Fifteen

Abysmal. Had a Gooseberry fool, which tasted like limencello with a bit of ice to garnish. Followed by a seafood tagliettele, which was clumpy at best, accompanied by the strong aroma of sea salt infused dishwater. Then the cod which was drenched in olive oil and served on a bed of courgettes which were so bitter I was tempted to sprinkle some brown sugar on them. And dessert was a brownie, which wasn't warm, in fact stone cold. So I took it back (to the waiter's amazement!) For the priviledge the bill came to 45 GBP per person. My date found her meal equally as unappetizing. Jamie come back and fix this mess. So dissapointing. Unbelievable. To top it off, a pretty hostess, came to say she was sorry, but she had tried to the dishes with the waiting staff this afternoon and liked everything! Well good for her. Obviously planted there to settle down young City boys brashness, which doesn't and has never worked on me.
Comment on this reader review

Frances Kinloch
Overall rating
Food 0 | Service 0 | Atmosphere 0 | Value for money 0
Thursday, July 02, 2009

Visited Fifteen for the first time with my 18 year old daughter and my husband. It was his birthday and we booked in for lunch on Bank holiday monday.We arrived earlly and were sat at the 'bar' waiting to be shown to our table downstairs. No menu or drink was offered although the wait was not too long. When shown to our table which was one of the booth type seating areas i found the seat too low for the table and both my daughter and i had to sit on the cushions to raise ourselves up, not very dignified. If you have difficulty getting out of low seating request normal chairs.

We were given our menus to look through but not offered a drink. When the waitress came back to take our food order i asked if it was possible to have a drink first. The cocktails and glass of beer came came just before our starters. At this pont we were not asked if we would like to order wine. It was difficult to catch anyones attention and when i did to order a bottle of wine this arrived half way through our main course. The food was OK nothing special. I would have to say that it was overpriced and the service poor. Our waitress had a lovely practised smile but that was about all. Although it states smart casual dress code ,a pair of jeans t-shirt or cropped trousers were the order of the day. If you are looking for a speacial occasion meal don't bother going here. Even though they asked on the online booking form if it was an occasion and what type, this was not even acknowledged by the staff.
Comment on this reader review

Evie - View all reviews by this user
Overall rating
Food 4 | Service 3 | Atmosphere 3 | Value for money 2
Thursday, May 28, 2009

We ate at Fifteen London (Trattoria) and had quite high expectations after the wonderful experience we had at Fifteen Melbourne. We came a bit early so we were seated at the bar with a menu and then left there. With no offer to take a drink order, no promises of a return and no staff in sight i decided to go to the bar myself and order my drink. A staff member finally came to take my drink order (after about 15 mins waiting at the bar) and didnt seem that happy that id ordered myself.

My risotto was fantastic and the wine and cocktail both okay, nothing to write home about, however our mains were a problem. "Medium Rare" at Fifteen means slightly brown at the very edges and with the rest of the steak completely red and bloody - I would describe it as Very Rare. After our waiter noticed we werent eating we explained that it wasnt our interpretation of medium rare. He took the dishes to replace them and another member of staff came to us and informed us that it is medium rare and that it has been cooked exactly as it should be, making us feel like we were incompetent. On the second try our steak was more like the medium rare we'd expected however still not very impressive.

The atmosphere was unusual but I quite liked it. The clientele was not what I expected. I expected something more like fifteen melbourne (well dressed couples) but found families and tourists and kids running around screaming in french. Was expecting a little more upscale for those prices.

Overall, not particularly impressed, quite overpriced for what we got - especially the drinks, great service at times and terrible at others, and apart from my risotto the food wasnt that great. Would not come back.
Comment on this reader review

Overall rating
Food 6 | Service 6 | Atmosphere 8 | Value for money 4
Sunday, March 29, 2009

Had a family meal here. Service friendly and efficient without be matey - just right. Starters very decent - pasta starters are pretty big and filling, antipasti a very nice selection, seafood risotto excellent. Mains very good as well with the exception of the bavette steak which was very chewy, pork belly superb. All the vegetable accompaniments good too. Wine a little over £20 a bottle - I suppose this is an average mark-up, there were no duffs though. Would certainly recommend and will go back.
Comment on this reader review

Rex - View all reviews by this user
Overall rating
Food 8 | Service 9 | Atmosphere 8 | Value for money 8
Monday, March 23, 2009

Having set my expectations quite high - and having seen the TV show, I expected nothing but wonderful culinary delights when I sat down to chose from the Trattoria Menu of Fifteen London with a group of friends.

All of us come from Mediterranean countries, so the first surprise was how regular 'Italian-restaurant' the menu sounded. Nevertheless, I opted for a Primi Tagliatell 'fatte in casa' with a rich Snowdonian lamb ragu and parmesan for £9 and a Secondi of Roasted spatchcock poussin with braised Florence fennel, young English cavolo nero and pan juices at £16.

The Primi was served quite quickly with the ordered bottle of wine, as one only has 2 hours max for a seated meal. The waiter was pleasant at first, but then did not bother to come back to the table to ask if we need anything else and we had to ask him twice to add more bread to the table (we were 6 facing 4 peaces of bread with spiced olive oil to share).

