ask in Basildon

Delicious food and great service 😋

Bit shi7 really. Food poor... Service good

Cosy atmosphere, delicious food

Felt like deliveries where priority over customer in restaurant...

Went as a group for a family meal. Food was good for a chain restaurant. Would return for sure. Reasonably priced.

My wife and I had an excellent Valentines day lunch, as always here food was delicious, Staff friendly and helpful, well done Jane, on leaving we booked for our next visit.

Karl was absolutely fantastic and made us all really welcome x

*disclaimer, the service rating is purely about waiting time not our server!* The food was great, the service was a little slow but our server Ellen made up for it, she was super helpful and really friendly and approachable with anything we needed. thank you Ellen for a great time! We took our leftover food home and Ellen was more than happy to help us with containers, bags, and she noticed how much we loved the chilli oil so have us a small pot to put on our leftovers which was really sweet!! She also took the time to top up our bottle of wine throughout our meal! :) Thank You Ellen!

Amazing place. Took my daughter for a dinner. The food was very, very tasty. My daughter can be fussy about food, but not here. She enjoyed every dish we ordered. Service is pleasant too. Thank you.

Usually really enjoy the Billericay ask when we dine in but ordered take out yesterday and it was appalling, the calzone was the size of a single slice of pizza and had literally nothing inside it, how the chef thought it was acceptable to send out for an almost £20 meal is crazy. Totally disgusting

Foods great, service even better - always with a smile, what’s not to like.

The food was good as usual but the service was not. We waited quite a long time after the starters and then two meals came out then the third meal came out and we had to wait for the fourth meal and one of us had to get up from our table to find someone to ask for more drinks. We were very disappointed with the lack of service on this occasion.

Had a lovely time and great meal

ASK Italian in Billericay is a culinary gem that consistently exceeds expectations. From the moment you step in, the warm ambiance and attentive staff make you feel right at home. The menu is a tantalizing journey through authentic Italian flavors, featuring well-executed classics and innovative twists. Each dish is a masterpiece, showcasing fresh, high-quality ingredients. The welcoming atmosphere, combined with the perfect blend of tradition and modernity, ensures a dining experience that leaves a lasting impression. ASK Italian in Billericay is a true celebration of Italian gastronomy, and it's a delightful destination for any discerning food enthusiast.

I usually don't bother giving bad reviews, but I feel I need to say something... I'll start with the positives, the food was very nice and the company was great. It took about 10-15 minutes to take our drink orders and a further 20-25 minutes for the drinks to turn up. We did remind them 3 times. I had given up timing the rest, but it was a long time before we received our mains. I think the thing that annoyed me the most was when I told the manager (assume he was the manager) whilst paying the bill about the service, he didn't even say sorry, just made some story up about running around in the kitchen trying to organise things. Word of advice... even if you dont mean it, just say sorry!!!

Been sitting in the restaurant for 1 hr 20 mins so far..and I'm still waiting for a pizza. The waiter is friendly but the kids are starving. Not sure whether to continue waiting or go somewhere else....suspect I'd eat sooner if I did to elsewhere. Sadly I wish I never came here.

Had a great dinner on 15th September. Food and service were excellent. It's never going to be like eating in Italy but the antipasto and Gran Riserva Peroni were very tasty! Recommend.

Very nice service. Food portions are on the smaller side but tasty. Overall, it was a pleasant experience

I LOVED the food it was amazing

Beautiful food and charming staff

Excellent food and service. Friendly staff.

Very nice Italian on the high street. Good menu and tasty food

Good food friendly helpful staff

Prepare for a tale of a perplexing dining adventure at Ask Italian in Billericay. Picture this: we walked in, excited to indulge in some delicious Italian cuisine. Little did we know that we were about to embark on a surreal journey through an abandoned restaurant. Upon entering, we eagerly anticipated the warm greeting of attentive staff. Alas, reality struck with a vengeance. We stood there, patiently waiting, for a staggering 20 minutes. To our astonishment, there wasn't a single staff member in sight. It was as if we had stumbled upon a ghost town rather than a bustling eatery. As minutes turned into an eternity, we began to wonder if we had entered an alternate universe where diners were left to fend for themselves. Our attempts to catch the attention of anyone in the vicinity proved futile. The silence was deafening, broken only by our rumbling stomachs and incredulous whispers. Now, don't get me wrong. We appreciate a quiet dining atmosphere, but this was on a whole new level. It felt as though the staff had embarked on an impromptu hide-and-seek tournament without informing the customers. Spoiler alert: we were not in the mood to participate. In the end, we reluctantly bid adieu to Ask Italian in Billericay, with a mix of frustration and disbelief. We couldn't help but wonder what had transpired behind the scenes and whether the restaurant was operating under some mysterious, invisible management. To future diners considering a visit to Ask Italian in Billericay, we advise you to proceed with caution. While the allure of Italian cuisine may be enticing, the risk of encountering an empty void of customer service may dampen your appetite. Here's to hoping that our experience was an unfortunate anomaly, and that Ask Italian will soon re-emerge with a staff presence worthy of its customers' expectations. Until then, dear readers, may your dining adventures be filled with attentive servers and bustling establishments.

