Ask Pizza and Pasta - thats all you need to know (Ask!)

Member Name: mgoldman

Product:	Ask!
Date:	16/05/01 (405 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: good food, reasonable price, reliable

Disadvantages: a bit formuleic, get very busy, can get very noisy

You get the feeling that Adam and Sam Kaye must have asked themselves what they most liked about eating pizza, and then put theory into practice. The growth of the ASK chain of pizza and pasta restaurants has pleased me, and their idea and my idea pretty much coincide. (Apart from the fact that I would like to not pay for the pleasure). Restaurants are at fairly prime sites, and there are two local to me at Whetsone and Finchley lido. Once inside you could be at any of them, because there is a formula of minimal décor, and the sort of tables and chairs that only seem right with pizza. The menu is also the same at all branches.
My daughter was a waitress at our local branch for a time, and although the pay was minimal, she was given a meal each shift she did, so I got to sample quite a few things off the menu. It was convincing enough for me to part with my cash for the same. There are the classic run of pizzas that you get these days. Nothing special. There are also a range of pastas and salads. I always go for the one that is pepperoni and chilli, and my wife likes the Chicken Caesar salad. In fact, you could be in Pizza Express, and not really know the difference, but that’s ok, because I like them both.
I thought you would like to know that the waitresses are paid quite badly, and it minimum wage. However, she got to keep a share of the tips from each shift. When minimum wage came in, she told me that some of the tips were used to make up the salary to minimum wage. So tip you waitress: she needs the money.
Other things I learned was that they can be very busy on Sunday lunchtime and Saturday night, so book first. The one at Whetstone gets Sean Bean and a footballer with a name that sounds like Ginola as regular customers, so I am told.

Summary: