Ask Italian in County Durham

There was a bit of a wait for food when we went, but we were warned about this and it wasn't a problem to us. Food was great when it came though, and was still hot.Staff are probably some of the friendliest we've ever come across in a chain restaurant. Atmosphere is nice, upstairs looks particularly "cosy".Thanks also for offering a Blue Light Card discount.Would definitely come back if we visit Durham again.

I usually would not leave reviews but found my experience tonight peculiar. The food and waitress were lovely but the host (?).... a ginger tattod lady in a black and white shirt. My teenaged kids overheard her talking badly about the other staff and she took our payment and potentially tip which was intended for our waitress of the evening. I do not pretend to know how it works, but it did not feel right

Never had a bad meal here in 10 years.Staff are awesome.Manager is great.Food is always cooked beautifully.

Nice friendly staff, very welcoming and helpful Nice food and nice cocktails

Thought we would have a change from our normal restaurant tonight but wish we hadn't. The restaurant itself was busy and the staff that served us were very good but the whole time I was there I sat with my coat and scarf on as it was that cold and looking around I wasn't the only on that was feeling the chill. The food was OK but as the restaurant was so cold by the time the food got to the table it was barely warm. Its November we shouldn't have to ask ASK to put the heating on. Back to our normal restaurant next time.

Before Entry-Was told by many that Ask Italian (this one particular) was a delightful to dine in... It certainly was not.Upon arrival-Upon arrival we were told that many of the items on the menu were out of stock, I understand this is not the fault of the restaurant however, the limited choice of food options was certainly not a good start and if anybody that night was a picky eater they probably would have left without ordering, I myself took quite a while to order with the limited menu choice.Service-Service was the worst part of the evening, after we had been given our food nobody came back at all to check if everything was okay with our meals, in fact... Nobody returned to our table for nearly an hour.During that time myself and the person I was dining with was extremely thirsty and would have liked to order a water for the table, we never got the chance to order that water, instead the person I was dining with luckily remembered she had a bottle of water in her bag and drank that whilst I hoped someone would eventually walk near our table so I could ask for water. I was never able to order the water that evening.During our evening we both felt that we were personally being ignored as when we tried to get a waiters/waitress's attention they would simply walk away, not look at us and never walked near us.Earlier on in that evening, probably around 5 minutes before we got our food/ finished our original drinks, a waiter/waitress walked past us (the last time someone walked past our table) and dropped a knife on the floor, nobody returned to pick it up off the floor,it stayed on the floor for the entirety of our stay until I picked it up when leaving the building.Atmosphere/open Kitchen-This Ask italian(don't know about others) had an open kitchen with an extremely loud Chef that spent the first half of our visit laughing and joking with a man stood outside the kitchen (very loud, very annoying). The second half of our visit the chef(s) just complained about their jobs and work life... Wasn't exactly what you want hear when eating THEIR food.After finishing our meals-After we had finished our meals we sat at the table waiting for our plates to be collected and for water, during this time a promotion card on the table caught our eye for a free dessert, this lead us to read the card, look the deal up online, get a code and further sit and wait for service, however, after a further long long wait we didn't want the FREE dessert and left as soon as a waitress graced us with her presence.I will never go to that or any other ASK Italian ever again. Awful experience... Awful evening.(Dined on 10/10/21)(Photo below is of the ignored knife that could have injured someone via a tripping hazard or god forbid a child found it...)

Came here on Saturday after being turned away from lots of other restaurants for not booking (our mistake) and was kindly greeted by a young lady who managed to squeeze us in! The restaurant was very busy and had lots of tables upstairs and down, but the atmosphere was welcoming and vibrant. We were asked if we were comfortable ordering online but explained that we would much rather order with a waitress and this wasn’t a problem which was nice because sometimes other restaurants see this as a ‘hindrance’ but they were more than happy to take our order. And I’m glad they did because the service was lovely! The young lady who took our order was very warm and friendly.There was a little wait for food but it was expected being a very full busy Saturday night and we didn’t mind, especially because when the food came it was amazing! I had the butterfly king prawns and my friend had the n’duja and cheese bites which were delicious!!! A very big portion too! I then had the Calabria pizza and my friend the king prawn and crayfish pasta which we both thoroughly enjoyed and would highly recommend.We had a great time and will be returning again and again!

Very poor and slow service. Food arrived cold. A group of 12 girls came 45 minutes after us and ordered while we were waiting for our main course to arrive .. They received their food before our meal .We were only 3peopleOur waitress was extremely rude,talked back to us and had an attitude. I STRONGLY do not recommend this restaurant at all . I never write reviews, but this experience was so bad that I felt like I had to warn other people. As another reviewer mentioned, the staff have been dropping cutlery around us too.

Fantastic staff and pretty much, fantastic food. Great value for money. Great food. Top marks here.

Can't go wrong with Ask Italian. The food is amazing, portion sizes are huuge and the staff are super friendly. We hadn't booked a table and it was a busy Saturday night but they managed to seat us straight away. I would highly recommend the elderflower G&T! 💚