Don Pepe Spaghetti Factory

1.8 Not Recommended

Food  2      Ambience  1      Service  1      Value  3     

I too bought a voucher through Groupon for a meal deal for 4 and we were excited about going there as looked forward to the european dishes. Disappointing to say the least was our experience. We were forgotten as we sat outside (there is only about 6 tables in the whole place, 3 of which are outside) and we announced when we arrived we would sit outside.

We were basically the only people eating there. I was told when I went back inside after waiting awhile to ask if we could order now "Oh sorry, outta sight outta mind". Really? After starting to order, pretty much everything we wanted wasn't available. No stuffed cabbage rolls, no stuffed capiscums, no crocodile, no scollopini marsala pasta, no garlic prawns, only one serving of meatball spaghetti left etc which really left very little else to choose from and odd excuses as to why nothing was available.

It was a frustrating experience to order anything. Why have it on the permanant menu if its not made everyday? My mother had her pasta dish slopped all over white trousers when it was served to her. Very little apology. The meals were served higgledypiggledy, no particular order and a couple of the pizza's weren't what we ordered as well as one of the pasta's.

The goulash which pretty much was all that was available of their signiture dishes was like a bolognaise sauce with tiny chunks of meat in it and served with spaghetti. Never had such an awful goulash. They had their opportunity to impress new diners to their little establishment but, unfortunately, for them we won't bother going there again.

I also would never recommend anyone going there unless you're happy with very average food, a menu that which seems to be pot luck if what is advertised on it is actually available and dreadful service.

Response from Management:
A number of errors by this person. There were 10 people sharing meals for 8 people. The restaurant had 37 diners at the same time as this group and they were most definitely not the only ones there. We didn’t know this group were outside because they forgot to tell anyone. We thought they had left. There are 8 large tables and 37 chairs. All meals were available for them except crocodile and chicken breasts. The mother did not have a past dish slopped all over here, but she did have some sauce spill off the plate as it was handed to her because she moved and bumped the waiter. The group ordered 4 pizzas, four pasta dishes and two European meals and they ATE THE LOT. This shows they were all desperately hungry at the same time or that they simply enjoyed every morsel. They had a choice of 37 pasta dishes and 32 pizzas. Only two items were not available. No doubt this post was made by a competitor restaurant...well here is some news dearie, the quality of our food can’t be matched and if you need to resort to gutter tactics to win business away from us, you wont last long.

Dec 21, 2011 

1.8 Not Recommended

Food  4      Ambience  1      Service  1      Value  1     

Worst experience ever! Purchased a LivingSocial voucher. Firstly they didn't seem to understand what the deal was, my first choice of pizza was not available and we were talked out of trying one of their signature European dishes. The pasta and pizza dishes came out in no particular order which actually meant that my partner's complete meal was finished before even half of mine was served.

My plates were taken away before the meal was finished. When my pizza finally arrived it was the wrong one! I had ordered a vegetarian and a pizza with 2 different types of meat was placed in front of me. We sent it back and were told that we would have to wait another 20mins for it to come to us as it was at the back of the queue.

After being at the restaurant (if you can call it a restaurant, is more like a fish and chip shop type setting) for 1 hour 15minutes we still hadn't received the pizza or the European dish we had ordered so asked if we could take it away. We were told that we could not! The conditions on the LivingSocial voucher did state (in all fairness to them) that it was eat in only however after all of their mistakes and considering we then had run out of time and had to be somewhere else we thought they may have been a little more accommodating.

In short we left only having actually received half of what we had ordered after basically being forgotten and receiving poor customer service. Will never go back, will not recommend to anyone and will be very surprised if they are still in business in a few months time. I'm not usually this vocal about my dining experiences but this was really a unique experience that I wouldn't wish on anyone.

Response from Management:
Don Pepe agrees unreservedly with ShareMyThoughts. He did not obtain good service on this night. We hope an opportunity presents to rectify our failings when he makes contact with Don Pepe. On this occasion the XLT Conveyer Pizza oven shut down without any warning, killing 11 pizzas in the queue and disrupting the food chain flow to tables. It took over 15 minutes to reboot the computerised control systems, and complete chaos and staff panic followed disappointing some customers while others were empathetic and waited, as we remade their orders on the backup oven. On this occasion Don Pepe and all staff lost the plot due to the panic, because we had another 70 Pizzas waiting to get into the queue. Don Pepe staff were incapable of dealing with all customers effectively because we have never experienced such a failure and chaos before. This is an administrative and equipment failure to which we openly admit, and we will rectify procedures immediately. Yesterday morning we bought and installed three more smaller backup ovens to deal with equipment breakdowns and we will alter our administrative procedures also. We hope we are given an opportunity to make amends to ShareMyThoughts. Even though Don Pepe has bought over 72 coveyer Pizza ovens for its other outlets, they were supplied by Lincoln. In these case we stupidly chose an inferior brand and this is a mistake, that will be rectified immediately.

Sep 30, 2011