Gossip Cicchetti in Bournemouth

Went there with my wife to celebrate both of our Birthdays. She booked a table for us, but when we went to the restaurant, we were given a table which we didn't like really. We preferred a table close to the windows and although there were quite a few free tables, the owner (I think he might be the owner because he was acting like that) was rude and didn't give us a choice to sit in a table we liked. However, we decided to order starters. I ordered a Calamari Fritti, and it looked nice and all but was flavourless and bland. Then for the mains I got a spaghetti vongole. I don't know why but that came bland and flavourless as well, just some spaghetti with no cream or whatsoever. Actually my stomach felt really bad after the dinner as well. But the dishes my wife ordered were OK tho. The waiting staff were actually really good and kind! But the one who's incharge of bookings, who I think might be the owner, was rude and didn't know how to serve his customers. Worst italian restaurant I've been to in Dorset.

Great venue. 12 of us had dinner and everything was perfect. Exceptional service from Archie and Spencer.

I feel it was better when it was Pizza express. Apologies but average rating. Waiter gave us our bill before we even asked for it & there was only a couple other tables booked. Might have wanted another drink or pudding ???

My lasagna was one of the best I've ever had and my friend's tagliatelle looked delicious too. The service was excellent and we really enjoyed our lunch at Gossip.

This was possibly one of the best dining experiences I’ve ever had! I took my friend there for a dinner last night and we had one of the best dinners ever! The atmosphere was amazing, Julia really looked after us during our dinner and made sure everything was to our liking. The food was delicious and portions were incredibly generous - we didn’t realise our mains were going to be so big! The chefs did an amazing job with all the flavours and we will definitely be going back!! Thank you so much!

Been here a few times. It's our local go to. Always great service, food is delicious. Service is great. Thank you.

Lovely place, delicious food and excellent service even though there only seemed to be one person working front of house. He was really nice and efficient. The Napoli pasta with the burrata mozzarella was so simple and delicious, as real Italian food should be. My sister and niece also loved their food. Will definitely go back

Extremely slow service. Food generally disappointing, with the bruschetta very small for £8.50

Terrific anniversary meal. Great food and superb service

Amazing food. absolutely worth it. so tasty. service was a little slow and my god it was loud. but it was a Saturday night.

Poor service. Not recommended when there’s plenty of other nice restaurants in Westbourne.

We were disappointed during our recent visit. I had booked a table for my husbands birthday, although not a busy night, a table was not laid up and ready. The atmosphere wasn’t great. We ordered a starter of brushettas which were ok? For mains, we ordered A Ragu Pasta, a prawn pasta and a Calazone. Both pastas disappointing. Not much flavour, the prawn pasta only had about 5 small prawns at the most. No mention of the birthday.

The "food" is just vile, and the service appalling. The manager seems to think he is doing you a favour. I really cannot see how this place survives.

Staff extremely friendly and accommodating. Food excellent and tasty. Great wine. Will definitely be back.

Lively and busy atmosphere, with nice vibes. One of our starters was forgotten and we had to chase up twice, all other starters were cleared away before it arrived. Food was pretty mediocre/bland. Not a bad experience but not amazing either.

Great atmosphere, delicious food and great service !

Ordered calamari for £8, it was very bland and miserable. It had no taste and was rubbery. Worst calamari we have had before. Very disappointing. Sent it back and they did not even take off bill. Aside from this, pizza was okay, nothing special, but not bad. Service was good, nice staff, clean inside, pretty busy in evening.

Always a pleasure. The owner treats everyone as if they are priority.

we booked for 5pm as we have young children. our waitress was friendly and we ordered the children's food first and then ours a little after. the children's food came out,it was great. the pizza was in the shape of a mouse, head with ears, it was great. adults food came out not long after. great thing about Gossip is you can order any pizza or pasta dish and they make a child's portion, fantastic! will definitely be back.

We have been here twice 2nd time service very slow everything else great

Always amazing food at Gossip!!! Cant wait to go again!!

