Luigi's has a stellar reputation in Cork, so I booked it last Wednesday with a group of friends expecting something pretty decent. As I was leaving work I told my colleague where we were headed. She warned me not to, said that Luigi's in Cork was top class but the one in Temple Bar was severely disappointing. Coming out on the other end, I'd consider her diagnosis complimentary. I really can't knock the food, which was at all times solid not spectacular, but for the following issues with the service, I firmly believe the staff of this establishment should be boxed up and dispatched to Algeria or somewhere.
Having booked earlier in the day, we arrived around 8pm. Once inside, the maitre d's counter was empty and he was nowhere to be seen. There were three to four parties, four to five at most per table.
Two to three minutes later, the headset-clad maitre d' approached us and, back turned to us, clocked our 8.15 reservation into the system, taking the bones of 30 seconds clocking our reservation into the system - despite the fact that we were in fact, the only remaining reservation. With the headset, he looked like he worked for Arby's or Eddie Rockett's. The headset never came off for the night for some reason, which added a nice drive through fast food feel to the experience.
We firstly ordered wings to share while we read the menu and had a drink, asking for them to be served while we decided what to order. They were, in fact, served 30 minutes later with our starter.
Our waitress, a British fortysomething, gave a performance so pitiful she made the maitre d' look good. She seemed to forget we were paying guests in a restaurant and not prisoners waiting on rations at Auschwitz. For each course she literally asked "what do you want?" .. When one of our party ordered something very basic she remarked 'nice choice' , which I genuinely have no idea was sarcasm or sincerity.
I enquired about one of the cocktails to ask what type of liquor was in it. Waitress response: 'I'm not sure, I could ask the barman if you want?' ...
After finally taking away all of our main courses - all at different times and without asking if we'd finished, on one occasion having to be restrained because our party who hadn't finished was in fact in the bathroom - we were left sitting there for 10-15 minutes attempting to hail our Nazi waitress, which was like trying to find a taxi on Jazz Weekend in Cork. When we finally did get a hold of the lady to request a dessert menu, she emerged minutes later with one menu - for a party of four. We helped ourselves to a menu from each of our surrounding tables, a task that seemed a bit much for a British waiter of three groups of four.
Our bill came to €200 between the four of us. While I can't knock the food in any shape or form, the atmosphere was so nonexistent and the service so offensively bad that it's hard to believe this establishment could have any association to its counterpart in Cork - for shame, Luigi's. read more