ASK Italian in Chelmsford

Came to pick up delivery and the lady at front blond hair is racist to towards me never gonna pick up delivery from this restaurant

Amazing food as always! Brilliant service from Krystal too :)

Our waitress Krystal was very nice, my son has a severe nut allergy, and she was amazing. She asked if there were any allergies as soon as we walked in, and immediately gave us the allergy guide. The food was very quick and very good, we had a lovely time!

Our waitress was India. She was lovely. Very attentive. Although the restaurant was busy and so was she, she still took the time to explain why there was a delay. Had a yummy meal.

Plus point. Despite it being busy we did get a table for 4 almost instantly Down side is from ordering food to actually having served was almost an hour. Then to add to this one of the meals was on the cool side. In that hour not once were we informed is was going to a while. No one asked if we needed extra drinks or anything . I feel really diappointed. As nirmally service is pretty good. Perhaps we were unlucky. However they did not seem to have enough staff on duty.

I recommend this restaurant and Baeta for its impeccable service and recommendations!

best dinner of my life. the waitress (maisie) served us with eloquence and poise and i would honestly say she is the best waitress i've ever interacted with. maisie ensured to constantly check on us and provide us with the highest hospitality one could ask for. if you ever visit ask italian chelmsford look out for this gem. thanks maisie for making me and my family so happy.

Good food, very friendly waitress.

It was nice experience,and overall the food quality was amazing

Never fails to impress. Great service, great food, affordable wine and a lovely evening. The Chocolate Bomb was a highlight! 👌

A good restaurant to choose for an informal lunch. Very good starters of lightly hand battered calamari with a mild garlic and herb dip, and, succelent crumbed chicked pieces with a delicious spiced fresh tomato dip. A mixed salami pizza with red onions and optional olives was lovely. Our other pizza was a calzone with mushroom and spinach which was not properly hot in the middle of the parcel. The excellent waitress had both pizzas re-made and they were ready together, hot and fresh and delicious - great service! We had a couple of bottles of well chilled Italian white wine. Total bill £85.

Absolutely lovely Lovely food Lovely service Great atmosphere on a busy night as well Definitely recommend and will be going back again

Lovely atmosphere Lovely waitress Beata

The food was great, we enjoyed every part of our meal. The restaurant was clean and the atmosphere was relaxing. The waitress that we had just seemed to be on the less friendly and approachable side and a bit abrasive.

Good Italian food, decent price, good location. 🤌🍕

Rebecca was very lovely and food was great. would definitely come again !

Food was amazing and our waitress was so lovely and made our evening enjoyable. Great atmosphere too. Can't wait to come back.

I made a reservation before hand and confirmed this through their system, however they claimed they never recieved it? Thank god it was not to busy otherwise we may not have got to have our meal! The main courses as well as the service where amazing. However the dessert my friend had was frozen solid! Watching her try to eat it, although admittedly ammusing, was obvs not ideal and needed to be replaced. Then the second had cardboard in it! Staff where nice enough to take it off the end of our final bill but feel like it let the side down a little bit. Other than that all good. All be it a bit pricy

Just finished paying the bill , lovely experience , well looked after by Bex , the monthly reward was a bonus , thank you so much !

My husband and I were impressed with the food, never eaten here before, will revisit. The staff also were all friendly.

Very lovely indeed, perfect cuisine and excellent service.

This was our fifth time at Ask Italian since it opened a few years back. And we thought that the service has gone downhill since our last visit. Food was okay, some of the new items we tried didn’t hit the spot, but we had to wait a long time for our order to arrive (and my daughter was starving), while our server who took the order sat down at the table next to us and ate, passing our table off to another server. We could see that our food had been cooked and left at the counter for about ten minutes before it was served to us (and we had to remind the staff that we were waiting). When we were having our mains, my partner asked for an extra plate for himself, but after waiting for 4-5 minutes he had to go and grab one himself from the counter where they were stacked. Suffice to say that, we were left disappointed by the whole experience.

Lovely food and staff! Ross who looked after us was really helpful and made our night. Thank you.

Ask italian chain is my favourite of all times. I live their food and they have homemade lemonade. What's there not to love? 😍

The food was delicious! Fast service and friendly staff. However not so much Christmas decorations which was weird for end of November.

