Fifteen
our comments
We all know, or should, that Fifteen is a charitable organisation that employs people, who might otherwise have very different life prospects, and sends all its profits to charity. This is very admirable. Does it mean we can’t review it as we would any other restaurant? I think not.
Impressions were initially good, upstairs the Trattoria part was buzzy and plates of simple, honest grub were being whizzed about. But ouch, £10 for a glass of white wine retailing at £12.75 a bottle in Berry Bros is a bit cheeky chappie innit Jamie? Maybe the visitors to JamieWorld, who all asked for a copy of the menu as a souvenir as they left and the New Labour Londoners who clearly felt that this was a guilt-free way of reminiscing about holidays in Italy didn’t object, but I did.
Downstairs in ‘fine dining’ was a mural of toe-curling naffness consisting of the word Fifteen painted by spraycans. This sort of homage to street art (street filth actually) went out of fashion many, many years ago. The tables were small and of course didn’t have tablecloths; just smear stains on the formica from indifferent wiping with a damp cloth. In the open kitchen far too many people appeared to be doing far too little. There was none of the snap and crackle of a top end kitchen and it was immediately worrying. If the chef was the bloke with the pen behind his ear leaning against a pillar chatting, he appeared to be doing least of all and never approached the pass to carry out last minute tuning of dishes. This could have been confidence, if so it was sorely misplaced
The dinner menu was £60 and advertised as a six course tasting menu. That was not quite accurate as a tasting menu doesn’t normally offer a choice of dishes, as was done here, and it wasn’t really six courses anyway as in most restaurants nibbles and amuse bouches don’t normally count as courses. Nor does the coffee, actually Jamie. The waiter tried hard, too hard, to sell us up to having wines for each course but we held our ground
The focaccia, olives and salumi nibbles were fine, but then it’s hard to make a mess of something that simple. The Devonshire crab was fresh and tasty, so top marks to the supplier, but the chilli advertised was invisible to the eye and tongue, the lemon aioli tasted of neither lemon nor garlic and the dressed fennel seemed pretty naked. On the other side a salad of speck, melon, pea shoots and ‘cracked’ pepper was no better than the sort of starter fashionable in the 70’s. The speck was fine but the melon lacked sweetness, there were no pea shoots I could see and the ‘cracked’ pepper was nothing but a very fine dust. Hopeless in every way. Oh and they brought us the wrong dish initially.
Seafood risotto was better. The rice properly al dente, the crab bisque well flavoured. The clams were few and far between though and there was grit in the mussels. I also object to being told to ‘enjoy, yeah?’ by the waitress but perhaps I am in the minority on that one. Pasta, pompously referred to as ‘fatte in casa’ was okay with its Welsh lamb ragu, but the words Spag Boll kept floating to the top of my mind.
And so to mains, a shoulder of ‘Pete Gott’s ‘ pork had billowing, fluffy fat but not a great deal of meat to absorb the flavours and the potato ‘al forno’ was undercooked and dull. Once again many of the advertised ingredients seemed either minimal or missing entirely. Loin of Welsh lamb was cooked rare as requested but was surprisingly one of the least flavoured pieces of lamb I’ve eaten for a long time. The surrounding borlotti beans were good and the cavolo nero which the menu said was ‘first of the season’, but whose season? was its usual assertive self. Desserts were nothing special.
The whole lot with five glasses of wine, a bottle of water and service came to a ridiculous £180 for two. I would have preferred to have paid the correct price, in my estimation about £75, and put the rest in the charity box as I hurried out. I may have caught a bad night, but somehow I think complacency and cockiness have settled into Fifteen. Jamie needs to make a surprise visit and soon.
N.H. - September 2007
your comments review this restaurant and win a bottle of champagne
I agree with the ‘ok’ comments – definitely a way to describe my experience of the Trattoria recently. No major complaints but lots of minor ones – no offer to taste the wine, no offer of wine refills, chicken with chickpeas which were bland and needed heavy seasoning just to taste of something, watery spinach, chewy lamb, and not a thank you or goodbye (or our change for that matter) on leaving the restaurant. All just a bit disappointing.
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pumpkin - View all reviews by this user
Overall rating 
Food 5 | Service 5 | Atmosphere 7 | Value for money 5
Wednesday, May 07, 2008
Pretentious. Why do they need TWO contact numbers and credit card details "in case you cancel"? What has happened to restaurants in the past few years? Mincing celebrity chefs that overhype and under-deliver. No substance, no delivery, just hot air, which is fine if you're an anorexic model type.
Restaurateurs act as though they are doing us a huge favour by letting us eat there, forgetting that we are the ones that are doing them a favour by eating there.
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Typhoid Tom
Overall rating 
Food 0 | Service 0 | Atmosphere 0 | Value for money 0
Tuesday, April 29, 2008
I went to this restaurant a few weeks ago with my friends because we knew this restaurant is really famous and that's why we just wanted to try.
My first impression of this restaurant was it was a little busy & crowded but the staff were attentive. The restaurant was smaller than i thought but it was cosy and lively. what i most like about this restaurant was the decor. lt was not too minimalist and not too cramped. it was just enough to enjoy the food. the Food was served a bit late(at that time i was starving !) and the portion was normal but especially the portion of rizotto was tiny but really tasty and exquisite.
I know some restaurants worse than their fame but this was right.
All kinds of cake that we ordered was also fantastic. except chocolate browny that was a bit stodge and dry.
if i go this restaurant , i would older scotish steak that was my firend's one !
