Ask Lichfield

Excellent value food, tasted authentic; staff not intrusive but ready to help. Premises clean and tidy. Meal type: Dinner Price per person: £20–30

Better visit this time, compared with our previous one. Staff were friendly and service was good throughout. They were able to make reasonable amendments to our food choices, whereas other places often make you feel like an inconvenience if you request something done in a slightly different way. Garlic bread, cheese fondue and chips were very good. I am unhappy that the spinach ricotta girasole seems to have been taken off the Ask menu that was my favourite dish. It was my second time trying the mushroom ragu pappardelle main, and I am still not convinced unfortunately. The first time I tried this at Ask Italian in Birmingham, there were loads of rock hard bits of herb (thyme) littered all through the dish, which spoilt it and made eating the food difficult. This time around, the sauce was spicy (I am assuming from far too much pepper) so that spoilt the dish for me as it wasn’t to my taste at all. A puny amount of mascarpone cheese on top as well, which wasn’t at all generous considering the price tag! Nice variety of puddings, although quite expensive. I was pleased we had a voucher, to make the cost of our meal more affordable.

Very disappointing meal for our Christmas Eve celebration. Good service and friendly staff but food was awful. Very small portion of something that slightly resembled calamari. Sea bass was ok but the accompyments etc that came with it were hard and uncooked. Sent it back and came back the same!! I had finished my meal too by the time my husband got his and mine was very poor too. I had chicken cacciatore with little tiny bits of chicken and chewy meat of some kind. Served without pasta too. It should be chicken thighs but there must be a shortage of chicken as had two tiny little bits. It was more like a butter bean stew. £75 would have been a crazy price to pay forwhat we had but at least the sea bass was deducted from the bill which made it slightly acceptable. Certainly won’t be back here again. Spoilt our evening. Not very Christmassy either. Total let down. I wrote this but if my husband had written it, it would have been much worse. Thanks, but no thanks.

For those unaware, ASK Italian operates at the lower spectrum of the casual dining sector. Owned by a large corporation run by bean counters there are numerous branches up and down the UK with the food shipped from a central factory to be heated up at each branch. We wanted to check it out so visited with friends one evening. It occupies a lovely old building but that’s where the good aspects stop. Staff young and eager to help but it’s the to be expected blandness and high cost of the food that let it down. The pizzas have no depth of flavour and pasta sauces glutinous and claggy. ASK Italian is as far removed from anything remotely Italian. It’s bland and overpriced chain food heated up for the unsuspecting and ill informed. Fine if you like chain food but with Lichfield crammed with so many independent restaurants with talented chefs and fresh ingredients prepared onsite I know where I’ll be heading next time…

Really puzzled at some of these poor reviews we have always experienced the exact opposite. Lovely restaurant, amazing food really friendly efficient staff advised on arrival it was now card only yes prices have increased but that is standard everywhere these days will be returning