Cecconi's

A good bright and breezy atmosphere and delicious food. The service was ok but with the house white wine selling at £25 per bottle, this place is not recommended if you're either thirsty or broke.
Comment on this reader review

Jimmy
Overall rating
Food 9 | Service 6 | Atmosphere 9 | Value for money 1
Thursday, September 04, 2008

Went there for a late informal lunch. This place is busy, I mean really busy! Good signal! We received a warm welcome despite of the crowded entrance. No table available at all for any walk in so we have been offered a transitory pit stop at the bar. Surprise a table came available after only few minutes. Nice bench table by the window. Service is prompt and the wine list quite generous even thoug is pricy as well as the food. The only sore note is the food presentation, my guest mentioned that it looks like some cat food. I have to be agreed with him although is well flavoured. Maybe this kitchen is massively squeezed, shame for it! This place is still a pearl which it should be kept preciously. Needs a serious improvement on the dish presentation and dish wear too if they want to maintain those prices! I may decide to go back only for informal lunch though.
Comment on this reader review

Tom Tom
Overall rating
Food 6 | Service 7 | Atmosphere 8 | Value for money 6
Sunday, August 10, 2008

I am very happy about the great change of Cecconi's.

Finally the food is great as it should be. A great restaurant also for beakfast & a quick solo bite at the bar.

Well done.
Comment on this reader review

Mimi
Overall rating
Food 7 | Service 6 | Atmosphere 6 | Value for money 7
Saturday, May 10, 2008

I love this place for Sunday brunch and always sit at the bar, which I think offers the best service and also the best view on all the Italian theatre this place is known for. Order the Veal Milanese, a glass of bubbles and enjoy...
Comment on this reader review

ems - View all reviews by this user
Overall rating
Food 10 | Service 10 | Atmosphere 10 | Value for money 7
Monday, April 14, 2008

Went to Cecconi's with my wife for lunch on Thursday and I was really dissapointed. The food was good but the service terrible. I can handle laid back service but not the shambles that was going here. Some tables were being fawned over by the management whilst others like mine were ignored. Instead of the unecessary trio at reception they might have been better engaging another waiter. I also felt over £100 for two courses and two glasses of wine each was toppy. Definetly got the impression that this was a place living off it's reputation and just not trying anymore.
Comment on this reader review

David Ginsberg
Overall rating
Food 8 | Service 2 | Atmosphere 4 | Value for money 3
Tuesday, March 25, 2008

Unlike the previous reviewer we found the service brilliant last night. Admittedly we don't understand much Italian so don't know if there was any swearing going on, but it seemed to me that all the staff were enjoying the evening as much as the customers. This is a place where the food is only part of the experience - definitely "restaurant as theatre". For top gastronomy go elsewhere but for a great evening this is the place.
Comment on this reader review

David Shamash
Overall rating
Food 6 | Service 9 | Atmosphere 10 | Value for money 8
Wednesday, November 07, 2007

I ate at Cecconi's last night with 3 friends, two of whom have just come back from Tuscany after owing a restaurant there for 5 years, tough critics! The restaurant is great to look at, well laid out and buzzing.

The service was terrible, one of our party ordered a beer and we had to ask for it 4 times and were still waiting 30 minutes after sitting down. The real disappointment was the food - I had some of the toughest calamari around for a starter, rubbery to the extreme. Two of us had lobster spaghetti which was really average, completely lacking in flavour. There were upsides, the Veal Milanese was pronounced very good and tiramasu for pud was delicious. Some staff were fantastic (in particular the welcoming committee on arrival), some terrible (one waiter swore quite loudly in Italian at another in earshot of plenty of punters) but that's all forgettable if the food's great. Sadly it was really disappointing. The people sat at the central bar eating the Italian tapas they do looked like they were getting the best bet,
Comment on this reader review

Overall rating
Food 2 | Service 2 | Atmosphere 7 | Value for money 2
Sunday, October 28, 2007

I have never been moved to write a restaurant review before, but my meal at Cecconi's last night was so unusually good that I decided I should as a plaudit to them.

This is a first class restaurant. The food was truely delicious and I thoroughly enjoyed every single mouthful. The staff were helpful, polite and observant, without being invasive as Italian waiters so often can be, the wines by the glass were varied and delightful and the whole experience at £100 for two was faultless.

