Mandy (21 April 2009)

Based on the review below I would like to make a few observations. On a busy Saturday night although we make our best effort to seat people at their allocated time, it is sometimes inevitable that a small wait is incurred in being seated. In this instance most people have the good grace to enjoy the pleasant surroundings of the bar and enjoy a pre dinner drink whilst waiting for their table. The fact that the waiter compensated for this by buying a round of drinks should be seen as a positive and not a negative. All of our food is freshly prepared on the premises and offered in generous portion sizes. Any customer who feels that this is not the case is very welcome to ask for accompaniments to their meal or a larger portion at the beginning of the meal. The fact that this customer waited until it was time to pay the bill to make all of their complaints says more about the behaviour of the customer than that of the staff and service at Fina. We are always looking to improve in any way we can to ensure that every customer has a pleasant and enjoyable experience at Fina and are always open to suggestions and comments. Fina currently serves over 500 happy customers each week and we very much hope to continue to keep it this way.

Carey (19 April 2009)

We went for a meal to Fina last night as a party of three, my husband, mother-in-law and me. When we arrived we were seated in a bar area and left for twenty minutes. Whilst we were waiting we ordered three glasses of wine for £12. In the meantime, a party of four came into the restaurant after us and were seated immediately. Ten minutes later my husband asked what the delay was and stressed that it was poor that we were left waiting, without explanation, without an apology and felt that a complimentary drink should have been provided. The waiter then apologised and brought us a round of drinks over and then promptly seated us at our table 35 minutes later than when we arrived. We ordered garlic bread to share, and our starters were of ribs, mushrooms and fish cakes. The ribs were very nice, however the mushroom dish was one field mushroom with a bit of salad thrown on top, like the bag of mixed salads you can buy in a local supermarket for £1, and there were three fish cakes which were very small with a tiny dip garnished with the same mixed salad fresh from the supermarket. The mushroom dish was priced at £6.95 - a total rip off for a mushroom and salad. The bread was nice and arguably the best thing about the meal. The main dishes came and we had risotto gamberetti, penne diavola and penne funghi. The penne diavola was a dish with penne, la restricted portion of what seemed like tinned tuna and a few cherry tomatoes. The penne funghi was thrown in a dish in the same manner as the penne diavola, however this had its own special ingredient - one long brown hair - yum! The risotto gamberetti was supposed to have scallops and prawns in. There were two tiny scallops and three prawns. The portion was very small and in order to disguise this they had thrown strips of basil on the top. We had also ordered a bottle of red and white wine. My husband had poured the wine into his glass when we noticed a big pink lipstick mark on the side of the glass. We complained to the waiter and he asked if we would like it to be poured into another glass, which we refused. How disgusting!

The evening had turned into Carry on Italia. We requested the bill and again were left for over half an hour. A couple sat behind us had also been left floundering waiting to pay their bill too. I doubt the staff would have noticed had we just got up and walked out, so if you fancy a freebie this is the place to go. By the time the bill arrived, we had had enough, so I complained to the waiter about the poor meals, the hair in the penne, the dirty glass, the lack of ingredients in the gamberetti and the poor service. The waiter acknowledged the lack of scallops in the meal and said there was a shortage of them in the kitchen. Any self respecting establishment would ensure they either have the ingredients they require or pull the dish from the menu rather than serve sub standard dishes. The manager Valentino came over and offered to reduce the bill by £3.50 to recompense us for the poor meal. However, when the bill finally arrived, it was the final insult. £80! There was no way that we were going to pay £80 for that meal. I offered them £60 for the meal and told them that we would not wish to see them again, which was reciprocated. Don’t be fooled by the lovely décor, which is the best thing about the place. The staff at Fina are the old staff from the tatty looking Italian opposite the White Lion on Mill Street, with a new found arrogance. We are not ones to complain usually, however, we were totally astonished by their total lack of customer service and ignorance of comments made by customers. To add balance, it should be noted that the restaurant was very busy. However, this could be first-timers much the same as us. The food is certainly not authentic Italian at its best. I have been to public houses that serve better Italian food than Fina. The prices are ridiculous for the quality of the food they are serving. Nobody minds paying top prices, but you would rightly expect top food and service in return.