I love the young vibrant team, friendly and welcoming. And my Carne Pizza was excellent, but the large Caesar salad had virtually no chicken, we counted 3 small pieces. It was a bit sad @ £13.

Love it here. We always book when we come to Bournemouth. Great talking to the manager this evening and getting recommendations for London restaurant’s . Lovely staff and great food.

Very tasty pasta and good atmosphere, I will definitely come back here again

Average food nothing special filled a gap. Service okay,

Second time here and just as good as first. Will be coming back !

As you can see from other reviews, the manager/owner lacks soft skills and treats any customer that doesn’t lick his shoes like garbage. He is very rude and acts like he is doing a favor to anyone that goes there. The place is bloody hot during summer, so I wouldn’t recommend anyways. Very few vegan/dairy free options in the menu (if you can get a hold of it, apparently he doesn’t like sharing the menu with his customers. Go figure.) You would do better going anywhere else on Westbourne.

The owner was rude and stand offish from when we walked in, no customer service skill what so ever!! Had to wait ages for menus even though it was quiet. No drinks menu and told coffee machine wasn't working when we saw it used to make tea. When we went to order food was told about 5 things weren't available. When I said he should of told us when giving us the menus just shrugged his shoulders. Food available when it arrived was bland with no flavour and overpriced. No atmosphere what so ever!! Should of had the fish and chips next door. Don't waste your money going there

I would like to review this place as we felt very disrespected by the person in charge saying he was the owner of the restaurant. I very much doubt he was! We were a large party, booked the table for 8pm. Some of us arrived on time and we were still waiting for the remaining guests. We ordered few drinks, they took a while to come. The manager/owner then start to ask what time the other guests were going to arrive as kitchen closes at 9:30pm. It was around 8:30pm. There was still a whole hour to order. He insisted that it was not acceptable that we had booked a table for 8pm and the other guests were not there yet. We did say that we would not mind ordering for us and the other people would order after. He refused and once again being rude and gesticulating a lot as if he was not satisfied, he left the table. We had babies with us, which it is already tough as most of us had not yet been on a later night with our babies. We chose a, what we thought, family restaurant to celebrate a birthday. But it was ruined by this very unprofessional manager/owner. We then left as felt uncomfortable to stay there. As we were leaving he insisted he was being polite when talking to us. If you have to explain yourself for your attitude, this means you were doing exactly the opposite of what you are saying. Very poor customer service!

Quite Saturday Lunch - excellent service and food.

If I could give it 0 stars I would it was one of the worst meals I’ve had. Me and my partner had the truffle linguine and the spaghetti cozze. It was watery not creamy at all and had no flavour. We had a mouthful each and left it. When the manager came over he asked how it was and we explained and we got a very arrogant reply of they are our most popular and I’ve sold twenty in the last day which made us feel very uncomfortable. We didn’t get any discount offered even though we didn’t eat the meal so we paid £68 for a terrible meal and service.

3rd time in 3 weeks so they are obviously doing something very right! Friendly service and a good slightly different range of Italian food.

Visited for a lunch for a birthday. Great food, so tasty!! Will definitely come back.

Very pleasant staff, helpful and understanding of dietary needs.

Absoloutley amazing !!! Would highly recommend.Beautiful glass exterior and spacious open plan the staff are very friendly and welcoming not to mention the food !The pasta sauces were so creamy it was out of this world and the pizza was cooked to perfection 101%reccomend🤩

Excellent food as always, a restaurant with the personal touch

First I will start that the photo accompanying this review is NOT from Cicchetti. I am posting this to show what pasta with half a lobster actually looks like. My girlfriend order pasta with half a lobster which cost £32. We were told the lobster is fresh. We then proceeded to wait about 30 minutes for the most watery, unflavoured pasta, with tiny little bits of - not even sure if it was lobster, but it wasn't what it was supposed to be. Not sure if they actually didn't have any lobster and needed to scramble and find some at 9pm on a Saturday, and ended up buying some frozen bits, but it was extremely disappointing. When the manager came, and asked if everything is alright, I told him that did not look anything like half a lobster. He then proceeded to very condescendingly gesture and say to me "Not sure if you know what a half lobster is but its this little"... Well Steven, I do know what half a lobster is, and this was Not it. For £32 a dish, you could at least keep you attitude professional and take constructive criticism when it's due. The rest of the staff were lovely.

