Bocca di Lupo

We dined at Bocca di Lupo this evening and unintentionally ran over our allocated two hour time slot only to have an extremely over familiar maître d’hôtel bring this to our attention and rather begrudginly ask if we would like to see the dessert menu. From that moment on, all at the table were made to feel they ought to clear out quickly to make room for the next sitting (who we we informed were waiting at the bar). Further pressure was exerted when we were asked if we were having coffee and if so, if we would like the bill with our coffee - a clear reference to running over our allotted timeslot and simultaneously being made to feel we had overstayed our welcome! Of course, this was not helped by a long wait for a dessert menu and an equally long wait for our sweets to arrive. Frankly, this was unacceptably rude, Purveyors of fine dining should not involve their clientele with operational inefficiencies.

The menu was appetising but the portions were small. For staters, one guest had an almond soup with hazelnut. The dish, whilst aestethically pleasing, was it must be said the wrong side of tepid and the bitterness of the hazelnut contaminated the sweetness of the almond - dissapointing. The monkfish carpaccio was enticing but lacked seasoning - a wasted opportunity to demonstrate skill and the chef's culinary savvy for this delicate fish. For main course we had a variety of salads, adequately seasoned, if perhaps a litlle overdone as regards dressing. The tempura style prawns can only be described as 'rustic' although the squid was made up for this and complemented the creamy polenta which to my taste was perhaps a little too sweet for a savoury dish. The desserts were served with aplomb. The poached pear had not been cored and rather disappointingly the jus had not been given adequate time to permeate the fruit.

Seating was crowded and diners should be forewarned that this establishment permits young children (under 10) to dine after 7 pm.

We selected a rather nice bordolino which went down well but we were surprised that no help was proffered by the establishment's sommelier in making our choice.

In summary, the food was adeqaute if lacklustre, the service could be improved substantially on all levels and the atmosphere was ruined by an overzealous maître d’hôtel.
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FoodieLondon
4 Overall rating
Food 4 | Service 2 | Atmosphere 5 | Value for money 5
Monday, January 16, 2012

The service here is very messy. I intensely dislike being told that I only have access to the table for 2 hours and then being made to wait 20 minutes before I am offered a drink, and then 20 minutes for a requested dessert menu to arraive. 2 hours is fine if they can serve 3 courses and drinks in that time. This lot clearly cannot do that consistently.

Food of mixed quality. Bill expensive given the service.
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Hilda
3 Overall rating
Food 6 | Service 0 | Atmosphere 6 | Value for money 1
Friday, December 30, 2011

Lunch for two at the counter - LOVED IT.

Oysters (waiter suggestion - perfect). Fritti (seafood) - maybe the only average dish of the day. Fried artichoke - nice but £5 each?

Bresaola & fresh porchini. Two pastas. Porchini & polenta. Crema di Rapa. Lunenanga sausage. Great wine. Prosecco. Ice cream. Dessert wine from Pallenteria

Great service, nice buzz, quality food - way better than I expected.

I loved the way the menu described which region in Italy each dish came from - afterall, Italy wasn't a fully fledged country until the 1860's.

Would go again in a heartbeat.
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coops
9 Overall rating
Food 9 | Service 8 | Atmosphere 9 | Value for money 8
Tuesday, November 29, 2011

Party of 8, Super lunch !!

Our first visit to Jacob Kenedy's Bocca di Lupo as a family, though some int he party have been before and it certainly lives up to the super hype that it gets.

We loved it so much that we have booked a family meal in again for December and a table for two for ourselves come the New Year.

The staff were wonderful, the service at the door and at the table could not be faulted and the food, well it the greatest part of all of course.

Thank you Bocca di Lupo for an excellent night, see you again in a few weeks.
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Natalie Rushdown
8 Overall rating
Food 8 | Service 9 | Atmosphere 8 | Value for money 7
Monday, November 28, 2011

A visit here has been a long time coming. Every time I've tried to visit it's been full. Sure i could have booked, but that would have required a degree of preparation quite beyond me. I was very nearly denied this time. I arrived with a friend, only be told we would have to wait 1.5 hours. We politely declined and set off down the road. Nearly at the end of Archer Street, we were stopped by the girl from reception, who had literally run after us to tell us of a cancellation she'd just received. Of course we were delighted and very thankful for her going the extra (quarter?) mile to allow us to eat there.

We ate at the bar, and it was absolutely fab. It's similar to Polpo, but the food is arguably better. Everything is Italian, including the wine list, more of which later. We had the Smoked Mozzarella, which while interesting, i felt was a waste of good cheese - A beautiful soft ball of mozzarella shouldn't need anything done to it, but we were curious, so we tried it anyway.. We then had a salad with great, fresh ingredients, Pigeon and Pork tagliatelle, Foie Gras sausage, and grilled John Dory.. Nearly everything was absolutely superb!