Restaurant is nice on the eye, service was average I'm afraid, atmosphere awkward.....food was ok, expensive for what it is, and not particularly well presented. Shame really.

Great authentic food! Had complementary Italian lemonade as we chose food. The garlic bread with either real or vegan cheese was superb as a starter. Margarita pizza, vegan lentil ragu, fettuccine bologna and the ravioli truffles were all delicious. The Sicilian lemon tart was authentic and the salted caramel sundae amazing. We had a variety of drinks - all lovely. And they take Tesco Club card vouchers!

Not enough staff. Many items off the menu. Couldn't provide the desert they were promoting. Very poor.

Amazing service, beautiful food and just a beautiful atmosphere, will definitely return, and a million percent recommend 💖

Had a lovely family lunch, waiter was very helpful and attentive.

Lovely food,in a nice atmosphere,we will go back again.

Our waiter Alan was absolute star, great experience and wonderful food made a truly sensational evening. Really nice time, would come again!

Very nice experience and genuinely friendly staff. The pizzas were also wonderful making the whole evening extremely pleasant.

Sadly the Ravioli filled with ricotta & served withTruffle Butter did not live up to the hype of the 'new' menu. It had very little flavour & the courgette ribbons as detailed in the description were actually 'grated' according to the member of management we complained to. The Lemon Chips however were tasty & I'd order them again. A shame because this is a restaurant I visit often with no problems in the past. I'll go again but hopefully this was a one off.

Ordered the new dish, truffle ravioli. Small portion, not hot enough throughout, garnish of courgette ribbons almost invisible, apparently was grated. Flavour bland, not noticeable truffle flavour. We complained, told one of 2 meals would be removed. Waited too long for the bill, went to the till, the bill was wrong - twice. But the lemon chips were nice.

Lovely restaurant and staff. Nice ambience. Pasta fresca marinara was delicious and sooo tasty. The prawns were ok, not as fresh as I'd like but it'll do. Will visit again if ever in billericay.

Between arriving and thr main course was 3 hours. And more than one of our preferred meals were unavailable. The manager, and server were very nice, and did not charge us at all, which is why 2 stars, not 0. I will certainly give them a try another time, and hope to give a better review.

The whole experience was excellent, from the staff to the food. I can recommend the cheese and njuuda dough balls, so tasty 😋😋

Valentine's meal massive dissapointment very slow service cold and burnt food main course was wront we wont be going back anytime soon

Nice place, hard working staff and yummy food...cheers guys

Very disappointing for a valentine sowcial evening.. Immediately on entering Ask the front of house lady criticised us that we was slightly early and almost complaining. Very rude. We was then given a valentine special menu and told some items were unavailable.. Overall poor service food and value for money. We wont be returning to the miserable Ask chain of restaurants

Lady on desk was rude on arrival. Food was bland and missing from menu. Over priced and no atmosphere.

Firstly walked in and smelt of drains in reception area not nice. Waitress slow getting drinks starter ok pizza bland chips ok they had run out of garlic mayo overall won't go back food tastless Zizzi Chelmsford is 100% better

If food containes pasta it doesn't make it italian would be worth remembering. The staff are friendly concidering how few there are on shift, thay are absolutely flat out. But the 45 minute wait for any signed of food is pathetic its not like its being individually prepared for. I thought I was going to die for old age before it turned up. Then to be told thay haven't any left, what more can you say . You can't have such a vast menu and turn out decent food it's impossible. This is a restaurant chain I will never use again. A ready meal form a supermarket would be of better quality and more authentic.

