Zizzi - Belfast Odyssey in Belfast

Hubby took me here for my birthday yesterday, arrived to be told they are cashless, was told there is a sign on the door, had to hunt for the tiny, about 3 or 4 inch circle, stuck on the glass panel beside the door, that can't be seen as the door is open, that didn't bother us too much until the staff told us that the whole complex is cashless and we would be able to go anywhere else, left there and went nandos instead, they aren't cashless.

Below shocking. Arrived at 6.50pm only to be told by the greater with blue hair, ‘your table isn’t booked until seven, but it is ready so I’ll seat you”? Huge training issues in this place, wasn’t offered drinks which in hospitality should be first question after being seated. Takes about half an hour to receive jug of water and drinks! Place is being run by kids who don’t have a clue and are obviously unhappy in their jobs. The person who at start of the evening seemed they could be management came to clear the table next to us, tipped a full jug of water over my husband and nephews legs, then tipped over the mop bucket. She then announced ‘ that’s it I’m going’, we never saw her for rest of night. Starters started arriving at table one by one, slowly without dips, we were told sorry, new chef, ‘He doesn’t know what he’s doing’ (sic). Service was shocking our table was never cleared, we had to put all our dirty dishes on next table. I studied at one of Italy’s best cookery schools in its time, I taught my Nephew who invited us to your restaurant how to cook and about good nutrition. My nephew Co hosts a very popular cooking site in NI which I contribute to. From the menu I chose a pizza which said goats cheese caramelised onions pine nuts sun dried tomatoes, basil, sounded so appetising, looked like a child made it, there was no filling on it, it was burnt on patches so I couldn’t eat. There was very little substance to eat, zero goats cheese, it was shocking. When asked if we wanted our ‘obviously’ uneaten food boxed, we all said no Thank you.. My nephews lasagne arrived one and a half hours after ordering, cold, had to be sent back, didn’t get back for half an hour. Your establishment is shocking, it deserves Zero, it is run by kids who don’t have a clue and no management team to train or guide. There is no chef in the kitchen, at one point whilst waiting so long for food my nephew joked, ‘right Auntie,’ you and I in the kitchen let’s show these kids how it should be done.

Stood waiting to be seated for 15 minutes. Watched as staff ignored the queue, failed to give expected wait times, failed to clear empty tables and worked at a snail’s pace. Left and went to Nandos which offered great service and attitude.

The service at this place is outrageously bad. So so bad. We waited for 20 mins for a table in a place that was no where near full with staff wandering around taking no notice of potential customers. Not a hello, a smile, nothing. Eventually when we were seated, the service quicker. However the best laugh was when we ordered the food, they brought the completely wrong main course for one of our party who was so hungry that they ate it anyway for fear that the wait would go on. In the end, the food was actually nice, hence the 3 stars but the service was horrific

We visited Belfast and wanted to go here for a birthday treat. Waited a while to be seated as they were clearing tables. As we were shown to our table, we were asked if we had a voucher. We were left for 25 minutes before we left as we hadn’t been offered drinks or our order taken. Dreadful service.

We had recently been to Zizzi in Victoria Square and thoroughly enjoyed the experience, which prompted our visit to Zizzi in the Odyssey, Belfast, but we were bitterly disappointed. The food itself was fine and my husbands dish of Crispy Prosciutto Carbonara was delicious, however, portion size was inadequate. At £17.95 for a pasta dish at lunch time, there should be enough food that we would not still be left hungry and we should not be able to clearly see the bottom of the plate for lack of content. The crab linguini...there were barely a few moist crab flakes that were more like paté than crab. We waited nearly 20 minutes before a drinks order was taken and we were not given the complimentary bowl of pasta crisps that every other table around us were given. Staff were mostly absent throughout our meal; no one checked in with us during the meal and we waited a long time between courses for service. When main courses arrived there was no offer of oils or parmesan or anything else. When main courses were cleared we were not offered a dessert menu or coffees or any further drinks. I needed to go up to the bar to request further drinks. For the child's dessert, it was exceptionally different from the one offered in Victoria Square, despite being the same menu and our daughter was not given the choccochino that comes with it, but we were so deflated by this time that we did not follow it up. When the drinks came, the waiter spilt the drink all over our table and my husband. We paid quite a lot of money for a lunch (almost £100,) yet felt dissatisfied with food and service. I am not a person to normally write a negative review. I would normally learn from the experience and just not go back but I felt so strongly about the highly negative experience, that I needed to leave this review. Very disappointed.

