Piazza by Anthony Brasserie

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The Brasserie at Piazza by Anthony is located centrally within The Corn Exchange. They serve brunch, lunch, afternoon tea and dinner making it ideal for a meal or drink any time of day.

Where to begin? This was the worst dining experience I & my family had in years. The restaurant seems to be run on a 'Chef Knows Best' basis, with the customers treated like sheep.
Firstly, we were routed circuitously round a maze of partitions to our table instead of being allowed to take a direct route (I'm disabled & didn't need the extra journey). Next the menu. The choice was very limited, and my daughter couldn't find anything she liked ( I found it hard enough) and there was no leeway for adjusting the menu to suit a customers' individual tastes. We were only allowed a choice of 1 vegetable on the whole menu (cabbage) & of course, there was no salt or pepper unless requested because chef had seasoned everything perfectly ('Chef Knows Best)!

Portions were small and the food bland. We were finally fleeced (around £35 per head) & herded out via the maze onto the street - where my daughter requested a bag of chips because she was starving.

Can't I give this no stars??

Ive eat there twice and have always enjoyed it. That said it is bloody freezing but they have noticed and placed heaters around that makes it more bearable.

I cant think of being in leeds without visiting it.

I love Anthony's restaurant so was disappointed it doesn't open Sunday's therefore settled for what I thought would be the next best thing the Piazza.

Service not great, food only just aired, staff a little scruffy and the place is freezing!!

Didn't want to spoil mothers day so didn't say much on the day e-mailed afterwards with feedback, no response!!

Have been twice now hoping that the service would improve but it's appalling. Portions were even smaller than the first time round.

Prices don't seem so reasonable when you get not enough meat to fill half a sandwich for your main!

Pros: beautiful building

Cons: freezing (in mid-april), dreadful service, tiny portions, mediocre food.

There are far better place in Leeds than this. Its so disappointing to look forward to visiting what you hope is a wonderful restaurant, only to be served lack lustre food that is stone cold.

A large party of us were booked into the restaurant and had pre-ordered our food from a set menu provided.

We were seated over an hour late and so everyone was extremely hungry. The starters were so small, they were completely unsatisfactory, and everyone was still really hungry by the time the main courses arrived.

They were a choice of baked salmon, slow roasted lamb and cod with a chorizo stew. One poor waiter was left to serve the food to us all, while others brought the plates to a side table.

By the time the food was served it was cold. I sent mine back, but others were so hungry they just did not want to wait for a reheated version to arrive.

The new dish was equally as cold sadly. We asked if side orders would be appearing at any stage, as yet again the portions were meagre, but we were told we should have ordered those when we chose our food some weeks before.
( There was no mention of this on the set menu sent over to us all by email)

When the sides did eventually arrive they were piping hot ! It's a shame they can't serve the main courses at the same temperature.

I spoke to the manager who simply said sorry, and did not engage in any conversation as to how to improve service.

The service was disjointed with different waiters appearing all the time and no continuity to service at all.

One another note the toilets were a mess that evening.

The manager explained the Corn Exchange management look after the toilets, and did not seem at all bothered that the facilities might reflect badly on his restaurant.

The whole experience was a total let down, and we won't be heading back in a hurry.

A Valentine's treat this was not. We were accommodated for a late lunch on said day, despite lunch service being over and the kitchen busy prepping for the evening onslaught.We ordered squid and black spaghetti followed by mains of wild mushroom risotto and sirloin steak with onion rings and a side of handcut fries, accompanied by a temperanillo.

The wine was warm (like 24 degrees) as though it had been sitting in a hot kitchen and not the glass fronted, environmentally controlled store which is such a feature of the sophisticated design. The squid was overcooked and slightly chewy, the cream sauce cloying and the spaghetti not al dente enough for my partner's taste.

The risotto was similarly overdone, lacking 'bite' and creaminess and appeared to me to have been sitting on a hot plate. The steak was well done and not rare as requested. It was removed and its replacement was stone cold in the middle; the onion rings were the same as those returned with the overcooked steak and were now also cold.

We declined a replacement and my partner picked at the flaccid fries that had remained on the table during the steak debacle while I picked off the rest of my lonely, Valentine's risotto.The service was friendly, if a little distracted, and the floor manager's apology grovelling.

The waitress who went to investigate the temperature of the wine disappeared, never to be seen again and we were asked at the end of the meal if everything had been okay!!?This place is going to have to do better than this if it's to ride out the current economic storm. So long as Leeds folk don't value style over substance.