Prezzo - Braintree in Braintree

Used to be so much better.......I remember going to various Prezzos years a go and this was by far the least positive of visits. My wife and father-in-law went for an evening meal on 18/07/2022 and it was one of the hottest days of the year. They had good working air-con, so we were, like other diners there, happy to have some cooler air.The server greeted us and asked if we wanted anything. The first request was, as you can imagine, a large jug of tap water for everyone as my wife was slowly melting in the corner. We ordered some other drinks. She came back a few minutes later and took our orders for starters and mains. No drinks yet, wife turning more red.Starters came, mine was deep-fried mozzarella which was pretty good!Wife: "Can we at least get some water please?" as she was trying to keep focus and consciousness.Waitress. "Sure no problem".It kind of was a problem at that point as you would have thought that on the hottest day of the year to that point the manager's brief should have been along the lines of "Make sure everyone gets water, I don't want anyone dehydrated today!". Apparently not according to the feathers now coming out of my wife's mouth.Waitress comes back with ordered drinks...still no water. I think she noticed that my wife had seemed to have lost 2 stone since last time she saw her and went and run a tap into a carafe. Finally!Mains:Carbonara with additional Chicken.Tragic.Apart from spending an extra £2.50 on a quarter of a chicken breast, it was very tasteless. It was just spaghetti in a cream sauce and I doubt there was a single egg in the carbonara. What made it slightly worse is that when ordering, I was asked if I wanted Parmesan with it. I said yes. What was on top can only be described as grated soft mild Cheddar. I know it was hot but I dont think an Italian hard cheese looks and tastes like bland Plasticine shavings. I wish I had a picture to show you.Did not stay for dessert.The quality of the meals was not the fault of the employees as they are just doing what they are trained so the poor carbonara is a reflection of the stock sourced by the managing company. But a glass of water, or even a drink on the table before the starters came out would have been a nice touch.I should have made a compliant. Did I? No; standard British response.So I probably won't visit again for a while, not while there are nicer Italian microwave meals available at supermarkets and while I have a running tap less than 5 seconds from me.

Tasty Italian food. Visited last night and had a lovely meal. Waiters were brilliant and the restaurant had a nice happy feel to it. A little understaffed but generally a wonderful meal thank you.

Service and food was good but they don't accept cash now so won't be returning.this saves them money but doesn't save me anything. It is also a very exclusive policy to operate.

Great service tonight. These guys really seem to have upped their game since our last visit. Slick service, really on the ball staff, great food as always, and at a decent price. The only thing I can fault is the hand dryer not working in one of the toilets but not a reason to mark them anything other than 5 stars.

Just had delivery from just in . Ordered 2x calzone both comes cold as ice . Salad look like it's from last week. It's a joke for price of almost 35£ .u just lost a good customer.

We were served cows cheese & real chicken pizza after ordering vegan pizza. This was months ago. Our friends just told us that they came here last week and had the same done to them! Very very bad. If you are vegetarian or vegan be wary eating here!

Always a great meal at Prezzos, delicious and lots of options including ample amounts of veggie/vegan. Service is quick and staff are friendly.

I think these guys had staffing issues when we visited last Wednesday evening. So things were a little slow.Having said that, the food was ok, not fab, but not poor either. Just kinda alright, if that makes sense. Three courses for the two of us and the bill was around £50. So an average cost for an average meal. I'd like to either rave or rant about this place, but I'm doing neither. Which means, it's a take it or leave it kinda review.Would I return, no. But not because it was bad, mainly because if it left no impression on me at all.

Update. Nov 2021. Really happy with our food today. Nice to see vegan options including fake meat on pizza and in pasta. Had a really nice vegan pate for starter and a vegan pepperoni pizza for main. Can't wait to go back.Food was tasty. Had the garlic, goats cheese and caramelised onion pizza sharing bread for starter, calzone and goats cheese Al forno. Service was OK.Back over pandemic and was able to eat outside with the dogs. Dog friendly. Enjoyed a pizza and fries. Friendly staff. If you want to be in the sun aim for later in the afternoon.

Wonderful food & really friendly staff