Food great. Service from staff very poor indeed 😢 I won't be back. You need to get staffing issues sorted.

Service was terrible, very slow, and waitresses did not seem very interested in their jobs, waited over half an hour for our sweet, but food was very nice when we eventually got it!

Not very happy about the service - I double checked with staff that they would use the tastecard offer for our desserts as well as mains, they said yes, but they didn’t. I only realised afterwards that they had overcharged us as they didn’t show me the bill. Not good after experiencing slow service all night despite it not being busy. At least the food was good.

We went for a family meal to celebrate my son's baptism. They had a couple of waitresses' that they did not know what they were doing. We were served by the manager who was very friendly and helpful.

Well where can I start . …. Waiting time at the door 4 + minutes , no one around at least say Hi !????? Waiting for a drinks to order 20+ minutes Drinks were delivered after another 15 minutes after our waitress took the order !!!!! Another 30 minutes for the food to be delivered to our table . Every single table around was complaining and asking how long more ???? Plenty of staff on a shift ( max 8-10 tables in ) but the only one seemed to be actually doing something ( poor waitress Kateryna ) trying to handle the whole restaurant while management and other staff members having a chat behind the bar !This is not a service you expect from a chain . However, the food was very nice , compliments to the chef .

High quality food, good service, friendly staff. Enjoyed an evening out with family, who thought the price was reasonable, but being from the Midlands it seemed expensive to us. However it was a most enjoyable evening made better by the high standard of service and food.

Well I had to wait half an hour to be seated then another half an hour to be served the service was awful

Fantastic food and service was excellent 👌

Lunchtime stop off. Quiet so no atmosphere to speak of. Good was very good, but the service was ok, maybe they were just allowing us time to enjoy the quieter surroundings.

Staff were amazing and food was absolutely 💯 👌 I even managed to eat my wife and daughters left overs and will definitely be coming back

We arrived and nobody came to greet us, female waitress walked past us with no acknowledgement. Eventually we were seated but the service was very poor and so extremely slow! It was reasonably busy in there but only 2 female waitresses serving. Our food was ok but we were just left for ages waiting for food to be served along with anybody coming back to clear our plates. Had to ask as the waitress was walking past if we see the dessert menu, long wait again for order to be taken and for them to eventually arrive. Once they were delivered to the table there were no spoons brought so had to get up and go to the station to get our own! All in all wished we had not of bothered as they certainly were not attentive or customer aware so from our experience, will not be using here again and certainly would not recommend.

Very slow service not enough staff Very slow service with drinks as well

Hadn’t eaten here for over a year but my partner and I were looking for a nice outdoor table to enjoy the last warm Sunday afternoon of the summer. We eat out a lot in Chelmsford. The service was really excellent - knowledgeable staff who know how to be there when you need them and leave you alone when you’re enjoying your food! The food was gorgeous - wonderful fresh pasta (hard to find as it’s usually dried pasta), lovely burrata to start and partner had a great calzone. Really enjoyable and ten times better than Pizza Express! Highly recommend.

My friend and I had a lovely meal here. Food was lovely, desser yummy and the staff friendly and attentive. Would go again

Great food and atmosphere. Would recommend for a family night out as my boys loved the food 😊 Shannon was really friendly and gave great service. Will be coming back.

Visited with friends and children. Food was tasteless, pasta clumped together Service was poor, seemed like they didn’t want to be there . Friends son knocked a drink over & was crying - he was soaked and was sitting in a puddle asked for a new chair - got tutted at - - despite the 5 year old being really upset, they said no to giving him another drink without charging him so we didn’t order deserts after All out of principle. Wouldn’t return as food didn’t taste of anything.

Food was tasteless Service was poor My son knocked a drink over ( he’s 5 and was crying - the waitress saw him knock it as soon as the drink was put down , he was soaked and was sitting in a puddle ) I had to ask for a new chair - got tutted at - Still charged us for the drink and told us we had to pay £2 for a new one - despite the 5 year old being really upset. - so we cancelled our 4 deserts and went else where for pudding. Wouldn’t return as food didn’t taste of anything.