Having finished the Primo, we waited almost half an hour to be served the Secondi. As we did not order more wine (at £20 per bottle); it was pretty obvious that the staff kept ignoring us, as we declined twice the offer to have more alcoholic beverages.

The Secondi came and I was astonished to find out that the 'pan juices' were nothing but overcooked fennel deeply dipped into olive oil. The poussin, left nothing but a trace of olive oil in my mouth. I had the feeling that the Chef at the restaurant has discovered olive oil for the first time and just had to over-dose on its natural goodness.

The friends felt the same….the Grilled Scotch ‘bavette’ steak (served medium rare) with stone milled polenta, fresh horseradish and Dijon mustard-tarragon butter £17 – was anything but medium rare; it left a pool of blood; and again dipped generously in olive oil.

The pan-fried whole sea bass all’acquapazza had the Petrolo olive oil on the menu £17 – but little did we know that it meant a pool of olive oil.

The waiter took away the half eaten portions without asking if we enjoyed the meal and ignored a repeated note that it was the Birthday of one of us.

Needless to say, the whole experience did not live up to our expectations. Using olive oil has been a vital part of our cooking for many generations. I don’t need to pay £30 per head (moderate here as we refused to drink more) to experience an oily swimming extravaganza . Saving grace is the venue - which has a certian charm! Give it a miss!
Comment on this reader review

IvieB
Overall rating
Food 3 | Service 2 | Atmosphere 7 | Value for money 1
Thursday, February 12, 2009

I have been to Fifteen twice this year and thoroughly enjoyed both visits. The first was to the restuarant with the tasting menu. I thought the food was amazing, and the waitor really helpful, and actually took the time to give information relating to the ingredients. The desert i had (chocolate torte with cherries) was simly the best desert i have ever eaten.

In terms of wines, i think there are a good selection, from £20 a bottle for the house wine right up the scale. We opted for one at the lower end of the price bracket and thought it really good.

The second visit last week was to the trattoria. A completely different experience, far more relaxed (as was to be expected), and prices reasonable for a restuarant in London. Again staff were helpfull, cheerful and attentive. Food was really good also, although i did find the choice of desert quite tame -i really had my eyes on some of the deserts that were served in the restuarant, but had to make do with the brownie... not very exciting, but nice none the less.

I would definately come again... maybe next time to try the brunch!
Comment on this reader review

Fran
Overall rating
Food 8 | Service 8 | Atmosphere 9 | Value for money 7
Tuesday, October 07, 2008

Total waste of time - better off going to your local Curry Shop!

After spending £170 for a very ordinary meal for 2, I felt extremely disappointed. Never again!

The Restaurant gives you a feeling of claustrophobia; you're basically 30cm from the table next to you. It was a totally rubbish evening.

If you do decide to go there, you will feel like you have been taken advantage of.

The only positive thing was the staff. They were very hospitable.
Comment on this reader review

Volkan Bekiroglu - View all reviews by this user
Overall rating
Food 3 | Service 6 | Atmosphere 2 | Value for money 0
Tuesday, September 30, 2008

My wife and I had the tasting menu yesterday evening and one has to admit that it was a complete waste of money. The menu was 60 pounds each (which compares to some michelin starred restaurants) but with glasses of (bad) house wine at 11 pounds and 14 pounds for a glass of champagne, we ended up paying 200 pounds. I do not mind paying 200 pounds for a good culinary experience but food at fifteen is just ok, nothing to die for. Our main courses were very oily and not very well cooked. If you add to that very poor and slow service, i think you are better off making a 100 pounds donation to the charity of your choice and 100 pounds on a meal elsewhere!
Comment on this reader review

Gibert Santer
Overall rating
Food 5 | Service 2 | Atmosphere 2 | Value for money 1
Tuesday, September 16, 2008

Arrived without reservation at the trattoria (upstairs) for lunch recently and enjoyed the visit. I wasn't sure what to expect as i knew little about the place. It's smaller than i'd assumed and it's a relaxed, informal place upstairs (and they cater for young children both in seating and children's food pricing, at least at lunchtime). The marketing means the diners are a mix of locals, bridge and tunnel crowd and the odd tourist.

The shared platter starter is good, the sea trout was perfectly cooked and excellent . I agree with the other reviewer about aioli being a little tame but perhaps the intention is not to compete with the fish in this case? Also the chocolate brownie (a rich, non floury affair) is now topped with a chocolate sauce so perhaps they got the message on that one. I tasted the red pepper/caprino risotto which had a good depth of flavour, although a fellow diner thought the cheese overloaded the pepper. I forget the opinion on the lamb shank but i remember it being a decent size portion. The one mystery was parmesan sprinkled on the green salad - pleasant, but unexpected.
Comment on this reader review

Kevin W - View all reviews by this user
Overall rating
Food 9 | Service 9 | Atmosphere 8 | Value for money 7
Monday, August 25, 2008

lunch here was most disappointing. the food reminded me of going to a painful dinner party , you know the type - when the host uses a jamie oliver recipe book but cocks it up slightly. we even smiled and looked grateful as if we were on such an occasion.

the fact that this is a charity seems like a perfect excuse to serve up third rate food at first rate prices. a right stich up.
Comment on this reader review

pete hutchison
Overall rating
Food 2 | Service 2 | Atmosphere 4 | Value for money 2
Tuesday, June 03, 2008