My partner and I arrived 5/10 mins early for our booking after the cinema, which we wholeheartedly understood if our table wasn't ready or not we were willing to wait around until it was if that was the case. However, we were squished into this small table right by the door which meant we were getting bumped & elbowed when people and children were running about; in my opinion there shouldn't even be tables that close to the door, its such a horrible environment constantly hearing screaming kids, people walking past you, hearing the phone ringing; absolutely awful experience. There was plenty other tables of 2 available however when we required they said they were booked for later. LATER? However we are here now and they couldn't move us? When we got our menus we were left for 10 or so minutes to decide, my partner ordered the risotto and a gold cider, they took our order and then the first time they came down they had no risotto. Why wasn't this told to us as we were sitting down/ordered it? Is there no communication between Chef & servers? After my partner had ordered a second time, the same server came over quickly after and said they had no gold cider left. Ok? Once again why wasn't this communicated its alright if its one slip up but this was becoming quite a joke. That's twice within a span of 5/10 minutes the items my partner wanted were unavailable. Once we had been served our starters we realised that the cutlery hadn't been set out and trying to hound down a server was a nightmare. We finally got our knife & fork however the prawn starters were already cold. As the plate was being lift one of the servers said "Can you take your knife & fork off so you can have it for your main". WHAT? No sorry not only did we have to wait for our cutlery to begin with but now you want us to use the dirty cutlery that was for a fish starter to then be used on a spaghetti main. That was so unprofessional. The mains came out and ONCE AGAIN the new cutlery was not at our table. This was an abysmal, after waiting 3/4 mins we got new cutler but you can tell the food has already started to go cold. At this point the environment was awful, the serving staff/front of house was awful we wanted out of there ASAP. Dinner was finished and we wait & we wait for a good 15 minutes, if it was for my partner calling out for the server who was standing their fiddling his thumbs or the manageress in the green top just getting her 10,000 daily steps walking about aimlessly we'd have waited even longer. Honestly a bloody disgrace that was and to top it all off, he handed us our bill and said scan that code then walked away. SORRY WHAT? I'd like to hope the servers don't treat elderly people who aren't so understanding of technology this way. It was a disgrace even paying for our food the way we had been treated. It would have been worth our while heading to Five Guys next door I'm definitely sure the staffs attitude and behaviour would have been superior to Zizzi's. We won't be back, I have had experiences in Zizzi's before and they were amazing but this has topped it for the worse place ever.

On recieving our starter we had to request cutlery, after our dinner we waited for 20 minutes without a server looking in our direction, before we attempted to order desert through there online order service, even still, that took another 10 minutes for us to get it. Also, they only take card? Definitely won't be back.

We were in Belfast for the night, we stayed in a hotel near Titanic Experience so just wanted to eat near by. This was our first time to eat in a Zizzi restaurant and we were very pleased with over all service, food quality and cleanliness.

I love zizzi Victoria square so maybe I had high expectations but I visited on a Wednesday night it was quiet when we stood and waited to be seated the man told us that there was a few big bookings to come in so we wouldn’t be able to be seated. The restaurant was completely empty but we decided to go play golf and come back, 25 minutes later there was one large booking of maybe 8 people on one of the tables and a couple of tables of 2, so I booked online as I stood outside the door to check and walked in. The man that had previously told us no was clearly not happy we had come back and sent someone else to seat us instead, the restaurant remained quiet the rest of the time we were there, working in hospitality myself I felt disheartened knowing that we could have been sat the first time we asked for a table of 2. I ordered my starter then to be told 5 mins later that they didn’t have what I had ordered, personally think customers should be told when they are sat down which items are out of stock but I wasn’t bothered. Food did take a while and I did notice it sitting on the pass for a bit while staff members chatted. Food was lovely though

This meal was for my daughter's birthday before her first concert. We arrived on time and ordered nearly immediately. The food however was still not at the table 50mins later despite everyone around getting theirs and finishing. The server was not particularly bothered. When it came the salmon was unrecognisable and tasted awful. The child's pizza was so small my daughter cried!! On her birthday!! It was half the size of a small plate. The servers were totally disinterested. We didn't make a fuss as already my daughter was upset and stressed about the time. Her birthday meal was totally unrelaxing and horrible.