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angella
Overall rating 
Food 8 | Service 7 | Atmosphere 10 | Value for money 8
Wednesday, April 23, 2008
I am really surprised and puzzled by the negative reviews on here. My husband took me to the downstairs restaurant as a birthday treat and we both had a really outstanding meal - quite honestly the best food we have ever tasted!
We went for the tasting menu and the tasting wine selection too, as it was a special occasion. The wines were really very good and complemented the food perfectly - an excellent Pinot Noir was a highlight. A caramelised pear and prosciutto salad was one of my favourite dishes, and a standout for my other half was the pot-roast pork. I found the staff to be pleasant and the service prompt.
Yes, it is expensive. As a rule we would rarely spend £200 on a meal and wine for two. But for a special occasion, we felt it was well worth it.
Highly recommended...try it.
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Overall rating 
Food 10 | Service 8 | Atmosphere 7 | Value for money 9
Wednesday, April 02, 2008
We went to Fifteen with £100 in gift vouchers but still had to part with another £140 for three people to eat in the basement dining room while drinking one of the more modestly priced bottles of wine.
I have no particular complaints about what was put in front of us but would have been happier spending just the £140 for a meal of this standard. If I'm tempted back it will be to try the upstairs trattoria, which was busy and interesting as we arrived and departed.
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kentishwanderer
Overall rating 
Food 7 | Service 9 | Atmosphere 7 | Value for money 5
Wednesday, March 26, 2008
Had breakfast at Trattoria yesterday. As our previous visit, it didnt fail to deliver. It's not the best breakfast you can have in town, but it's quite a pleasant environment, with chefs making fresh pasta near the entrance, welcoming front of the house, and buzzing athmosphere.
the menu is not so extensive, and feels quite british - the eggs are free range and so on. I had a bacon and egg 'sarnie' which was very tasty albeit too much fat on the bacon. Coffee is also pretty good. We paid 10£ each which for a fairly trendy place, is not so bad.
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Fried Egg Fred
Overall rating
Food 7 | Service 6 | Atmosphere 6 | Value for money 6
Monday, March 10, 2008
Absolutely awful. The food is extremely salty and over seasoned, also very pretentious. Not to mention how horribly over priced it is, even for London. I was so disappointed because I was really, really looking forward to it. Service is okay, restaurant decor is weird - graffiti on the walls, ambiance does not fit. We ate at the Dining Room - if anyone is set on going to Fifteen I recommend going to the Trattoria part on the ground floor - the food seemed much nicer - traditional, simple Italian dishes at a much more reasonable price than. All in all I will certainly not be going back - I would say this ranks with one of my worst London restaurant experiences, and that's saying alot.
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DJC - View all reviews by this user
Overall rating 
Food 1 | Service 5 | Atmosphere 1 | Value for money 0
Saturday, March 08, 2008
Things are going steeply downhill for Fifteen. When I initially visited three years ago I had a lovely time and the food had left an excellent impression. I tried to go back several times over the years but the reservation system somehow discouraged me. I finally went back with my husband, who's Italian, on Sunday to treat him to a special meal. What a mistake. The food was decent enough although several of the dishes were a bit bland. But the service was just absolutely unacceptable. We had booked for 2 p.m. and didn't get our plate of pasta (our first dish) until 3.30 p.m. By that time we just wanted to get out. The second dish came 30 minutes later. We didn't get any more bread to keep us going while we waited. The waitress spilled wine all over my husband and after we asked about our pasta after 80 minutes spent waiting patiently, she turned very surly. I know Jamie is fantastic and his recipes are lovely. But do not go to Fifteen. The place needs to sort itself out quickly. This review is about the Trattoria, I have never been to the restaurant.
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Aude Lagorce
Overall rating 
Food 7 | Service 1 | Atmosphere 4 | Value for money 4
Friday, March 07, 2008
I had high hopes for this restaurant but it really let me down. I certainly agree with the another review on here - the whole experience was just 'ok'. I ended up paying almost £90 for an OK meal. The best bit of the meal was the home made bread which was delicious with the oil and vinegar. Then it all went downhill. None of the primi dishes jumped out at me, so I ordered the gnocci (ok), followed by tuna steak with panzanella (the steak was ok bit too cooked for me but panzanella was terrible). Can't remember what my boyfriend had.....
There isn't much choice on the wine list if you want to spend below £30 for a bottle....
Overall, I think Jamie needs to come back here and do some work with the food!
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D - View all reviews by this user
Overall rating
Food 5 | Service 6 | Atmosphere 5 | Value for money 0
Friday, February 29, 2008
Building high anticipation for a restaurant is generally a mistake and this was the case here. I think the easiest way to summarise was that everything was 'ok' but nothing more, other than the antipasti, which was good. The buffalo moz was wonderful - melting and so fresh. For primi we chose seafood risotto (slightly undercooked) and the gnocchi with pork sausage/meatballs (way too much parsley). For secondi it was pheasant, which was overcooked to the point of tough and sent back. The maitre d agreed, apologised, dealt with the matter professionally and courteously and took it off the bill. He offered a replacement but I was quite happy to have the veggies, which had come as part of the dish - he charged me for those! The other main was the pork belly, which was again 'ok.' Eating in the Trattoria is a little cramped but again 'ok.' The smell of the salmon being cooked was overpowering at times and not great if you weren't having it. I liked the buzz of the restaurant and the staff were very professional in a good relaxed manner, which fitted with their casual attire. I left lighter in the pocket and less than satisfied with the experience.
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Laura - View all reviews by this user
Overall rating 
Food 4 | Service 7 | Atmosphere 6 | Value for money 4
Thursday, February 07, 2008
