Unadulterated mediocrity makes for a tough review, especially when you're limited to a five-star rating. While two stars seems like a miserly score, Yelp's accompanying description sums up my experience at Sinatra's perfectly: Meh. I've had better.
Me and my girly visited Sinatra's for my impromptu birthday dinner yesterday evening. We decided to go at the last minute and, due to the glorious weather, everyone in Nottingham had decided to go out too, so it was to be expected that a lot of the nicer restaurants might be quite busy. However, this was the exchange between myself and waiter 'Mark' (I can't remember if this was his name or not), who greeted us when we entered:
Mark: Table for two?
Me: Yes please.
Mark: Did you book in advance?
Me: Uh... no.
Mark. Oh, well, sorry - we're very busy.
Uh... what? You can't start by offering us a table and *then* ask if we've made reservations, then refusing us a table! I thought I'd try the pulling the birthday card to see if it made any difference:
Me: It *is* my birthday, though.
Mark: Well then you should have booked.
Wow - Mark clearly wasn't paying attention in Customer Service School. At this point I lost any interest I had in Sinatra's and turned to walk away. I think Mark may have panicked slightly at this point and offered us a table in the Bistro. This is a section of Sinatra's that isn't any different to the main restaurant except that it's closer to the bar and has comfier chairs.
I ordered the Chicken & Bacon Caesar Salad and we had a side garlic bread and fries (which were recommended by Mark). The food was completely unremarkable, with the exception of the bacon my Caesar Salad which, rather than being chopped up or diced pancetta-style, were served as two whole strips resting atop my salad and looked like they had been cured for a long sea voyage. Impressively, the bacon tasted even worse than it looked, with a horrible overbearing residual flavour of
salt and fat. The fries tasted exactly the same, only with twice as much salt. This may seem fairly picky, but why do Sinatra's serve bacon and fries flavoured exclusively with sodium and lard, then give me a small pot of cheap low-fat mayonnaise?
The service was fine, although I was obviously put off by Mark following our initial exchange. This was not helped when the bill arrived with a 10% service charge automatically added with no mention of it being 'voluntary' or any option to have it removed. I never tip unless the service is exceptional, so to force my hand into paying extra for such average service and a far-less-than exceptional meal is bordering on offensive.
Of course, the only way to have the extra 10% removed would have been to call someone over, take exception to the charge, get a new bill printed, and in the meantime know that the waiters would be pointing me out to each other through the kitchen doors and telling each other what a complete asshole I am. As it was my birthday, I decided to skip this step and pay the 10%.
Sinatra's isn't terrible, but it is distinctly unremarkable, bordering on being a bit rubbish. If you want a standout Italian meal for a decent price, good service and an *optional* service charge, try Strada instead. read more