Worst restaurant ever. Came in and ordered for takeaway. The server included tip and said it’s optional but I asked her to remove it. Then comes the food. The small plate was put in the largest cardboard bag ever. When I opened the food I was so dissatisfied and disappointed as this was the smallest serve I have ever seen and the pasta tastes horrendous with loads of oil. Aviod

This was my second time visiting here and I can say I really enjoyed it, really nice interior and cosy vibes. The food is amazing but I do feel like the portion sizes can vary depending on the dish you get for the price you pay. I got the Truffle Carbonara which was very nice, my friend got the Pork Meatballs, we thoroughly enjoyed the meal and the service provided by Akash, Akash was very patient with us when we took ages to decide what we wanted to eat, fabulous service, once again defo will be returning

Shocking…..no Guinness; in Ireland!!!, unbelievable. No wonder this place was empty, had a coffee, a £7+ bottle of peroni, and two bland starters for £30. Never again !!

6 adults and 3 children. We all had such a lovely evening. We had pre booked a table online. The staff were very welcoming and brilliant all evening. Menu has a great selection and the food was really delicious. I was a bit worried about the children, young toddlers but they all loved it!! I would definitely go back.

We ate in Zizi last week. It was an amazing experience made all the better by the hostess Etain. Friendly and knowledgeable, she could not do enough for my self and husband and 2 teenage daughters. Food was great too . My husband had the whiskey salmon pizza - superb! Definitely be back

1star , stood at desk waiting for a seat for 5mins . Staff members walked past and said nothing . Ignorant staff . Glad we didn’t stay as it had a bad smell . Went to Nando’s instead . Staff where great

I ordered spaghetti pomodoro and received luke warm spaghetti with seemingly heated through, chopped tomatoes served on top with a single basil leaf and a chunk of mozzarella. No oil, onion, garlic. There was nothing "unctuous" about this sauce. I even had to ask for a spoon to eat it with (felt an exotic thing to do)! Any self respecting Italian establishment would laugh themselves silly at this. Overall it tasted watery and uncooked. I also had just a small sparkling water and a teeny coffee (served in a pyrex beaker within a beaker to give the illusion it was bigger). THAT was annoying. No handle on the vessel so the server's hand went where my lips later had to. Not good. Plonked down with a pile of saucers, leaving us to assemble. We chose the venue as a central location to allow friends to meet up but honestly by the time I factored in my parking fee/ tip the experience cost me way too much. Btw I watched the desserts being served to other diners and was thankful we'd decided to skip. Teeny metal dishes with miniature ice cream balls and a pair of again miniature cones balanced on top. It actually made me laugh. They looked like dolls house dishes. It was also a "no cash" establishment which is difficult for a group payment. If I have to dine at this location again, I'd definitely pick somewhere else to eat. I won't be back as it represented poor value and a low quality of food.

Food was ok. But warned on arrival that they won’t accept cash as payment . Excuse me ?. You will not accept cash . ?. What is the world coming to ?. Will never return . What a stupid policy

I am absolutely shocked at some of the poor reviews for this restaurant. On a recent visit the food was excellent and the service was too. Lovely surroundings. I write this as someone who has high expectations when paying high prices to eat out. I definitely recommend this place based on my experience and would return again.

