piccolo ristorante italiano

i agree with don c. i work in customer service and a large majority of customers think it's their god given right to act like farkwits for no real reason other than they think being a customer makes them royalty. really they are just idiots.

just read the article. good on the chef. good bit of publicity for him too :p

i only wish i was there to back the chef up... someone should have smashed a chair over those idiots heads.

in his 60s and defending himself against a group of much younger men... good sh*t!! gutless f*cks.

first of all,let me state that i have never been to this restaurant nor do i know any of the people concerned with this matter below. i have been in the restaurant business for thirty years and have seen this happen before,all most always the customers fault. we are here to serve people but not take abuse. think about it. something set this man off and i do not for one minute believe it was because of a wrong order. maybe some smart arse comments from the guest?i think that maybe the fact that it got this for out of control reflexes back on the customers who had the option to just leave if they weren't happy. remember, you are a guest an not a mob. a 61 year old man taking on 6 or 7 unruly people ! good on you chef!! best of luck!

i would say to be honest these professionals who think they can handle their alcohol after a hard day at work are joking. if you cannot handle the alcohol dont drink period. and to think that customers are always right is not in my books. i suppport the chef and management for standing up to these middle class hooligans. i work in retail and i know what its like with customers that they think the world evolves around them. but they will never get pass me for sure. good work picollo ristorante italiano because customers will realise that they need to show some respect too. and to those who gave negative reviews, youre just a one in a million so get over it. and yup obviously these are all middle aged arrogant idiots who dont think of anyone else but themselves and their precious little career conversations how boring.. owner and chef please do not let your guard down and give in to the demands of some of the reviewers on here to apologise. these 40+ lowlives should apologise to you guys instead..continue the good work:)

0 stars - 1 is too much.
i was 1 of a group of 7 adults (40+) who was at the centre of this atrocious behaviour by the chef/owner?
we are all professionals and were not drunk - and had been there about an hour, hoping to enjoy a nice meal with good friends.
we are all stunned and shocked (still) at the appalling treatment we received by the chef/owner.
my friend sent back her order twice - as they kept getting the order wrong. i'm sure order mistakes happen from time to time at restaurants - normally no big deal.
the chef came out and slammed the plate of food in front of my friend, telling her that if she had problem with his food she could just f#$k off. she left, we were stunned, especially once he told us and other patrons that we could all f@&k off to if we didn't like his food.
the chef aggressively slammed the table at my mate and grabbed/shook his chair.
things escalated, with plates/wine smashed on the floor. my female friend was in tears as he pulled her long hair - not letting go. my mate tried to stop him but got punched in the face. the waitress was aghast, and kept apologising as he rampaged.
the review by the guy below must be related to the chef/owner, and couldn't of been there - as any reasonable person would not think the chef handled this well.
i have only now composed myself to even write this - as i need to warn everyone about this madman.
patrons - avoid avoid avoid.
owner - anger management course and retire.
ccc - close down this crazy man.

having read the most recent review i'd have to say the guy must be related to the owner! no one in their right mind would think he handled the poor customer's complaint well! my partner and i were shocked and disgusted with the owner's language and telling everyone "if you don't like your meal just f**k off!" the group didn't appear drunk or loud as they hadn't been there long. we certainly won't be going back and i advise others to stay well clear of this gordon ramsay wannabe!!!

hi
3rd time i have been there and twice this weekend / were there last night when a table of troublemakers caused a scene obviously couldn't handle the drink and when management asked then to leave they caused a scene but was handled well by management/staff so i took my parents back tonight as it's a great place and the food is just out of this world - good vegetarian selection which not seen on alot of menus and the desserts are to die for mmmmmmm / great outdoor area also.i would recommend casual dine or to impress some friends / just great well done guys and thanks
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just got an email from a media organisation and here is my reply

hi
i did put my comments on the website as you can see above and other than that from my dining experiences over the years i have never seen a waiter or chef have a plate thrown at them or kicked at as the customers leave - ask yourself? maybe an idea to look at all 16 reviews - 10 of them over 4 star plus and the 4 bad reviews are from this group - maybe ask the others who have put a review and rated it as i did
thank you
regards

anthony

i've had the most shocking night! the chef/owner of piccolo went crazy! a woman had complained her order was not right. he came out and starting swearing at her....'you can f*** off then! f*** off!" he then starting swearing at others at her table telling them to f*** off too. then he grabbed their plates. some smashed on the ground. a wine bottle smashed and spilled on the floor. there was almost a stand-up fight. it was terrible.

food's great but dine at your own risk!

