Bocca di Lupo

Bocca di Lupo was recommend to me by the W Hotel which I have stayed at on different continents and have never had a bad experience.

The hostess was lovely but overall the service I was not too impressed with. The bartender should learn how to sell. I would have waited forever to get a drink if I did not ask. Never even asked if I would like to order wine or water with my meal...

The concept is great. The design and layout was nice. The artichoke was good a bit oily.

Agnoletti was cooked perfectly but 1 piece of sage and it tasted like the butter was just poured over it, Had white truffle with it it was grated not shaved so it looked like parmigiano. Overall not impressed with the dish. The pork and foie gras was cold and greasy. Not overly impressed.

They served everything at once as if they were in a rush to close the kitchen so when i got to the last dish it was ice cold.

Paid my bill and complained to the hostess... Overall not a good dining experience at all. Then went to look for something to eat.
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john carter
5 Overall rating
Food 4 | Service 4 | Atmosphere 7 | Value for money 4
Saturday, December 15, 2012

I visited this restaurant tonight (on a Sunday) by myself as it was recommended in my TimeOut London guide. I was by myself. I asked for a table for one. It was about 8 pm and both restaurant and bar were half empty. Girl at the door picks up a menu and invites me to follow her... she stops at the corner of the bar, indicating that that would have been my seat. I asked politely if she had a better spot for me, as I had no intention of sitting in a corner. I also noted that I had asked for a table, not a spot at the bar. She said 'no'... I said I would not sit in a corner. So we go back to the main desk where she starts to peruse her spreadsheet to see if there is any room for one person! She then offers me a 'regular' spot at the bar for ONE HOUR. I asked her to look again, as I don't like to feel pressed for time when I sit down for a nice -- and probably very expensive -- meal, especially when I can see that the bar is half empty and so it the restaurant side. She looks again, and concludes that no, alas, there is no place for me. So I turned my heels, and left.

I want to conclude by saying that I am Italian. I do not know (and will never know) if the cuisine in this restaurant is authentic, but what I do know is that I have never experience this level of rudeness in a restaurant in Italy. These people have nothing to do with Italian service.
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1 Overall rating
Food 0 | Service 0 | Atmosphere 3 | Value for money 0
Monday, August 27, 2012

I went to Bocca Di Lupo Friday 15th June 2012 for dinner. FANTASTIC!!! A real buzz about the place. They really do get grumpy if you stay for longer than two hours and I thought I would never be there THAT long but as mini-dish after mini dish came and was eaten we very quickly approached the two hours. A great place for an evening. The best advice I can give anyone eating there is be adventurous on the menu. Allot of it sounds awful; octopus, clams etc but it is well worth it. My wife is not the most intrepid of persons but she jumped in wholeheartedly as was well rewarded. I would say a visit here is a must.
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Kevin McG
7 Overall rating
Food 7 | Service 5 | Atmosphere 9 | Value for money 5
Thursday, June 21, 2012

A couple of courses and coffee fairly quickly pre (or in our case after) the theatre. It was early evening so it wasn't busy and service was brisk.

I've eaten here a few times, and have considered it both unusual and indeed somewhat special, but maybe with the emergence of more competitors and a few mundane courses of late, Bocca di Lupo's bubble has burst for me.

My first course was octopus with peas, in a nicely tasty jus. All fine except the peas- probably too many of them at the expense of octopus, but those peas had no flavour and not a bit of sweetness about them. They may as well have been chickpeas. Our main courses were both Gricia, a pasta dish with broad beans and cured pork cheeks. However these pork cheeks were like no others I've eaten-looking like rather large and clumsy pieces of pancetta. I've never seen a way of getting pork cheeks to hold a solid cube with a half inch or more of solid fat on each piece. I asked the waitstaff and after they rather unconvincingly indicated that these were indeed cheeks, but asked the chef and returned with the same story. The dish was mediocre because the fat pervaded all elements of it. As served, it just didn't work.

With 500ML of one of the cheaper wines and coffee our bill was £70, so fine for an enjoyable meal but less so for a meal that not only was unsatisfying but also affected our view of the restaurant. A pity.
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David Henderson
6 Overall rating
Food 5 | Service 7 | Atmosphere 7 | Value for money 6
Saturday, June 09, 2012

This restaurant is very frustrating. The food is terrific. But I can't think of anywhere else in London where what should be an enjoyable experience is made actively and consistently unpleasant by the service. After a number of bad experiences we have now given up going despite living close by - the last straw was an evening where we were hassled endlessly by the waiter who repeatedly told us, from within five minutes of arriving, that "his manager" wanted to make sure we were out on time (we arrived bang on our reservation time). Horrible. My sense is that success has gone to the place's head, they have huge demand and they are just milking it.
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5 Overall rating
Food 8 | Service 0 | Atmosphere 6 | Value for money 5
Sunday, February 26, 2012

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