Fabulous as always. Great food, great service, great team, highly recommend

My first visit.The food was excellent and the table as requested was in the window. Certainly will make a return visit

Food very good. Service very slow

Always have a good meal, great food and friendly service

Always a first class experience wonderful food service and wine! A real gem in Westbourne

I had a thoroughly disappointing experience at gossip. Upon arrival, we were made to wait 20-25 minutes before being served, which was already frustrating. However, things only got worse from there. After finally getting to order, we were left waiting for an additional hour and a half before our main meals arrived. The service was shockingly poor; we had to flag down a server just to inquire about our orders. By the time we decided to leave, we were extremely unhappy with the wait times and lack of attention from the staff. We also overheard the table next to us complaining to the server that they also had been waiting for over 2 hours. I cannot recommend this place to anyone looking for timely service or a pleasant dining experience.

Used To frequent this restaurant when they were based on Poole Quay. Great to see, at their new Westbourne site, that the family are continuing the tradition of authentic Italian cuisine. Highly recommended.

As a starter we've had Bruschetta with chilli paste as a base, prochutto ham and rocket (it was superb) and a Veal Milanese. Tagliatelle pollo and Homemade Ravioli with Crab meat for main and lemon cheesecake for desert. The Ravioli was the star⭐️Lovely Rose wine in a sexy bottle ;) Very good service. Last night we tried their pizzas and it was a very good surprise, very tasty, thin dough as we like it, fresh toppings, amazing. And tasted a very good Sicilian white wine. I recommend👌🏻With Arancini we were not impressed, tried the crab and beef ragu ones.

A fabulous pizza as always. Great other dishes as well. The best pizzas in Bournemouth

I always come to this restaurant for their delicious homemade crab ravioli. You definitely can feel the difference and see it is homemade! Everything is always clean and the food is good. The restaurant is usually busy at dinner time so making a reservation is a good idea specially if you are a large group. Although it doesn’t have parking, you have a car park 1 minute walking.

Very busy and great vibe on a Saturday night

Great as always. Warm welcome consistently good food for good value.

Great choice and good food. Nice atmosphere.

We are never disappointed at Gossip. Our recent visit was on a very busy Bank Holiday Saturday with the restaurant fully booked, but there was absolutely no delay with the service or quality of the food.

You can always tell how good a place is if they can make basic dishes really well so I tried the Spaghetti Vongole. And it was very good. Busy, vibey but table wasn’t ready as they were soooo busy! We didn’t mind, but if you were going on somewhere you might want to book a bit earlier. Was with people who’d been there before and they said everything they’d had there was fab. Nice independent addition to Westbourne!

A trip to Gossip is becoming a bit of a habit! It's such a happy atmosphere, great food and very welcoming staff. We often take our little grand daughter in and they make a great effort to make her a tasty pasta meal. Highly recommend.

Never disappoints for a casual dinner, family feast or romantic meal - the food is fabulous, service always with a smile and a great atmosphere. Excellent

Food was nice, service was terrible. We ordered our drinks quite quickly. We then ordered the bread and olives. We were given 2 tiny discs of bread between 3 of us. We then had to flag someone down to ask for more bread. We were then left for ages. We had to flag down a server to make our order (over an hour after sitting down), the waitress seemed surprised that we hadn't ordered yet!?! The food then took 30 minutes to arrive so we had to flag down someone again to order more wine and no one cleared our plates from our bread and olives. We ended up eating very late. It seemed that most of the tables around us had problems too. This is the 2nd time I have tried gossip and had poor service so I don't think I'll go again which is a shame because I really like to support local business.

Waiter super nice, put us at ease. Pizza very good, Roman style. Good choice of wine. Cozy and relaxing environment.

In one word phenomenal, as always consistent every time to die for.

Dined here with my girlfriend tonight. The food was superb and the staff could not have been more helpful and friendly. The fact that they all had a sense of humour just added to the ambience of the place. A 5 star experience.

