By Rahul Rose

An Italian restaurant has closed its doors after accusing customers of choosing discount over quality despite damning reports by a renowned food critic.

Brickoven Milano, in Chiswick High Road, has padlocked its front gates just 10 months after opening and is now up for sale.

Customers questioned the sudden closure of the restaurant which describes itself as ‘a different kind of Italian’, but were given an abrupt answer when the owners posted a series of angry messages on Brickoven’s Twitter account on Saturday (25).

One tweet read: “Yes this location is too borderline in Chiswick and the customers prefer discount to quality.”

Other tweets complained of the customers’ attitudes towards children. They tweeted: “Brickoven is known in Europe for quality. London is child friendly but the customers don’t want to have children in the restaurant.”

In what some customers have interpreted as a bitter snipe, they added: “We want to thank all the children that went to our restaurant to play and to eat.”

The Chronicle spoke to Chiswick-based food critic and Masterchef: The Professionals guest critic, Andy Hayler. He said: “Firstly the food was very ordinary. Not bad, but extremely ordinary. The pizzas really were not very special.

“Secondly, in the area you have one of the best pizza places in London called Franco Manca. Nobody in their right mind would go back to Brickoven after going to Franco Manco.

“The particular site where the restaurant was is a bit of a doomed site. Even restaurants with really good food have failed there. It does not get as much footfall as you would imagine. If you were going to do something there it would have to be something special.”

His final words summed it up. “It is a lot easier to blame the locals than to face up to the fact that you have a poor product,” he added.

The Leisure Partnership, which has facilitated the sale and acquisition of a number of high profile properties in London, including Zaika in Kensington and Quo Vadis in Soho, has been charged with selling the property lease for around £195,000.

Alex Hill, managing director of the group, said: “It is quite simple. They did not have enough customers. They could not pay their bills.”