Locanda Locatelli

I appear to have been in the restaurant on the same night as another reviewer but, have to say, had a diametrically opposed opinion.

I started the evening off with an Amaretto Sour which I saw the trainee barman being instructed how to make and which I would've sent back had not my girlfriend arrived at that moment. Instead of the deliciously sweet marzipan flavour cut through with a sharp shard, I had an overly iced, slightly fizzy drink that I had to double-check that the waitress had heard my order correctly.

The heating was not working on that evening so, while the restaurant had brought pashminas for any women diners, there were several men diners who had to retrieve their coats from the cloakroom.

Now for the food. I chose the Carpaccio, followed by Pheasant Ravioli and, from the White Truffle menu, the Veal. I love Carpaccio but this was a bland, poor-quality offering with the cheese especially disappointing - instead of the zingy, salty parmesan bringing the dish together, this was small serving (in an otherwise generous plate) of something insipid and tasteless.

The rosemary jus that accompanied the pasta was beautifully light and flavoursome whereas the ravioli itself was heavy, thick and filled with a very dry pheasant mixture that even the wonderful jus could not save. The veal was cooked well but uninspiring and replicated at my local Italian in N London for one fifth of the price.

There are some restaurants in London where particular dishes last long in the memory. One can close one's eyes and remember all the amazing flavours of one dish or another - I had hoped Locanda Locatelli would be one of these. It wasn't.

The only pluses were the excellent wine chosen by the attentive sommelier and the bread basket.

I also suspect that the reason Greg Wallace was having such a great time was because he was Greg Wallace.
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southsidestick
3 Overall rating
Food 3 | Service 4 | Atmosphere 2 | Value for money 3
Monday, December 13, 2010

I have to say the reviews on here got me worried about visiting Locanda Locatelli however my feelings completely changed after I visited last night.

I hadn't been to Locanda in a long while, even though it is just around the corner from my house but a friend had recently been and raved about how good it was so I thought I'd give it a try.

For a Wednesday night, the room was buzzing. I started with the scallops and celeriac puree which was delicious, perfectly cooked, good texture and flavour.

I chose pasta instead of a main course and went for gnocchi with venison ragu - what delicious comfort food for a freezing winter's night! A bottle of red was well chosen by the sommelier. Gregg Wallace was dining at a nearby table and seemed to be enjoying himself immensely! Service was attentive and friendly throughout the night and especially helpful with my husband's lactose intolerance.

All in all it was a very enjoyable evening and I'd highly recommend it, definitely one of the best Italians in London.
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Venetia Kussell
9 Overall rating
Food 9 | Service 9 | Atmosphere 10 | Value for money 8
Thursday, December 09, 2010

This restaurant is totally rocking - if you can get a table...Everyone was nice from the moment we handed in our coats to the moment we collected them at the end.

Everything was perfect. The pheasant ravioli was unctious, my husband had the pasta with egg and truffle as a starter which he refused to share it was so good...not even a taste for me!

We shared a plate of various mixed icecream and sorbets - walnut and banana was extraordinarily delicious.

Thank you Locanda Locatelli - still the best Italian in London. By a long way.
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M Diamond - View all reviews by this user
10 Overall rating
Food 10 | Service 10 | Atmosphere 9 | Value for money 10
Wednesday, December 08, 2010

Ate at Locanda Locatelli a year ago today. A year ago it was faultless - AND STILL IS! Have read recent reviews with interest, and was intrigued to go back. I can safely say, judging by tonights wonderful meal, standards have by no way slipped. This is top class Italian. No frills, no song and dance. The seabass was virtually still flipping it was so fresh, the truffle pasta was faultless, the bread to die for.

If you want good fresh ingedients, this is the place to be. I dont care how many times Madonna eats there, as long as there is room for me! Well done too, to the excellent somellier who guided me through the excellent wine list with aplomb. All in all - a wonderful meal.
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Tyrone Michaels
10 Overall rating
Food 10 | Service 10 | Atmosphere 10 | Value for money 10
Wednesday, December 08, 2010

Four of us went on Saturday 20th November 2010.

I'd always wanted to go to this restaurant and I love well cooked Italian food.

Sadly in this case it is true your heroes often disappoint when you met them, I was very disappointed with rather bland food.

