An "all-you-can-eat" pizza festival in west London descended into farce as organisers ran out of slices.
Hundreds of foodies attending the event were promised “unlimited amounts of pizza” – but instead faced hour-long queues for a single slice before stocks were eventually diminished altogether.
Disgruntled punters likened the festival in Notting Hill to “communist Russia” as they were greeted by chaotic scenes and found the promised pizza to be in short supply.
They flooded social media with complaints after paying £16-a-head for the festival, which billed itself as a “two day-long celebration of the dough, cheese, tasty sauces and delicious toppings”.
In an advert promoting the event beforehand, organisers Bellmonte Life promised that: “Whether it be pepperoni, mushrooms, onions, sausage, black olives, bacon, green peppers, extra cheese, plain or even experimental combos, there will be pizza for every palate at the Notting Hill Pizza Festival.”
But punters said they instead faced huge queues as the pizza promised to ticket-holders was notable by its absence.
One said: “This was truly the worst event I have ever attended. Our tummies were rumbling and we were giddy with excitement to finally get our hands on some delicious pizza. Unfortunately, instead of experiencing an ‘all you can eat pizza buffet’ we experienced something more akin to living in communist Russia.”
In a scathing post on Reddit, they added: “There were four insanely long lines of infuriated and sad Londoners leading up to four equally infuriating and sad looking pizza stalls.
“I could have done a better job building Italian market stalls. At the utter minimum, I would have at least remembered to put some pizza on them. How the organisers managed to forget the pizza is beyond me?”
Other ticket-holders for the event at Porchester Hall flooded social media with complaints after being told the venue's ovens had broken.
“This Notting Hill 'unlimited' pizza festival is a disaster @bellmontelife. Been here one hour, queued for 50 mins, managed to get 1 slice of pizza so far. Joke,” wrote Alex White.
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Jonathan Anderson added: "One hour trip to Notting Hill pizza festival and there's no pizza. Dozens walking out. People saying they waited for one hour then four slices of pizza were brought out. Finding it quite funny though in a sh** London kind of way.”
And Lee Cooke posted: "Notting Hill Pizza Festival has been the worst pizza festival ever... avoid at all costs unless you enjoy bad school disco's and queuing over half an hour for a slice of pizza... unlimited I think not all I see is empty metal trays!”
Several customers demanding refunds after the event claimed they were being blocked on social media or having posts criticising the event deleted.
Bellmonte Life later apologised for the problems, saying the main pizza oven "broke down right at the beginning of the event".
The organisation denied there was a shortage of pizzas, blaming "overzealous appetites" for the queues.
It added: "As soon as it became clear that the pizzas were not reaching everyone, we dispatched £2,000 worth of complimentary glasses of champagne, prosecco and wine to the festival goers for the inconvenience.
"After our team worked all Friday night to find emergency ovens, our Pizza Festival was fully operational for the remaining two sessions and over 1,800 pizzas were served on Saturday."
Bellmonte Life also said VIP tickets to a barbecue festival would be available for people with tickets to the pizza event via londonbbqfestival@bellmonte.co.uk.
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