Understaffed. I've been here a few times, the food is always good which keeps me coming back. But this restaurant does not have enough staff. Usually there is one person front of house, who is clearly working hard, but is unable to serve everyone at once. This means people wait to be seated, wait to order, wait to pay. I have witnessed the venue be at about 40% full and customers are turned away. The staff are unable to cater for more. I waited for about an hour after my main meal to pay. In the end, I wasn't the only table, who actually went to the bar to pay for our bill. This isn't the current staffs fault as they are working tirelessly, they just need more staff to improve the overall experience and service.

Oh dear I should have read the reviews. So Sunday lunch place is empty. All we had to listen to was the chef shouting & messing around singing . Staff seemed like it was a chore to serve customers that did come in. Service was slow. Saw them acknowledge people then say be with you in a minute I'm making a spritzer lol. Food was fine other than pasta was stuck together. Needs a good dust on shelf behind the seats. Overall we won't go back, not the standard iv experienced from this chain.

Friendly welcome and prompt service on a fairly lively Saturday evening. Four meals ordered each freshly cooked and enjoyed by their recipient.

Greeted quickly, sat to a table quickly. Restaurant quiet. Ordered drinks. I ordered the rose spritz special - what I got was like warm rose mixed with lemonade. Ordered a adult starter to share and main each. Ordered tiny tums and kids main. In an hour and 10 mins all we had was the Luke warm rose, kid had a drink and the “free” crudities. Baby had breadsticks and dip, and we had our starter. The plates for said starter weren’t taken away, so I’m actually just presuming that the kitchen never knew we were finished to prepare for our mains. The kids were left hungry. We cancelled our food, paid a bill Of what we’d ate Which ended up working out to be an expensive bread order..and we ended up in Nando’s.

Lovely food ,pleasant staff and not over loaded with tables to close together. Very enjoyable evening

I was really impressed with the service here, I'm an awkward customer due to coeliacs but I was really impressed by their diligence and attitude.

Very disappointing with the service. Went on Sunday evening with only half a dozen tables occupied. Got drinks quickly and then food at 7.30 pm but was then forgotten about. We wanted desert but noone came. It took until 10.30 to get desert and coffee. When I mentioned the service one of the staff replied I’m afraid that’s the way it is. I’m wondering if it’s because my partner was coloured because all the other tables were waited on much more efficiently.

Usually review Ask 4 or 5 stars. This was our poorest experience of this restaurant chain to date. Slow to take our order. Had our starter before drinks arrived and that’s only because we asked again for them. Met with ‘we are sorry we’ve got too much to do’ they are either short staffed or badly managed or both. Sides also didn’t arrive. Food was average although dessert was v good. Waited ages for plates to be cleared. Wouldn’t return to this branch

We booked a lunchtime slot fir 3 at 13:00 on a Thursday in half term. We arrived on time and greeted with a bar packed full of drinks and a half filled restaurant with 6-7 wandering around looking all very stressed. The person behind the bar, and 2 front of house staff walked passed and did not acknowledge us. After 4/5 minutes another member of arrived and didn’t say anything about our wait but seated us. We were given menus and chose our meal. Another waitress walked passed and said she would take our order in a minute. We didn’t see her again. After about 10 minutes of being ignored, we left and ate a Wagamama’s. As we left the waiter said, thanks for coming in…we won’t be eating here again. We have visited many Ask Italian’s with alot less staff on busier days. Manager of this one needs to re think his career, and build a functional team.

This place used to be lovely and the food was great! I went with my friends and my pasta was quite undercooked and their lasagna literally had no mince in it! It was very thin and was just pasta sheets. The dessert was also not hot even though the menu stated ‘hot chocolate fondant’. The manager said it is meant to be warm but she was quite rude in how she said it. When they gave us new desserts they didn’t come over to check it was okay or clear our plates. I had to call them over to ask for the bill. Such a disappointment as Ask used to have lovely food and service.

Ordered a take away a basic small chesse pizza and two pasta dishes with a small very dry garlic bread both pasta dishes had very little meat just pasta and hardly any sauce for the cost of this take away they should be ashamed at £45 the dishes were neither big enough or tasty or fulfilling don't buy this very small tasteless rubbish better off with a pot noodle seriously

Good food, staff friendly and helpful

We use to enjoy ASK pre-pandemic. It was a reasonably priced, family friendly, Italian restaurant. Now it is a place to enjoy a disaster of a meal, married with some poor service. We sat down and enjoyed the starter, which took a long time to come considering the restaurant was less the 40% full, but it was OK. After another unreasonable wait we had the mains turn up. The pasta dishes were clumped together and warm in the middle but not warm on the outside. They clearly hadn’t salted the water they cooked it in. It felt like the tried to make it in-pasta-able to eat. My wife’s sea bass was in a broth rather than white wine sauce, and was poorly cooked with a soggy skin. It certainly wasn’t better than being slapped with a wet wish, as the saying goes. The taste was horrible and the dish was cold. The staff spent more time on their phones than attending to the customers. I thought I was being unreasonable, but then I watched them pull a massively long hair out of a nearby tables dish, and then do nothing about it. After watching several tables complain, I thought it is time to bail, so we left and had dessert somewhere else. The waitress didn’t ask my wife why she had left most of her meal, and when payment came she skipped past the part where we could leave a tip. They know their place has gone down the pan. It was nice that she recognised her establishment had done such a poor job. Bearing in mind Chelmsford has become a city of restaurants, the question you would have to ASK yourself, is why bother?

Dreadful place - bad staff attitude from the manager down. Rude and offhand. Sarcasm is not a good way to speak to a customer when they ask why ingredients are advertised in the menu and not put into what they serve. In answer to a query about a mojito with no lime or mint there was no apology - just a gesture to a delivery lorry outside the window and “it’s on the lorry” was said with a shrug. If the manager speaks to people like that what hope is there for the rest of the staff. We were served undercooked fettuccine (difficult to cut with a knife and very difficult to eat), a cremated pizza which was charcoal black on the base) and the whole meal was a waste of money. I gather that this chain is struggling - here’s hoping that they give up the battle quite soon. Dreadful dreadful place.

Unfortunately food was very bad. Very disappointing as restaurant manager doesn’t seem to care much!

Honestly a very embarrassing performance. Simple mistakes compounded by a blaze attitude and total lack of accountability. We were left speechless at the sheer audacity that continued through the evening despite our continued tolerance and politeness to the abysmal service. Safe to say we will not be returning.

Probably won't be going back. An hour to get the starters, 45 minutes to get the main courses. People who arrived after us received their orders ahead of us. A bit chaotic to say the least. Not the first time this has happened.

Lovely meal and excellent service received. Thank you especially to Lauren and Sophie. We will be back!

I went here the other day with 2 other people and we was waiting to be shown our table for ages. 2 of the colleges was chatting at the back of the restaurant for a while. Finally got there attention. While sitting down 3 people sat next to us after us and they got there drinks and there mains and paid!! While we was still waiting for our drinks! Not enough staff.

The lady manager was very rude.

The last couple of times we visited this restaurant there was a long wait for our order. But the last time the wait was a joke. We booked our table for 18:30pm on Saturday 18th March 23. I requested to sit in a booth. When we arrived we were seated at a table very close to the toilet. I informed the lady that seated us could we sit in a booth as I requested she said rather rudely that it was first come first served. If only this was the case when we placed our order. We waited over an hour for our starters. It was over an hour before our mains arrived. Two separate lots of diners that arrived an hour after us had their starters and were tucking into their mains. We spent 3 hours in the restaurant. Most of the time waiting for our food. The waitress was very apologetic and informed us there was an issue with the new head chef. We were giving a small discount of our bill. As a result of sitting for three hours on a very hard chair my husband got a very bad cramp in his legs. He suffers from this if he sits on a hard chair for two long. We won’t be in a hurry to dine in Ask Italian in the foreseeable future.

Good good all hot and came out super quick drinks came out quick although at first we did get wrong drinks but was sorted straight away Good meal as always thanks

Visited ASK Italian a couple of weeks ago. As far as myself and my wife are concerned, this is not the place to go if you're hungry. We both had pasta and the portions are little more than a child's portion. The pasta cost was...

