On a casual night out, we decided to stay local and head over to Cafe Republic for a quick meal. We had been here a few times before for breakfast, however this was our first dinner experience.
ATMOSPHERE & SERVICE
The space itself is quite cosy, with rustic wooden floors, large open windows to let the natural light shine through and dark features throughout. The cuisine is Italian, priding themselves in rustic Italian foods like pizza, shared appetizers and delicious pastas.
Breakfast has always been well enjoyed here, however dinner on this occasion was a bit on the slow, inattentive side. We had to wait quite a while for our waiter to come over to the table to take our order and the same for our drinks to arrive. I had asked the waiter a few questions about some of the dishes on the menu and she had mentioned she would get back to me, however never did. A bit frustrating when trying to decide on what to get to eat.
The cafe wasn’t overly busy, which was why I was surprised by the lack of service we had received on the night.
FOOD
We weren’t overly hungry, so decided to get some dips to start and a small pizza to share. I had asked the waiter about the ‘Trio of Dips’ served with warm bread as the menu said to ask your waiter which house made dips were available. The waiter was unsure on what was on offer so had to confirm with the kitchen before coming back to let us know there was an olive, tzatziki and roasted red pepper dip tonight. This sounded perfect as we loved all three, however none of these came out to the table, which was quite disappointing.
We kept it simple with the pizza and just went with a traditional ‘Caprese’ pizza with fresh bocconcini, tomato mozzarella and fresh basil. I must admit, the crust was beautifully thin and and crunchy and had just the right amount of toppings. This definitely lifted our spirits after our starter.
We had tried on multiple occasions to get the waiters attention to get another glass of wine, however they seemed to be too busy talked with each other to want to pour another glass for us.
Once we finished our meal and our one glass of wine, we asked for the bill and headed down the road to another restaurant for another glass of wine who were happy to serve us.
Overall, I don’t think we will be in a rush to come back. The staff weren’t trained to know the product and didn’t seem keen to be there.