My starter was spaghetti and octopus, this was just plain and exceedingly boring, my main was lambs kidneys ok but bland, competently cooked but nothing else. The bill for 4 inc service was £500 and that's with no fancy wines.

The decor and general ambiance was nothing to write home about, more htle restuant hen and our waiter looked completely exhausted.

Both my wife and I will not be visiting this establishment for a second time.
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1 Overall rating
Food 0 | Service 2 | Atmosphere 0 | Value for money 0
Monday, November 22, 2010

I can only echo the comments of other reviewers.

Four of us had a breathtakingly bad meal at this restaurant last Saturday. It would be impossible to do justice to all of its horrors, so I will select some lowlights. Cocktails with dried-up limes, a bean and chard starter looking and tasting like a greasy fish finger on a plate of unseasoned frozen veg, ho-hum or inept mains, side orders arriving after we had nearly finished our main courses despite increasingly desperate begging.... When the side orders did arrive (£4.50 each!), they were flavourless (spinach), raw and inedible (potatoes) and just plain nasty (borlotti beans). I gave up before the puddings, but my husband had his perserverance rewarded with a cheesy-tasting white chocolate soup topped with an evil grey/green globe, purporting to be pistachio ice-cream. No human being could have enjoyed it.

A couple of tasty enough platefuls and decent olives did not lift the experience. We complained, weren't charged for the side orders or the hideous soup, but the meal still cost us a fortune. This is a place to go and eat poorly cooked food at eye-popping prices, and Mr Locatelli ought to be ashamed of himself. Avoid, even if someone else is paying.
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Michelle
1 Overall rating
Food 1 | Service 2 | Atmosphere 2 | Value for money 0
Monday, October 18, 2010

Well, I have been to this restaurant twice and I will review both visits here.

1st visit was on a Saturday night, we had a table next to David Walliams, his wife and his mum. They seemed very pleasant. I had oxtail pasta to start with, and a bit of fish for my main course. These were both very nice, and we had a lovely glass of wine, good service, and the food was well cooked Italian food. What else would you expect from a decent Italian restaurant? I also had the tiramisu which was average in my opinion, and I've eaten a lot of them. The prices are of course steep. £15 for a pasta starter, and £30 for a piece of fish with no veg etc. Anyway I enjoyed the food and service, but the prices made me sweat.

2nd visit was a week night. I started with a watered down cocktail and I then had a starter of calves foot which was OK, followed by ragu with pasta filled with lemon. This sounded weird on the menu but I thought this place has a Michelin star and should know what it's doing. How wrong I was. It was pasta filled with lemon curd with ragu on top. I couldn't eat it and was gagging slightly. I left over half, it was £22.

The service on the second visit was awful, they seemed completely inexperienced, brash, abrupt, not really bothered. My chair was wobbly, we had to ask for the bill several times. Based on my first visit - if you sit next to a celebrity you will get good service.

If you have more money than sense, then go. They basically serve cheap cuts of meat and pasta and if you're not sitting next to a celebrity they might make you feel like they're doing you a favour before taking a weeks wages from you. Nice.
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2 Overall rating
Food 3 | Service 3 | Atmosphere 2 | Value for money 0
Wednesday, October 13, 2010

I arrived with two friends looking forward to a special evening out. On arrival one is impressed with the look of the restaurant, nicely designed and a calm feeling to it. Unfortunately it only goes down from here.

From some reason front of house seemed to be a 17 year old boy whos english was of a level of a student doing a 3 month trip in London......maybe the owners nephew?

* I asked for a Manhattan.....I got a strange cocktail of whisky mixed with what seemed to be water. Considering Manhattans have 3 ingredients I thought this was taking the mickey a little. I asked for a new one, the waiter seemed friendly enough, took it back and brought back what seemed to be EXACTLY the same cocktail!

* Wine- Ordered a 60 pound bottle of red. They either didnt fill our glasses at all (not the end of the world, I have hands) OR halfway through the bottle they almost emptied the whole thing out in one of my friends glasses leaving the other two with barely nothing AND walked away with the bottle still with wine in it....when the waited realised I had made eye contact he turned around and poured the rest in one of the glasses......i must have disappointed him because he was probably going to drink that himself......