Great location, great food, great staff, great with kids. This place is an asset to Westbourne. Love it.

I’ve been here a few times since we moved to the area 3 years ago and each time the experience gets better. A first for me at lunchtime and there was a good atmosphere with a welcome and service that was spot on. The food was tasty and well cooked, washed down with a bottle of Malbec and I left feeling satisfied. I keep saying we should go here more often and I don’t want to leave it so long next time. We had 3 courses of tasty food and with wine it worked out at about £50 a head which is not cheap but I think good value overall.

Favourite neighbourhood restaurant. Having recently moved to Westbourne I have been trying out lots of the great local restaurants, but Gossip stands out as my favourite. There is always a warm welcome from the owner and team. The atmosphere is usually buzzy and energetic. The food is always fantastic. The menu is extensive and has range of options from lobster pastas to simple pizzas. If you would like something extra the team are always happy to make modifications if requested - Nothing seems too much trouble. All in all a great place and can’t recommend it enough.

We had another lovely meal at Gossip last night. The place was really busy but the service was still great. Lots of atmosphere and attentive staff. Complimentary lemoncello at the end 😍

This is a review for Spice of India in Kinson as that's where we ended up eating after Gossip couldn't honour a booking we had due to poor time management, where the man-child of a manager took out his frustration on us for turning up on time for our booking? Spice was great! Last minute booking, despite being almost full, they set up a table for us, welcomed with open arms, and despite having two birthday bookings while we were there, were still able to manage and serve everyone pretty quickly while creating a nice atmosphere to sit, relax and eat and have a good natter with friends. Some other restaurants I'd recommend nearby for a great evening out are: Renoufs, Lazy Fox, Chez Fred and more Gossip is the only place in Westbourne we've had an issue with EVERY time we go, the foods fine, I mean it's Italian, you can't really go wrong, but it's always the management of the restaurant. If anyone from Gossip is reading the strange amount of 1* reviews your recieving from last night's service, it comes down to the manager, please look into this, I never leave reviews but his behaviour has merited a response.

Embarrassing treatment of customers by staff. I’ve had better service at 3am in a kebab shop.

Best restaurant staff, management had food last night it was great so yummy 10/10

Thank you so much for a lovely evening.

Food is always so great here, the staff are always friendly and always a great atmosphere. Always recommend to family, friends and colleagues. Definitely one of the best Italians in the area!

Food is always amazing everytime I come here & perfect for any occasion. The staff are always super friendly and accommodating! Zucchini fries & burrata are particularly amazing!!

The service was great food was excellent and staff were friendly and so helpful

We were visiting friends in Bournemouth and was recommended to go here for dinner. Food was incredible and the service was excellent. Highly recommend.

Had the best experience at gossip Westbourne! The food was brillaint and the service was amazing! Highly reccomend!

Have been to gossip 5 times so have really given it it’s fair chance. Food is always excellent but service is always appalling. Always a wait for food. Culminated tonight when arrived for a booking made in advance to be told that it was a half hour wait for a table that we had booked. Told to go ‘walk around the block’ when I complained I was told by the manager ‘don’t bother coming back then, I’ll still be here in twenty years, makes no difference to me if you don’t come back’ clearly no care for customers or returning customers. Have met this manager several times on several visits and he is always rude, unpleasant and unprofessional. Would not recommend.

Had an awful experience with the management and reservation. Ive informed last minute that my reservation is limited time for birthday dinner and couldn't even have cake we havent served cutlery by purpose. Lots of Italian restaurants with the same quality of food.not recommend

Fresh, fresh food, cheerful service - a busy atmosphere. Very nice.

Meat was dry, the waitress forgot the starter and tried to take away dessert while I was still eating it

Food is always fantastic!!! Would highly recommend, staff super friendly.

I’ve been here before and the service and food was exceptional. However, the visit yesterday was a little bit disappointing. Firstly we had requested a quiet table. The restaurant wasn’t busy and even then it took three attempts of putting us at different tables until they actually decided on which table to give us. On serving the wine we weren’t given some to try first as would be the normal etiquette and what I’m used to. The food tasted okay. The melazane was a little bit oily. The dessert was good and the farewell was much better than the welcome.

