Our guardian angel was mia at Gabriel Pizza in Gloucester

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Sometimes, all the signs are there but we go ahead and ignore them anyway. Somehow, I should have known that our most recent Friday Supper Seven outing was not going to end well 🙁 As I have mentioned before, oftentimes, we have no trouble deciding on a location. Other times, one or more of the group has to be coerced into going with the majority vote. Those who simply abstain may think that they are helping but this is rarely the case either. To make matters worse, this evening we were nine in the group, although, to be fair, the ninth member was our son Ian who is not usually opinionated or hard to please. And yet he is MY son?!! In any event, this Friday, there were various suggestions being bandied about when I had an ‘ah-hah!’ moment. 

Where we went: Dorothy and I had been wanting to try out Gabriel Pizza in Shopper’s City East on Ogilvie Road in Gloucester for some time now. We had been there once for a birthday party quite some time ago now and I happened to come across their online menu a short while ago and it piqued my interest. I should qualify all this by stating that on our only previous visit, I was not overly impressed with either the service or the food. However, I am a believer in giving everyone a second chance. One other in the group, Debbie, was enthusiastically in favour and the three of us were able to sway the group. We had called ahead and made a reservation and were expecting a packed house. In reality, although relatively busy, the place was not full and we were  seated without much delay.

What we ordered: This was where the problems began. Although there were clearly 4 servers on hand, the one assigned to our table seemed well beyond her depth. The only thing we saw for the first 10-15 minutes was glasses of water (eight for nine people). In spite of indications  from other staff and our server that she would be with us shortly, she was not. When she finally did arrive, we decided to place an order for food right off the bat since it was now approaching 8PM and we had arrived at 7:30. As a result, we were never offered a drink from the bar. The menu, it must be said, is very extensive. In my experience, this can often be a negative, since a fast-food style kitchen will have difficultly in doing many things well. In any event, it seemed that a number of our group had difficulty in making a selection. Two ordered pizza, myself  Hawaiian with bacon and Debbie Canadian. Ian ordered Pasta con Pesci and was asked if he wanted it with seafood?? Dorothy ordered a steak sandwich – medium, Gregory a chicken stir-fry and Norma a beef burrito. On a whim, I added an order of fried zucchini sticks to share with Dorothy.

What we got: The good news was that once the order had finally been placed, it did not take an inordinate amount of time before the food started to arrive. The second piece of good news was that the pizzas were hot and packed with toppings with a crust as good as almost any I have had elsewhere. Greg’s stir-fry also looked good and he confirmed that it was hot and tasty. Unfortunately, at this point, the good news ran out. Dorothy declared her medium steak to be well-done and full of gristle. Ian found his Pasta con pesci to be barely passable with the scallops minuscule and the shrimps overcooked and hard. Even the kids did not seem to appreciated their food, since they seemed to leave more on their plates than went into their stomachs. None of us felt lucky enough to order coffee or desert and they were only offered very late in the game anyway!

Worthy of note: Two things happened that strengthened my resolve that we would not be back any time soon. 1) Lara accidentally knocked over a glass which subsequently broke. We were in the restaurant at least another 10 minutes after this occurred and at no time was any attempt made by staff to pick up the pieces! 2) A member of staff other than our server was asked by one of our group whether they were short-staffed. She immediately became surly and argumentative and intimated that somehow the problem must have been with us!

Summary

• Positives: They make good pizza.
• Negatives: Mediocre food in general and poor, slow service!
• Recommendation: We will not be back anytime soon. If you feel like taking a gamble, go to the racetrack!

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