Went out for an impromptu pizza dinner and Ask Italian didn't disappoint. They found us a table and we're attentive throughout. The food was great, we had a meat pizza and a veggie calzone with sides of garlic bread all were cooked brilliantly and very tasty. The place was busy but we were neither rushed nor ignored and were able to enjoy the atmosphere and each others company. Overall a great meal and very good value for money.

Very nice! Great service and lovely food including some items you do not get in other chain Italian restaurants. King prawn starter delicious and a generous portion too if you like massive prawns. Pizzas and pasta very nice too. I cannot fault this place, overall...

Portions have shrunk to starter size in their new bowls. Left hungry

Visited before Christmas for a networking lunch, and was very happy with service and quality of the food - you know what you're getting with ASK - and it didn't disappoint, quality pizza/pasta and a nice glass of red wine over lunch, with a view of the river. Small downside is it can be a bit 'echoey' in there - but its minor enough not to cause issue.

We went on Sunday Jan 15, the chicken was burnt and the service very slow. The restaurant was full and it was obvious they were accepting more customers than they could deal with. For two adults and a four year old we ended up paying...

Small portions, average food, long wait, pasta isnt worth £16 anywhere

I spent over 200£ to have rushed food dry prawns and bread and the anti pasti had more a lot of cheese with three meats... pizza wasn't cooked enough. The one in southend is far better than chelmsford

It was meant to be a lovely meal with the girls however it was far from. Firstly we arrived at the door and were not greeted by any staff for 15 mins. Secondly we ordered bottled water and the bottle came to the table half full with the cap off, after waiting 15 minutes for our drinks. We then ordered some garlic bread whilst we waited for our friend to arrive, this took a further 25minutes in which time our friend had arrived and was sat waiting to order a drink and for us to order our main for 15 minutes. When ordering we asked for one glass this took a further two more times of asking before it came 30mins later. When the food finally arrived it was luke warm and was cold by the time we finished but It did taste nice. A side note the roast potatoes were not roast they were actually new potatoes. Finally we would have happily given feedback about our food not being hot however we were not asked once how our food was even when the plates were being cleared or whilst paying the bill, hence why we have come to leave a review.

Late lunch so a bit quieter than usual which didn't add to the experience

Waited for 10 mins and no one even acknowledged us or said anything. Left due to Awful service.

Four people dinning in excellent service one of few places that get hot food to your table.ASK for Sam very helpful 😇

The food was really nice however the service wasn't so great I had to ask one of the waiters to clear the table then had to get up to get the dessert menu had to wait 10 minutes after ordering the dessert to be told 2 things we had asked for had ran out we did complain to the manager got told the poor service was down to WiFi going down didn't know waiter's ran in WiFi don't think I would go back and I wouldn't recommend it

Shame because the food is nice and the staff is trying their best but it is seriously understaffed. It took me 2 hours to have a 2 course meal and one drink- you shouldn’t take bookings for tables if you do not have the staff to give them a good service. Disappointing.

Food was lukewarm and service was very poor, would not recommend

Took ages to get served and when we did I got a vegetarian starter instead of a vegan one! It was one mistake after another. I felt like I was in a Fawlty Towers sitcom.

cold pizza, order chip, never came! lovely waitresses told us to just pay for the drinks. dont come here if your hungry!!!!! never again going here and dont recommend!

No need to Ask for more when these fine folks look after you. Really good value...do tip as they earn it!

Great food, fair prices, friendly staff. A place to visit again. Thank you!

Great service and tiramisu as usual. First time trying the carbonara and wasn’t a fan (very fatty bacon and not much of it) but that’s just personal preference. They have great other dishes.

Food was OK, service not good. The two waitresses did a fantastic job, but seriously understaffed. Too many customers for staff. Bad management.

