agent. Then before we ordered our dessert, we saw the chef with no hair net or beard net.
Altogether we paid £77.89 for 2 mains, 2 desserts and 2 drinks each.
Main course - 2.25/5
Dessert - 2.5/5
Hospitality - 1.5/5
Cleanliness - 1.5/5
Drinks - 2.5/5
Overall value - 2/5
Decor - 2.5/5
Overall rating - 2/5
Would be recommend or return? No read more