* Food: One of us really enjoyed both courses. The other two of us thought the food was mediocre (an example was the pigs neck as a starter....basically cold cuts on top of rocket). We are not food snobs, just like good food and the food presented to us were dishes we could make at home.

* Service: absent, unexperienced.

* Ambience: suits, wannabes and people with more money than sense.

* Overall? Emperor's new clothes springs to mind.

The head chef/owner might be on TV a lot and have a recipe book that looks delicious but the restaurant in itself was a huge dissapointment and after paying 280 pounds I felt robbed.

What a load of rubbish.
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1 Overall rating
Food 2 | Service 1 | Atmosphere 2 | Value for money 0
Tuesday, October 12, 2010

This is the most overrated restaurant in London. Let me give you a taste of what might happen to you.

STAFF: When you call this restaurant to make a booking, you are likely to be greeted with the laughing of some private joke before I answered the call and then "yeah". I had to confim "sorry is this Locanda Locatelli?" genuinely thinking I had called a private number. The response.... "YEAH". That's it, not a word more. Now, why I didn't stop there is my own fault, but I was seduced by the incredibly brilliant book written by Georgio Locatelli and had to overlook this rudeness and indifference in my quest to dine at his flagship restaurant. I had to fast track the telephone conversation because the lady sounded like she would hand hang up and lose patience if I spent more than 1 min on the phone.

Well the dining experience was no better. You quickly get the feeling that you are an obligation. Hard work. You feel that by merely by attending this place, you are putting a few people out. An intruder. This I find insulting becuase I was dressed well and polite to all the staff at Locanda all evening. Why were they so dismissive, indifferent and rude in return. The core of the issue is they just dont seem to care. The staff looked so tired, vacant and disinterested, and were definitely not friendly. The food takes an awful long time to arrive. Service or even mere attention from any one of the many, many waiters takes a long time too. Our paper menus had food stains on them. Some of the starters were not available, one of the mains was "running out", and errors were made in the ordering. The kind of 'sleeping' sommelier (for want of a better word) looked like he was ready to take a nap as he slowly moped himself about the restaurant. One of the waiters has the back of his white shirt untucked for most of the evening. When we asked the lady at the front desk to order a taxi - this was not done either.

VENUE: The venue.. Depressing. Stuffy. Overcrowded. Awful.

FOOD: Ok, so the service and venue was terrible. Like many others, my main objective was to try this food. If the food could compensate, I might make something out of this 170 pound evening. Generally though it was boring. No inspiration, my main meal was dry. The dessert was so uninspiring, starters OK. I am an Italian and my family would be so shocked at the food being served. You know, there is a difference between 'refined' 'or say elegant' food and food "lacking" passion, precision, and taste. I have eaten at several other Michellin starred venues, and this place is just MILES off course. MILES and MILES off course. Anyway, I expect the bill to be a reasonable size - it comes with an infamous owner and the accolade of one michellin star. No issues with that. I can even accept a mistake here and there. But my goodness, what an absolutely disrespectful, tired, lazy, incompetent joint.

Please Michellin Inspectors, take a few more look-ins here. I would be too nervous to follow another of your recommendations whislt you regard this horrible place as 1 star quality.
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ben
1 Overall rating
Food 2 | Service 0 | Atmosphere 0 | Value for money 0
Sunday, September 26, 2010

My girlfriend is Italian, from Milan, as an excellent cook herself, she hates eating out and being disappointed.....more over, spending money to eat Italian food that disappoints. Expectations set high, we went out for our anniversary dinner, so Michelin star or not, there was a lot to live up to.

Past comments by others are understood and taken into account but I must say that mildly over zealous waiters aside we were very impressed. We split two pastas to start. The texture, thickness, flavor everything was perfect. We asked for help with wine and received an excellent suggestion that demonstrated our likes and no blatant up-sell. The main of Saltimbocca was exceptional, ok at £31, it should be, but there was nothing to fault.

Be realistic about where you are eating, be discerning and ask for advice, moreover, always trial a real Italian by their pasta.

All in a 7.5 out of 10, but don't believe that Signor Locatelli is a "Celebrity Chef" he is a real Italian cook who loves his produce.
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Alex
8 Overall rating
Food 8 | Service 7 | Atmosphere 8 | Value for money 7
Wednesday, September 01, 2010