My only gripe is with the sommelier - The wine list is entirely Italian, so if you aren't comfortable with Italian wines, which i'm sadly not, the somellier will happily recommend one for you. However, with both the wine over dinner, and the dessert wine/grappa, my friend and I both felt we were being upsold to. I appreciate that the somellier has to justify his salary, but given the very large wine list, I find it slightly irritating to be suggested a choice of the top 3 most expensive wines, on both occasions. Sure i could have just plumped for the cheapest wine, but I love my wines and wanted something that would go with what we'd ordered. Upselling is a common problem with wine, and it's a shame that an otherwise good value (if not exactly cheap) restaurant feels the need to do this. Maybe it's not policy, and it's just him, but i've eaten at plenty of more expensive restaurants and been given a real choice of wines at different price points.

Overall, quite the nicest staff i've ever met, some wonderful food, great atmosphere, just spoiled slightly by an overzealous Sommellier.
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Digitalgoldfish - View all reviews by this user
9 Overall rating
Food 8 | Service 10 | Atmosphere 10 | Value for money 7
Saturday, October 22, 2011

Not sure if I visited on a bad day or made bad choices on the menu but I found the food quite bland and overpriced. The suckling pig which was on as a special.. the skin wasnt even crispy. Soo bad for £200 for 3 people. We had a cocktail each at the beginning which were good. Our over attentive US waiter was pretty annoying.
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Gospodja - View all reviews by this user
6 Overall rating
Food 6 | Service 5 | Atmosphere 7 | Value for money 5
Wednesday, June 15, 2011

Quite like the menu with lots of tantalising choices but execution is not always to the point. Wine list lengthy but extremely bland choices. One of the better restaurants in this part of Soho, but too inconsistent for the prices charged.
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stewart
6 Overall rating
Food 6 | Service 6 | Atmosphere 7 | Value for money 4
Saturday, March 05, 2011

Dined at the beloved Bocca di Lupo on thursday evening (24/2) and as always, exceeded expectations. Starting with a glass of cold mousse-y prosecco we start as always with the crudita di mare and a selection of the golden crisp fritti. Bringing back memories of Rome, the suppli and stuffed olives make the perfect partner to the quality of fresh raw fish and rosemary oil. On to pasta and although stated 'very hot' we found the orrechiette with njuda more mild. Yet the hand made pasta, also available to purchase across the road in GELUPO, shone through. Simple red onion and tomato never tasted so good! A cleansing spoonful or two of my partners minestrone verde made the wait for our MASSIVE hunk of roast suckling pig and grapes all the more worthwhile. Fatty, crispy, meaty and salty pork is the most luxurious flavour when washed down with Chianti. Highlight. Our fine waiter, who seemed to balance the long marble bar of diners with ease, suggested a gelato based desert with a glass of moscato. Tentative at first, the selection of citrus gelato that landed in front of us was so far beyond what we expected. If you've tasted better 'made on premises' bergamot gelato somewhere outside of Italy, i'd like to know where. Finishing with espresso, amaro and a suprisingly moderate bill (go for wines by glass or caraffa) it makes for the perfect night out. Fantastic service from start to finish.
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Joe
9 Overall rating
Food 9 | Service 8 | Atmosphere 10 | Value for money 7
Sunday, February 27, 2011

We have recently been to this restaurant for a friend's birthday. We booked the table for 9.30pm for 10 people. When we arrived, we realised that we actually had 11 people which we thought would not be a problem due to the fact that we were sat on a large round table and the extra person was only small. Asked the Manager if it was possible to add an extra person. The Manager said that it was not at all possible which I thought a bit strange. If we had turned up with another 5 people then I could have seen the problem but one extra. I have never experienced an issue with this before. The Manager was completely unhelpful and extremely rude. Eventually we had to have another separate table away from the main party. Just before myself and two friends sat at the additional table, the Manager turned around to me and said and I quote "sit there and behave" and not believing what I had just heard and said "excuse me" and he then replied "sit there and behave". I have never ever been spoken to like this before. The Manager has serious little man issues with an attitude problem to match. The food was average, atmosphere after this incident was a bit frosty, hence no tip paid.
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David Stewart
3 Overall rating
Food 5 | Service 1 | Atmosphere 3 | Value for money 3
Monday, February 14, 2011

OK, so the good point is the food. It's very very good.

Now, for the rest. The service - from first contact to book the restaurant, onwards through the front of house reception (inept misrecording of the time we had booked the table and no apology - in fact, no ownership of the fact it was their mistake) the service was cavalier, a bit macho and careless.

It's like the staff have all either been in the UK too long and taken on the host culture's utter resentment at being in a 'service' industry, or just feel that it's in some way winsome or justifiable to mess up bookings (some poor sods were waiting at the door for 40 minutes for their table), fail to get orders right, and - most of all - fail to apologise or to acknowledge mistakes.

Just not good enough and so, so irritating given that the food is lovely.
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5 Overall rating
Food 9 | Service 1 | Atmosphere 4 | Value for money 5
Monday, November 01, 2010