We go quite often. The shared plates means it works well when the group have varying appetites

Visited the Westbourne restaurant today to celebrate my sisters birthday. She is gluten free so chose the margherita pizza. It looked delicious and was a good size. I chose the mains-malanzane parmigiana and was told the mains would be a full size dish, not the smaller portion. When it arrived I was disappointed that there wasn't very much aubergine, or any other vegetable, in the dish, it was mainly made up of tomato sauce and nothing else. Overall the restaurant was busy and the staff were friendly.

Always reliable quality food and a very friendly welcome. Love the crispy pizzas 😊

We go here on a regular basis travelling across from Christchurch as this is simply the best pizza restaurant around. In all the times that we have been here we have never had a bad meal. Dom and his team are great and always go the extra mile to look after you. Would recommend in a heartbeat.

Sorry, way too loud for me, I came out of the restaurant exhausted trying to speak to our friends. I will go back but not on a Saturday night. Chairs and tables are very basic- like a cafe but not cafe prices.

Gossip exceeded all my expectations! From the moment I walked in, I was greeted with warmth and hospitality. The ambiance was cozy and inviting, perfect for a relaxing evening out. The menu offers a fantastic variety of Italian classics, ensuring there's something for everyone. Not only was the food outstanding, but the service was also impeccable. The staff was attentive, knowledgeable, and went above and beyond to ensure a memorable dining experience. Overall, I highly recommend Gossip to anyone looking for authentic Italian cuisine in Bournemouth. I can't wait to return and try more of their delicious offerings!"

Disappointed with the food. The starters came with 2 small pieces of bread for 4 people - we asked for more and they charged us extra for it. Pizza not cooked in the middle and the crab ravioli was tasteless. Staff were friendly.

Had an excellent evening, food was fabulous, had the Antipasti Board to start with, Seafood Pizza, my partner had the pasta pollo, and a bottle of Malbec. The Calzone looked amazing, will have that next time. It was very busy, which is always a good sign too.

The food was excellent and service very attentive too. Atmosphere was great, nice to be in such a loud & bustling restaurant. The manager was clearly very good at his job - it was a busy Friday night shift but he knew exactly who was where, what was going on and exactly who needed what service and when. The team were working very hard - could not fault!

Came here for valentines, after reading the reviews. So happy with everything, staff were so kind and friendly, my Linguine Burrata Truffle was so good, I’ve been thinking about it ever since. Really lovely atmosphere, warm, clean etc. would definitely come again :) also, staff asked about allergies which was helpful

Exceptional service and an inviting menu. Food is average but overall experience was pleasant.

Great food, great service we went at lunchtime so it was quieter than an evening but we didn't notice as we had such a great time.

Staff friendly service quick (which I like) food unvelievable

Always welcoming & lovely food 😁

Amazing food. Did not disappoint. Fresh and flavoursome. Great atmosphere!

Great atmosphere and tasty all natural vegan food

Great food, service and atmosphere

Went here with two friends as the reviews were really good. Was a mess up with our food coming out at the same time and the waiter was very apologetic and he gave us a second portion of zucchini fries for free (which were delicious) but when all three of our spaghetti dishes came out they were all slightly bland, despite all being completely different menu items. My spaghetti vongole had so many bits of crushed shell which meant I was constantly removing shell from my mouth, and didn’t even get many clams at all! Such a shame as the service was so good but food was really lacking !

It is always such fun to go to Gossip as it is always busy so a great atmosphere and the staff are fabulous! The food also happens to be yummy!!

From delightful food to personal and friendly service and a good set of customers Gossip was a wonderful experience and really good value too.

Fantastic! Great service and food depsite being being at capacity. Will look forward to our return. Thank you.

Stopped in for a quick lunch. Fantastic, Calzone was cooked to perfection and my partners pasta dish was lovely.

Lovely food, friendly staff! Will definitely go back