Al Gambero - Table reservation

The Al Gambero restaurant and pizzeria is an Italian establishment situated centrally in the main shopping area of the Kiel suburb of Friedrichsort, some km north of the city centre. We visited at lunchtime in April and found a real hive of activity....We were lucky to find a free table for two almost immediately, as most of the tables in both dining areas were already taken, mostly by local workers from the nearby engineering factories, judging by their huge appetite and their capacity to eat mountains of freshlycooked pasta dishes. This is certainly no refined restaurant. But it reflects the local requirement for somewhere relatively inexpensive to get a quickly prepared and tasty lunch. As is the rule generally in this part of Germany, people like to be served quickly and to eat as quickly as possible before leaving for their afternoon employment. So, don’t expect any refined conversations with the serving staff, who rapidly and efficiently get on with their job of serving hot food and a glass of something to drink. A word on the restaurant: tables are of the bare wooden type, no decoration is provided and napkins are of the paper variety. No candles or elegant glassware. Cutlery is limited to what is strictly necessary for pasta dishes, a spoon and a fork. But it is spotlessly clean. The menu is adequately furnished, with several Italian pasta dishes along with a range of pizzas, all of which appeared to be freshly prepared. My spaghetti with diced ham, onion and tomato sauce was copious, hot and served with a side dish of baguette. I took a glass of Sardinian syrah, a heavy red wine common in southern Europe. My wife had a white wine schorle, a dry white served with mineral water to accompany her pasta dish which was served with a cheese and broccoli sauce. We have not used this restaurant in the evening, so we cannot comment on the standard of service and quality of food served at this time of day. However, the lunchtime experience suggests it could well be worth another visit, but we do not expect any culinary delights

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Me and my boyfriend booked a table for and when we arrived it was lovely! They took us to our table and the whole restaurant was busy which is always a good sign. Took a while to take our order of drinks and then...longer still to order food. I ordered the mussels and was really looking forward to them but minutes later the waitress came out and said there was none left. Fair enough, these things happen! I ordered something else although I was disappointed. Our starters eventually came out and were tasty, I had the bruschetta. Well, before I'd received my main the waitress brought out a huge bowl of the mussels I had ordered for someone else who had come in minutes after us! Just seems odd that I hadn't received my food yet, they knew I wanted the mussels and was visibly disappointed when there were none left and they didn't offer me them again when they managed to miraculously find some. Especially when we waited at least minutes for bowls of pasta.. Would be a review

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We had dinner here on Friday night. It was really busy but the helpful staff fitted us in and were very attentive. We had stopped in Kiel as part of a sailing trip and wanted somewhere to eat. The food here was excellent. We had...Bruscetta to start, which was some of the best I have had outside Italy and the Pizzas we ordered were of an equal high standard. The menu was traditional Itallian And from what I saw the other dishes looked very good. Hard to know how things could have been better from both the services and the food perspective. The locals filled the place and there were lots of reserved tables so this is a popular spot for those in the know. There is a small outside on the street which makes the seating bigger in the summer months. So often places do not live up to expectations. We went with no preconceptions and we were very plesently surprised by this excellent and well run resturant. A great find

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A Nice restaurant with friendly and good staff. We ordered different pizza and pastadish. All very tasty and fresh ingrediens. Fresh grated parmesan cheese for the pasta. All very reasonable priced. dishes and beers, soda and water for All. ordered twice All...for euros

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Really good food and fast service, despite full house. Ordered pizza and it was juicy crispy and wonderful taste. Can only recommend

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