Probably the worst Italian restaurant or restaurant in general I’ve ever been to. We waited 40minutes before even receiving a drink. Starter was cold. Food was tasteless had to add salt and pepper for some flavour. No one checked on us throughout our entire meal the service was so poor it doesn’t deserve any star rating. We saw our food sat on the counter and it wasn’t even brought over to us for ages. Cleaning tables was more of a priority than the actual guests. Won’t be coming again. Shocking

Shocking service, starter was wrong yet our order was taken by a manager! Chef rang the bell 3 times when our main meal was ready for my mum to go get a waitress by this time a CHEF brought our meals over and then the black pepper and parasam cheese was done by him too! Not once did anyone check to see how out meals were etc.. the meals were luke warm not HOT 2 meals were fish and one was chicken let's hope we are not ill!!! The waitress was more interested in cleaning the cutlery and to be told she was hard of hearing absolutely shocking excuse when you know you have customers to serve and a chef ring the bell 3 times!! If it wasnt for the chef we wouldn't of had our meal!! I will not be coming back to ASK in Billericay the service was terrible and was made to feel like to rush our meal as they wanted to clean and close up!!!

Food (Pasta) was poorly cooked. Service, dreadful, barely noticed on arrival. House Merlot dreadful! Sent back. Went to this place often, before refurbished (or redecorated) but 1st time since. WILL NOT RETURN. Much better places available on the High Street!

Bad hospitality from waitresses. Food was not great although Kitchen staff were keen to help.

We go to ask a lot The staff r friendly. but the drinks r over priced and there seems to be a shortage of staff. Not fare on the staff having to work twice as hard.

Food was not bad, however service was terrible. Nobody cares about the speed, style or quality of service. Took ages for food to arrive. After an incorrect drink, one starter missing....this place is clearly run by kids.....do not come here

Love this place great atmosphere despite the fact that it was a bit quiet. The staff are lovely

Went here for my friends 21st and it was awful. Took them 10 minutes to come to us and actually seat us to our table. The service was terrible. Took 20 to ask for drink and then took 30 minutes to actually get the drinks out. And for the food we didnt get asked what we wanted to eat a further hour into our booking. The attitude coming from the servers was awful, was very snappy and moody I would like to rate it a 0 but i cant so had to put 1. Wont be coming back and wouldnt recommend.

Food is so good and service was fantastic

The atmosphere at this restaurant for a mid week meal in the evening was surprisingly good, not too many people, but a nice ambience. Unfortunately, the service was sadly a little slow, however, but the staff were very friendly and pleasant. The food was good. Would highly recommend the calzones and garlic pizza bread for starter with mozzarella and caramelised balsamic onions.

Lovely surroundings, I believe there was a refurbishment carried out recently, for an afternoon lunch. Food was nice although could have arrived warmer.

Nice place for lunch. Food was good , service was fast and staff were very pleasant. Reasonable prices too.

Generally just a very poor restaurant in a mediocre chain. Tasteless food and very poor service. Better off getting yourself a ready meal, you’ll save the rude experience from their staff member Jack and the tasteless food from their microwave operators. Shame zero stars isn’t an option.

My chicken dish was dry and felt very rushed

Food was basic and short in staff.. so service was lacking.. glad we had a taste card as we're not happy to pay full price.

Can't usually go wrong here. Good solid choice for reasonably priced food.

Lovely food. Service was decent.

Ordered a Lasagne Al Forno, definitely no Al Forno used to make the lasagne. Miserable. Have had a better experience from an Iceland £1 Ready Meal than this poor excuse of what should be a staple for any Italian restaurant.

The interior could do with a tidy up. Also, the smell from the toilets wafts down the very steep, narrow and quite frankly dangerous stairs. Service wasn't great and they ran out of wine glasses and full sized beer glasses. Food was pleasant enough though.

Food was lovely as always but very busy and a bit short staffed, took a while to get our drinks before we ordered our food but didn't matter

Excellent food, excellent staff. Very good all round.

Standard Ask chain. Reasonable food and drinks, good value if you've got a vouchercloud offer or similar. Update: you can now order your food and drinks from your table using an app. For us, this meant the drinks took an age to arrive, and you lost much of the interaction with the waiting staff. Still has nice food though. :)

Haven't been here for a few years. Now disappointing...premises are very tired, service and food average. Still running COVID online ordering from your table only...which is unnecessary, unfriendly and impersonal. It's not intuitive or efficient and took 3 attempts to place our order. Won't be going back

Very average used to be a great experience, but not now sadly.. Food was very disappointing ,staff pleasant building extremely scruffy!