oh my goodness, just left this restaurant without finishing the meal as the owner? manager? lost the plot. he swore at a customer for complaining about their meal that was not what she ordered. the when other customers complained about his behaviour, he tipped tables over and told everyone to f### off.
this is the second time that i have eaten here and was happy with the place or though the service was average, but after this experience i will never cross the threshold again. i would recommend others to avoid also.
still shaking, can't believe that people behave like this.

this is a fantastic little restaurant, which i would have given 5 stars, apart from a couple of minor things.
the tomato based sauce was not very spicy and a little watery for my liking.
also i got 2 entrees and my partner a main and dessert. i ate one entree alone and she ate her dessert alone. this just made us feel a little awkward. the other dishes we had were fabulous, and of top range.
my gripes aside, you really should try this delightful little place.

what a great place! went last night with 7 friends. called a week prior to book for 9 and the manager wasn't sure they could do it but took my number and got back to me a day or 2 later to say he'd done some jiggling and we were all good to go. we recieved a lovely warm welcome by a chatty but not 'in your face' waitress who was great at getting us going with the food (typical women we were too busy chatting!) - 'can i get you some bread while you have a read of the menus?' of course you can! delicious garlic and herb breads soon arrived. we ordered a range of mains which everyone was impressed with, good size, nice flavours, genorous amounts of fresh parmesan. i had 'the lot' pizza and is was crispy and tasty and big enough to bring home leftovers. dessert was devine, only bugger was they only had 2 tiramisu left (we didn't go till 7.30pm so other diners beat us to it) but the lucky recipients happily shared with the rest of us who enjoyed cassata and affrogato (which they were happy to make without liquer and with hot chocolate for me). will definately be back for another casual and lovely dinner.

what a fantastic place! i saw the recent review that didn't recommend the restaurant highly, so we didn't expect a lot, but since we had already booked in, we thought we would still give it a go. i'm so glad that we did! we started off with a large garlic/herb bread to share between four of us, and it was delicious! there was a large and appetising selection of pizza and pasta to choose from. in the end, we ordered a large margarita pizza, a lasange, fettucine smoked chicken and the spagetti arrabiata. they were all presented beautifully, and tasted amazing! the pizza had a great thin base and the tomato sauce on the arrabiata was superb, and we could tell that the ingredients were of high quality. somehow, we managed to fit in desserts! the tiramisu was to die for! but it is a case of 'first in first served' as it is in such high demand. we also got a cassata ice-cream and an affagato, both of which were very pleasent, with a good amount of dried fruits in the cassata. the meals are very well priced, $20 for each main, and reasonably priced alcohol (even though we brought our own, we couldn't help try the italian house red!) we had two lovely girls serving us, who we found to be very friendly, helpful, prompt and professional, just lovely!. they even laughed at my husbands bad jokes! they looked like they were in control of all the tables, while catering to everybodys needs. overall, i would highly recommend this restaurant, whether dining in or for take away, but make sure you book as they are they are very popular with the local community! 5 stars!!

fantastic pizza. beautiful authentic pasta - especially the mushroom tortellini! friendly host and the service was prompt and efficient. we took 2 children who also enjoyed the experience. would certainly recommend. delizioso!

we went to to this restaurant in hope to find a new local however we were greatly disappointed in about everything about this place.
we had made a booking the previous week and turned up on time.
there was no smile and welcome we were just shown to our table without any pleasantries.
the waitress who appears to be the daughter of the owner/chef was thrown with some problem they had with the booking and spent the next five minutes ignoring her two tables with guests focusing on her bookings. when we told her we were ready to order we were told we had to wait? we asked for still water for our daughter but there was none to be had due to health concerns with drinking christchurch tap water at this time. it is certainly a restaurants duty to have water for their customers.
the meals turned up reasonably fast, the pasta was served on flat plates (this is a first) and the presentation was terrible. the sauce of the penne arrabiata was watery and made from poor ingredients and the pasta was overcooked. the pizza was ok but just that.
there was no pepper or parmesan to be seen. as a lover of italian food this was overall i very disappointing experience and i doubt these people have any affiliation to italy at all. i would like to add that we did not have unrealistic expectations, we hoped to get friendly service and well cooked food presented in a nice manner.
we would certainly not recommend this place as we thought the service was poor and the food was average and overpriced.

well, maybe we got a bad night. there was no alcohol available (liquor licence pending), but we were not offered anything else to drink. service was patchy. the pizzas were overpriced for what we received. poor quality ingredients. the tiramisu was ok. the cassata should have been called something else. it was layered boysenberry and vanilla ice cream with 2 raisins between the layers.