We used to rate Ask Italian as one of our favourite places to go. There was four of us. Started off ok starter came quickly and was ok. Then waited ages for main course When it did turn up the sides were forgotten about. No apology given. Not once asked if our food was ok or if we wanted more to drink The food has gone down in my expectations which is a shame. When it came to paying we had two vouchers towards the cost which we gave to the waitress Then the manager came over very abruptly asking how much was on the cards I said both come to £50 together he snapped at me What do you mean £25 on each I replied that’s right he then stomped off looking annoyed. Then the waitress came back with the bill and stood over us to take the payment. We wasn’t left to look at the bill on our own We paid Not leaving a tip as we normally would. We were left very bewildered at the lack of interest and attentiveness given from the staff there Such a shame I’ve given £20 tip before there as the staff were amazing. What’s happened. I feel the staff need people training it’s such a disappointing shame

While out shopping with my daughters, I thought I would treat them to lunch, went into the Chelmsford branch, the restaurant was pretty much empty, bar 3 tables, and we were turned away because we had no booking...I didn't realise that business was that good that they no longer take walk in trade...very disappointing...

Our family party of 9 was wonderfully looked after by Matt our waiter on a busy Friday evening. He deligently took note of all the allergies and made sure that everyone had something that they could eat. He made everyone feel welcome and made the...

Had a lovely meal here for our friends birthday, made special by the incredible Matt!! He was so knowledgable on all of the allergens, even recited them when we asked!! Food was speedy, wine was flowing, and my friend got a free bday sundae!! Thanks...

Nice restaurant, authentic Italian food

Amazing food. Rubbish service. Both waiter and waitress were abrupt and rude. Was shown to a table with direct sunlight in our eyes so we asked to switch and was told to wait a minute. After waiting a while for a response we just moved ourselves. My 18 month olds meal was brought out almost ten minutes before mine. The plate was put in front of her piping hot, before I had a chance to check her food she’d already put a piece of chicken in her mouth then cried as it had burnt her mouth. I then moved the plate away to cut up and cool and gave her some water. Because her meal had been brought out so long before mine she had nearly finished hers by the time I was starting mine. After a while I asked the waitress if she could check where my meal was, she said she thinks it will be here in a minute but my no effort to go and look. Eventually my meal came out. The food was really lovely and tasted amazing. I had to eat very quickly though as my 18 month old was nearly finished meaning I couldn’t enjoy my meal. I then requested our desserts be brought out together and the waiter was irritated by this reasonable request to eat together but reluctantly agreed. Desserts were equally delicious. I requested the bill whilst cleaning up my 18 month old and the waitress had a sudden change in attitude and became all smily and friendly. I was surprised by this but then noticed the tip request on the card reader she was holding out to me. I did not leave a tip as was very disappointed with the attitudes of the waiter staff. Food is 10 out of 10 but the service is a 0.

Nice food and good value. Great selection and something for every one

Me and my boyfriend had some Tesco vouchers to use for Ask Italian, so we came here for dinner one night and we are glad we did. We had shared a glass of white wine throughout dinner which was lovely although not chilled whilst on...

As a shielded person from covid only now starting to go out this restaurant in Chelmsford has doors open and screens up between tables which makes me feel at ease we reserve table which is nearer to the door the only one niggle I have is when people start to come in they fill up tables next to ours instead of spreading them around the room

Waited an hour for main meals, didn't seem to be the best ingredients

Pasta came out like warm whilst waiting for pizzas and had to be sent back . It was all tasty. Not enough pasta to satisfy hungry people who had to fill up at home.

We attended the restaurant as a group of 6. Our waitor was nice, approachable and wasn't afraid to make a joke at trying to remember all our drinks and food based on his memory! The food was lovely, the only downside was they seemed to...

Slow service on a quiet evening (25~ mins to order and receive just drinks) Starters were what you expect from the usual suspects of high street Italian chain restaurants, simple and tasty however unimaginative. Mains were nearly inedible, couldn’t help but awkwardly laugh with pity...

This is one of our favourite Ask Italian restaurants. The food was beautiful and hot. We had Sam Johnson as our waiter and he was great. We didn't feel rushed at all but he was quick to respond if we needed anything. He was friendly...

We have been to Ask Chelmsford often over the years and it has been a reliably good restaurant. However, the food we have had recently is poor. Risotto a sticky pile of stodge , frilly linguini pasta undercooked and rubbery (this was sent back as it was inedible). For dessert, I had Sicilian lemon tart with cream. The tart was so sugary. It was more like a runny jam tart and the cream so thin it was like pouring milk over it. Yuk!