First impression was that it's very cramped. We had to squeeze between 2 tables to get to ours, brushing past people's coats. Next was the 3 or 4 food remains on the menu - getting a bit dismayed by now. Sat near the back door, which unfortunately at this time of year meant it was rather chilly. My wife ordered a drink and was told they don't have Malibu. She ordered a different drink and was told they don't have pineapple juice. 3rd order - same. She asked what they DO have? Finally she found something that worked. The menu consists of about 10 pasta dishes, about 10 Pizzas and 3 other items. The food came in reasonable time and was of exceptionally good quality. Piping hot and clearly made from fresh ingredients. Cooked to perfection. For my taste, the food was a little on the bland side, but that's not to say it was flavourless, just that I personally would have liked much stronger flavours. Portion sizes were very much on the generous side. We took doggy bags home and enjoyed the left overs for lunch the next day (lost the freshness). The desserts seemed to bought in, mass produced, but were still very nice. The bill was reasonable for what we ordered. Service was slightly on the slow side, but friendly and polite. I won't rush back, but wouldn't try to dissuade anyone from going there.

Always great service and delicious pizzas

I came to ASK Italian on Friday with my partner and we had a great time. The staff were so lovely, especially the person who served us the time we were there, and the food was mouth-wateringly good. We hadn't been here in a while and even so it's one of the few places on the highstreet we really do enjoy going to. Lovely staff, lovely food and a good atmosphere ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

Hi, food was okay. Service too. More of a mix of Italian and British

We came to Ask in Billericay today for lunch and the service and food were amazing! Such attentive service and George and the team were so kind and friendly to us and our children. We will definitely be back soon and nothing was too much effort for them!

Great good and customer service.

Even though quite a small menu at 1pm 4 items not available. Had to repeat requests for drinks and coffee, waiting staff were courteous. Upstairs and toilets needed painting and updating. Would I go there again no. Ps: Tiramisu was very nice.

Food was OK grandkids loved it everyone happy. 😋

Best restaurant in town! We have been going there for about 21 years, never disappointed! Have eaten there during the pandemic too, and impressed with their Covid measures, their attention to detail. Food is always great, as are the drinks and the service is faultless. Thank you Ask!

Food was nice. We went just after lunch and long wait to be served and for tables to be cleared. We came to use a gift card, not sure if we would make the effort to return as it was just OK.

Visited in 2020: little slow this evening but the food was well worth the wait. Very nice indeed. Also, very well done Emily P for providing real customer service while we waited for the food. 2021 visit: Unfortunately, they have had a bit of a problem keeping up with orders again and we had to leave after 2 hours without a main meal. Prices hiked too I noted, but service was/is the main issue. We weren't the only ones either, staff kept seating new customers at tables despite being unable to keep up with previous orders. Kitchen seemed to be doing takeaway food as well which didn't help. They really need to get the service/price/ordering sorted as I won't be back anytime soon!

First time I’ve been to an ASK Italian and the atmosphere was really nice! The staff were friendly and the food was ordered and cooked super fast and was delicious! Only downside was I ordered the Chocolate Etna which is supposed to be a dome of chocolate that melts when hot toffee sauce is poured over it but the toffee sauce was cold and didn’t melt the chocolate at all which defeats the purpose of the dessert 😂

Good stuff nice food as usual. Decent vegan options, had the vegan spaghetti al pomodoro, very nice. Quick service using the website ordering. Book ahead to guarantee a table

Nice salad and friendly staff but so noisy!

My nearest Ask now hornchurch has been closed. Friendly staff..

Really good effort by the staff using a one way system and cleaning regularly

Always enjoy the food here and good friendly service

Relaxing atmosphere with good menus plus great food 👌

Exceptionally good service by Mr Sabi & his colleges Excellent food

Pizza tasted like it was an oven pizza

Took 40 minutes to get our drink and when it came it was wrong. Over charged us. Told us we would get free drink and didn't. Took 30 minutes to tell us they didn't have a certain drink. They place was pretty empty too so I'm not sure what they were doing. On the upside the food was good. But all in all a total downer for a birthday celebration.

Service excellent. Food great. Just the atmosphere was not up to it due to the restrictions. Will definitely go back though.

Lovely place, Very welcoming staff , Great Food

Friendly, efficient staff and delicious food. Good hygiene systems in place too.

Lovely lunch with my grandchildren

Love this place. Great food and friendly staff.

Nice restaurant with good quality food.

Excwllwnt service, really good food parking can be a bit of a problem lunchtime weekends

Had a great family meal here. Everyone enjoyed their food. Pizzas and calzones are good. Yummy desserts too.

Superb restaurant albeit a little noisy due to high ceiling and acoustics ,food first rate as is the service staff really friendly would definitely recommend , parking easy as car park 2, minute walk

Nice food, close by for weekday treat. Can be noisy

Good food and a reasonable price. Not high end dining but a good place anyway.

Another chain... lack of flavour and over price pizza. Good if you have kids on the weekend. Slow service even when is not busy.