I would - and will- eat there again.
Comment on this reader review

Ray Johnson
Overall rating
Food 10 | Service 10 | Atmosphere 10 | Value for money 10
Tuesday, July 31, 2007

I was a little wary of this place - having worked on Savile Row for 2 years - I expected it to a bit of a WAG hangout with a few wealthy tourists and focillised Mayfair geriatrics thrown in for good measure.

I was right apart from the WAG's - but matter it did not! Great atmosphere and surprisingly busy for a sunday night - I think all the hotels (Browns, The Ritz send people here). Nice bar with green leather stools.

Service was very, very good - slick and friendly and my wife and I are difficult to please (or maybe just used to London indifference). Our waiter was a charmer and knew what he was talking about.

The food was also excellent - everyone tucked in and loved what they had chosen. For the record - the lamb carpoaccio with pecorino and broad beans was unfaultable and the lobster spaghetti was very good (although not as good as the same dish as Osteria del Pesce in Rome - but I'm showing off now).

Interesting flavours of ice cream too if you like that kind of thing - almond, blood orange etc.

Great night - really very good. Not Locanda Locatelli good, but still good!
Comment on this reader review

Coops
Overall rating
Food 8 | Service 10 | Atmosphere 9 | Value for money 6
Tuesday, June 19, 2007

Thinking about where I’d like to spend my birthday, I decided that the one restaurant I had always wanted to visit was Locanda Locatelli’s . However, organisation skills being what they are, I only attempted to make the reservation on the day I wanted to go. Understandably the place was fully booked.

So the search began for a sharp Italian restaurant. The obvious choices sprang to mind, but nothing that really grabbed me, until I saw Cecconi’s – and rather than playing second fiddle to Locatelli’s, this place really would have been a first choice if I’d known about it.

The restaurant is tucked just inside the Mayfair borders and on walking through the door, you enter a grand dining experience and worry that this may be the only night out for the month while you pay back the debt ran up for the bill! Chandeliers, plush leather, individually ironed napkins and lots of diamonds and pearls.

The welcome was perfect, and we were quickly at the table. This is where I began to worry. All the reviews I read had said that this was an informal place, jeans, shirts etc – but there wasn’t an inch of denim in the place – just pressed suits, sharp shirts and polished shoes. I, on the other hand had opted for jeans and short-sleeved shirt – therefore in the waiters eyes, a student on a night out with little more than enough for soup and a small tip. This seemed to effect the whole night in terms of service – it took 45 minutes to take our order, annoying as two tables that arrived after us were pounced on and smothered with waiters oozing with smarm. We then had to ask for some bread, and just to annoy our guy I asked for water – tap water!

There was a saving grace – the food! Superb. We began with Lamb carpaccio with artichokes & pecorino. Wafer thin, fine pieces of lamb that melted in your mouth, followed by slithers of the hard cheese. Perfect. This was followed by Beef tagliata with bietoli, garlic and chilli and Aubergine parmigiana. The latter was a revelation – I really have a loathing of Aubergines, but this was incredible – meaty, solid and full of flavour.

The Tiramisu was off, which was a disappointment, so we finally finished with Italian strawberry cheesecake and a Chocolate fondant, blood orange ice cream. Both very well done, beautifully presented and enough to put us over the edge.

Wine was drunk by the glass and being cynical, but I think it was a reaction to the tap water request, I asked what he recommended and quickly had the most expensive glass offered, the 2001 Vino Nobile di Montepulciano, ‘La Braccesca’, Antinori. It was fantastic, but annoying as the guy hadn’t even bothered to ask me what I was eating and liked. This was followed by a 2004 Barbera d’Asti, Prunotto, Piedmont, which was actually fuller and more complimentary with the food – so we stuck with this.

All in all a mixed report – a great looking place, great food but poor service. Either, turn up in ripped jeans and enjoy winding them all up, or opt for the traditional and don a jacket with creased slacks.
Comment on this reader review

Salt & Pepper - View all reviews by this user
Overall rating
Food 7 | Service 3 | Atmosphere 6 | Value for money 5
Thursday, May 31, 2007