The wait and service of this place was horrendous and unacceptable. We waited approximately 45 minutes for a table. Can't really blame restaurant for this as we hadn't booked. Anyway once seated drinks and starters took quite a while. Most enjoyed starters. Meatballs and olives liked. Calamares was very bland. Kids bread was hard as a rock. We had a significant wait for main. On arrival our starter dishes hadn't even been collected which the waitress even acknowledged. Main was OK. Pizzas quite nice and mussels although olives on pizza were an awful taste and daughter found mozzarella very stringy to which she actually chocked on it. We only ordered kids dessert as it was part of menu but received 2 instead of advertised 3 cones and no marshmallows for decoration as per menu. No sign of mini hot chocolate either. Needless to say we won't be back

Took an hour and 20 mins to get our food. We had small children with us, so unacceptable to keep us waiting this long! Managers attitude was disgraceful, felt like she didn’t care about customers. There was another member of female staff who was very apologetic pity the manager can’t learn from her.

We went to lunch here during a visit to W5. Front of house wasn’t very accommodating, we didn’t feel very welcome. Should have been a good indicator of what was to come. Took our order, we waited 1.20 minutes by this point the children were past it and it was a very long lunch. Staff did apologise. Food was nice, not out of this world but nice, slightly over priced in my opinion. Decor is lovely. Didn’t seem to be a baby changing toilet, I changed my 4 month baby and toddler on my knee in the toilet. (Something I hate doing) I didn’t ask the staff if there was one, so it could have been located some where else in the restaurant, but it wasn’t in the main toilet area. We got some compensation for the latest in our food. Wouldn’t want to put anyone off going but we wouldn’t return.

Customer service was great, really lovely staff and the restaurant decor was really nice and cosy. The food however you could make at home for a quarter of the price. Pasta was sticky, portion sizes really small and £17 for a mediocre bowl of pasta is a joke! Watched my food sit and go cold for a least 20 minute, not even under a food lamp to keep it hot. The food is so under seasoned and there was no salt and pepper on the table. A glass of Coke Zero is £4.25. Catch yourself on Zizzi. So disappointing!

Where do I start. I went in to book a table for later that day and I was told by the lady on the front of house that the booking system was closed for the day due to Events being on and it was walk ins only. We attended later that day to be told that the restaurant was fully booked. After a discussion with the front of the house they gave us a table. After looking through the menu the lady came to take our order . We asked for a prawn starter to be told sorry no prawns. We then asked for a calamari starter to be told sorry no. We then asked for the prawn linguine and again said sorry it's not available. We tried to order a glass of merlot again. We tried to order a Fizzy orange juice and again said sorry none available. We ended up having to ask for what was available. Then to be hit with a bill of £93 for a very disappointing meal, the pasta was over cooked and chicken in it appeared to be heated in the microwave. Won't be returning.

Very poor service. Terrible service! Had to send food back. Restaurant missing lots of ingredients, had to change my option several times due no ingredients! Don’t go there!

Poor and super slow service. I have been to two different zizi restaurants and twice the service is so slow. Not sure if it's a shortage of staff and the waiters/waitress are overwhelmed but I won't be back. We reserved a table and got told there was no reservation although we showed the confirmation on our phone. Got seated and waited over 45 mins for mains. We had 3 kids with us who were getting really hungry and agitated so had to ask where our food was twice. While we were waiting the waiter who took our order came over and asked what we wanted for dessert to which we replied we still haven't even got our mains yet! Rushed our food which was alright. Then it seemed to be an issue that we wanted to pay by cash and not card! Wouldn't waste my time or money in the place again

Where to begin. Started well, arrived at 350, 10 mins early for reservation and seated immediately in nearly empty restaurant. Great. Then waited 20 mins for order to be taken. Starters arrived after 15 mins and were tasty. Then it all went downhill from there. At 5pm I had to ask when I would get my mains the server looked at me with a blank stare and "I'll check now". They arrived 5 mins later so obviously our ticket had been misplaced. Was attending another event at 6 so had to rush mains. While tasty wasn't able to enjoy as conscious of needing to leave very soon. When it came to pay the bill I queried if there would be any reduction in the bill because of this and the server LAUGHED at me and said "I don't think you deserve anything". How on earth is this an acceptable way to speak to anyone in a customer service job? I definitely won't be back.

average bland food at best. very poor service and had to send my meal back. and to compound it all the manager actually argued with me about sending the meal back. it was actually amusing if truth be told. i wouldnt be rushing back. there are so many better restaurants nearby. give it a miss