Bertorelli's Cafe Italian

I have to say I have eaten here before and had a perfect meal and enjoyed excellent service. Boy has that changed in the space of a few years. I recently visited whilst shopping in London on a Sat. Only 2 of us, we decided to eat somewhere a bit fancy rather than an average Pizza Hut or Pizza Express. WISH I HAD STUCK TO WHAT I KNOW!!! This place is supposed to be 'the best Italian' in London. Who said that? It's awful. The service is shocking, not one person smiled at me. We waited 40 mins for our food, in all we were there 2 and a half hours, for lunch! The food was cold, bland, pre heated rubbish. I wouldn't eat there again if it was free!
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Rowan Cammarano
Overall rating
Food 1 | Service 1 | Atmosphere 1 | Value for money 2
Monday, January 15, 2007

I don't know if I was lucky, but I had a fabulous experience there.

I went to Bertorelli's at 7pm on a Friday night, not having booked. We were seated immediately, and the waitress asked if we had to be out by a certain time to catch a theatre show (we did not).

The place was packed and we were worried the service would be slow, but it was incredibly fast (we waited literally less than 5 mins for our food after ordering), and the waiter was very nice (bringing us tap water when we asked, which some places frown upon, and splitting a pudding on two plates between the two of us). I had penne arrabitata, which was perfectly good, not spectacular, but perfectly fine. The pasta was good juct right, and there was a nice amount of sauce, which was very spicy, but not too blow your head off spicy. My partner had quatro formaggio pizza, which was again fine, a little chargrilled tasting, which I liked. The portions were very large.

For pudding we shared a chocolate and raspberry tart which was amazing, and beautifully presented.

I was not asked to add a tip to the bill; when I was presented with the chip and pin thing, all it said was "enter pin"; there was no space to enter a tip.

The price came to $26 for two main dishes, one pudding, and two soft drinks (that's not including the water, obviously) which is average -- about what you'd pay in a Pizza Express or any other chain pizza/pasta restaurant.

The only criticism I have is that the place was very crowded and the (pretty small) tables were very close together. This would not be a great place for an intimate, romantic meal.

In general I had a great time, and would recommend.
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Overall rating
Food 9 | Service 10 | Atmosphere 5 | Value for money 9
Tuesday, January 09, 2007

We had a very dissappointing experience. The food was indifferent, and worse, it was lukewarm. One of our party returned her meal which took 20 minutes to be returned to her. Whilst waiting she asked politely how long it would take. The female manager was rude and aggressive. "I don't do the cooking so I don't know", was her verbatum unsympathetic reply. I wrote to complain anf 4 weeks later have not had a reply. Not a place to return to.
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John Butler - View all reviews by this user
Overall rating
Food 2 | Service 0 | Atmosphere 5 | Value for money 2
Thursday, October 05, 2006

Take my advice, don’t even bother trying this place out! It was a joke from the start, and any restaurant with such a comedy of errors surely can’t last as a viable business for long! Surly staff, incompetent kitchen, disorganised reception – this place should be featured on a television makeover programme – it is ripe for it!

Having made a booking, five of us turned up on Saturday night. Nobody was at reception, and only five names written into the reservation book, mine was NOT among them! After 10 minutes, they put a table together for us, and after 20 minutes they finally took our order and brought us some wine and some already opened (hmmmm, health & safety) packets of grissini. 40 minutes later we still didn't have our first course, and we noticed that we had only seen 4 plates of food being delivered to the remainder of the restaurant. That should have been our first clue. We asked several times where our food was, only to be told it was en route – from where, a kitchen in Hammersmith? Once it arrived, all of us commented that the portions were small, and the quality was atrocious. My artichoke and crab starter was virtually inedible. The barman, who was the only decent member of staff, sent us five glasses of Prosecco as he noticed we were not enjoying our evening. A further wait of 50 minutes, and the dawning that still no plates of food had been delivered to any of the 65 customers sitting upstairs, and we decided to cut our losses and leave the restaurant in search of any other venue that would give us food! One of our group offered to stay behind and settle the bill for what we had consumed, and at least they offered two bottles of white wine which we had consumed gratis, but had the nerve to include 12.5% service (which we deducted).
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S C KELLY
Overall rating
Food 0 | Service 1 | Atmosphere 4 | Value for money 0
Sunday, October 01, 2006

Went here with a client for a quick, reasonably priced lunch. Don't bother on a hot day - it is unbearably hot sitting inside. Also, they include a service charge on your bill THEN when you get the credit card machine the message says 'add a gratuity?'... to which having not read the bill properly we paid a tip twice. Very unhappy with that attitude towards customers - and definitely much more tip than was deserved as the food and service were pretty average.
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Cal
Overall rating
Food 6 | Service 5 | Atmosphere 4 | Value for money 5
Tuesday, September 12, 2006

What a fab find! Went last year and had fab food and wine for a reasonable price. Also, the thing that made our day was that Sharon Stone was eating on the next table to us! Definately would go again!
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Suzanna
Overall rating
Food 8 | Service 8 | Atmosphere 9 | Value for money 8
Tuesday, August 22, 2006

I was at Bertorelli's Charlotte Street for dinner with a girl-friend. We were given a table downstairs at the back. The service was lack lustre, they forgot the order for salad instead of the mash; they charged double for service on the bill and the credit card bill. Avoid. Lots of better places in the same street.
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Overall rating
Food 2 | Service 0 | Atmosphere 0 | Value for money 2
Friday, August 18, 2006

Disappointing for us, our Bertorelli's lunchtime outing was overpriced, overcooked and not over quickly enough. Luckily, we're a group of ladies that won't let rude staff and bland food ruin our catch-up.

After complaining about one of the dishes in particular to the manager (ingredients had been left off the meal leaving pasta, oil and basil for £9), we assumed that it would not be added to the bill. It was added, and so was the 12.5% service charge.

Generally, a very poorly cooked, tasteless meal, served by grumpy and unattentive staff.
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Ladies that lunch - View all reviews by this user
Overall rating
Food 2 | Service 2 | Atmosphere 5 | Value for money 2
Tuesday, August 08, 2006

Went here for lunch on Monday and it is absolutely terrible. The service is appalling. The restaurant was empty so one would think that the waitress would be more attentive to the one table occupied. However, that wasn’t the case, she was really moody and no smiles whatsoever. In most Italian restaurants of this calibre (e.g. Pizza Express, Ask etc), they ask you if you would like black pepper or parmesan on your food – not at this place you have to ask for it yourself. Finally, she asked us if we would like dessert which we refused, so she walked off. We thought she was going to get the bill but she wasn’t. We waited 15 minutes before we caught another waiter’s attention and asked for the bill.

Food is nothing compared to other places. Will never be going here again.
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Ash
Overall rating
Food 2 | Service 0 | Atmosphere 1 | Value for money 2
Thursday, June 15, 2006

What a terrible disappointment! We went on the Saturday before Easter, terrible service, appalling food – Vongole with 20 empty clam shells and a total of 5 actual clams, the waiting staff were put out when we complained, they stated ‘they would try and get the meal replaced’ – my friends lamb shank was well cooked but completely tasteless accompaniments.

Not a great lunch. And to top it off with a dire meal 12.5% service was still added to the bill and not an apology in sight!
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Caroline - View all reviews by this user
Overall rating
Food 1 | Service 1 | Atmosphere 3 | Value for money 3
Wednesday, April 19, 2006