Amerigo Vespucci

Went there last night with my husband. Started with a very good kir + bread and olives as the sun broke through the clouds – lovely! Bottles of olive oil and balsamic vinegar left on the table so the dipping saucer could be topped up ad lib. Starters of mushroom bruschetta with goats cheese and mushroom risotto were both wonderful, great flavours and good ingredients. Followed these with aged steak and a veal chop, sides of oven baked parmesan mash (which was really wonderful) and french beans. Meat of good quality and cooked as ordered. No room for pud but coffee comes with amaretti and biscotti. Add in an excellent bottle of Barolo and the total including service was a very reasonable £128. Service was attentive but unobtrusive – so many places find this difficult – which just added to the general sense of wellbeing we had by the end of the meal. Lovely quiet part of the Wharf serving real food – bliss! We'll be back.
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caroline
10 Overall rating
Food 10 | Service 10 | Atmosphere 10 | Value for money 10
Friday, August 12, 2011

Fresh products and good will. Is that enough?

Went to Amerigo on Friday with wife and sister in law. On entering, I was surprised by the formal and elegant atmosphere of the restaurant, which made me believe we were going to be treated to a "fine dining" experience. And while some of the waiters definitely tried their hardest to keep a semblance of fine dining (our shared starter was served to each of us from the main plate, with final touch of lemon squeezed on our plates just by using cutlery), the rest of the service was ... well... The first fifteen minutes saw a flurry of waiters (at least four) coming to our tables to take our drink orders, none of whome seemed to know what they were doing. It ended up with my sidecar (first drink ordered) arriving after twenty minutes and after my wife's cocktail, which was ordered as an afterthought ten minutes after mine...

Now, the food. the starter of Fritto Misto was good, the fish was fresh and the portion adequate. However, at £11.50, you would expect better than a handful of prawns (a few of which were, for some reason, left on the serving plate and taken back to the kitchen) and two mussels on top of the standard calamari. My seafood pasta was pretty disappointing: the fish was reasonably fresh and well cooked, but fish, pasta and sauce were three total strangers who happened to be on the same plate. The prawn risotto was quite bland and again only had a handful of (frozen?) small prawns. Desserts, in all fairness, were quite disappointing. the amaretto cake was heavy and not particularly tasty. the lemon (or lime?) cheesecake was only slightly citrusy. Our Brasilian waiter (the one who eventually became our main waiter) was friendly and helpful but that was not quite enough to lift the overall impression of a clumsy service. And the food was well overpriced for the quality. As a former chef and true Italian food lover I would not particularly recommend this place. There are many better Italian (true Italian) restaurants around...
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Enrico
5 Overall rating
Food 3 | Service 4 | Atmosphere 8 | Value for money 3
Monday, November 15, 2010

First class restaurant in every way food, staff, service, and cost. I go there on average twice a week and have done so since working in Canary Wharf...
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10 Overall rating
Food 10 | Service 10 | Atmosphere 10 | Value for money 10
Tuesday, November 24, 2009

My fiancee and I have just returned from a meal at Amerigos where my fiancee's main course of grilled salmon was very dry and my scallops were extremely overcooked and rubbery, including, surprisingly, the roe. Ruining the roe, in my view, requires a particular talent on the part of the chef! We had a few juices but no starters, desserts or coffees, and with sides and a bottle of good Sauvignon Blanc (recommended by the waiter at £28 - he appears to have misheard when I ordered just glass!) the cost was around £86! We are not sure that we will return any time soon which is sad given that we once rated this restaurant! Service too (service charge almost £8) was at best extremely average.

Nor were we asked at any time during or after our meal whether we enjoyed it so we took it that noone really cared, which, on reflection, certainly seems a fair reflection on how we were treated during our visit.
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Greg Bracken
3 Overall rating
Food 2 | Service 3 | Atmosphere 4 | Value for money 2
Wednesday, August 19, 2009

Have just returned from lunch. Given the premium prices, one can only think that the management has no interest in securing return bookings. My starter was served with a garnish of mouldy lemon - not just "slightly on the turn" but completely squishy with white mould all over the skin. When I drew this to the attention of our waiter all I got was a shrug, he then picked up the offending garnish from my plate and returned with another slice which was unceremoniously plonked on my plate. No apology offered. Both our bottles of water were removed from the table while still at least a centimetre of their contents remained. The risotto consisted of an over salted glutinous sauce containing gritty undercooked rice. To finish things off, the milk jug that accompanied our tea was chipped. Service desultory throughout.
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Jane P
3 Overall rating
Food 3 | Service 3 | Atmosphere 4 | Value for money 2
Tuesday, May 19, 2009