Mennula

I really wanted to love this place. Having seen the chef on TV, I really thought the meal would be special. My review is really a mixed bag. Although a small place with somewhat cramped seating for our table, the service tried to be caring and helpful. Two orders were mistakes. Our waitress noticed that the spinach came out as another side vegetable, but by the time the new order arrived, my husband had finished his main course. I ordered the lobster linguini with no chili as it tends to make me ill. I knew it wouldn't be as delicious, but when it arrived the plate was definitely full of chili, but I ate it nevertheless rather than wait for a new dish. Apologies were made about the spinach, including by the very sweet maitre-d, but such problems shouldn't arise.

The food was more than OK, especially my husband's starter of mackeral fillets. And he knows his mackeral. I had the scallops that were also delicious but two scallops in a sauce for £12? I found that a bit outrageous, even for London. My husband's main of tuna with pasta was supposed to be a main but really looked the size of a starter. Dessert was very good so we left in a fairly happy mood.
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6 Overall rating
Food 6 | Service 7 | Atmosphere 6 | Value for money 5
Tuesday, October 11, 2011

I have to say reading the last reviews i was doubtful about going to Mennula but my friend insisted to pop in on Monday 18th, without any reservation.The restaurant looked almost full given the fact that is not a huge site, but i have to say, none of the previous comments apply.From the moment we got at the door until we left , it was an experience to remember.As i understand that might be due to the change in management, any way they got it RIGHT.Very welcoming,very informed and helpful staff willing to go that extra mile to make us feel special, and the food out of this world.

Smooth, sleek and very polished service, this is a restaurant which by my humble opinion deserves Michelin stars for sure (and we go to a few weekly).

We will be back and definitely would recommend you to every one. Thank you Santino, Claudio & the team.
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Christian Lacroix
10 Overall rating
Food 10 | Service 10 | Atmosphere 10 | Value for money 10
Thursday, July 21, 2011

Disappointing and cramped accommodation with poor lighting suggest that the owners ran out of money or employed decorators from the local authority. The location lacks intimacy which is disappointing as the service was attentive and friendly. The chef appeared three or four times but only to drink glasses of wine from a table where customers had brought in their OWN bottles. Not a very good advert for the wines on offer from the restaurant and I'm sure the occassional effort of the chef to enquire with others diners how they were enjoying the food would have been welcomed. In any event, the frequency of his visits suggests that the kitchen was not too busy or it may be a reflection on the shortness of the menu. Which is all unfortunate as the food was of a high quality. Excellent combination of flavours for both the starters and the main courses and the veal in particular was cooked to perfection. A second visit is unlikely as the same quality of fare is available elsewhere in the area but with more comfortable surroundings and wider choice.
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pushtoshove
5 Overall rating
Food 7 | Service 7 | Atmosphere 1 | Value for money 3
Saturday, June 25, 2011

Sadly went there expecting great food etc., but service was slow, food was cold and pretty tasteless. The main course (steak) was tough and we ended up leaving some.

Nobody asked why, the waiting staff looked embarrassed.

My wife ordered a dessert and I ordered a whisky which never came.

Don't go here you will be disappointed, it's hard to understand how Gordon Ramsay included it in his best restaurants review there are so many great places to eat in London and this isn't one of them.
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Nataliya
2 Overall rating
Food 1 | Service 3 | Atmosphere 2 | Value for money 0
Friday, October 15, 2010

My partner and myself decided to try this restaurant on a very rainy Saturday evening after it appeared on Gordon Ramsay's TV show a couple of weeks before. We didn't have a booking as we thought the bad weather would keep most people at home and as we expected it was almost empty.

Before crossing the door we were confronted by a waiter who asked us if we had a booking. We told him that we hadn't booked so he told us to wait while he checked if there was a table available. He closed the door in our faces and left us in the pouring rain.

On his return he ushered us in and sat us at a table in a compact corner of the restaurant . We were sat at right angles to each other around the table which felt very awkward even though there were much better tables available.

We found the waiter to be very rude and unwelcoming. I also got a few up and down looks from him which made me feel uneasy. I'm not sure if it was because we weren't dressed smart enough or what but I don't think it was called for.

Immediately on arrival we felt uncomfortable and knew that this experience would taint the meal we were about to eat so before ordering we decided to leave.

We would never ever step foot in this restaurant again even if it had five michelin stars. The service should be as important as the food and you shouldn't be made to feel inferior when you are a paying customer.

I'm afraid I can't comment on the food but the experience left me very dissapointed so I felt I had to write this review.
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Dominic Adam
1 Overall rating
Food 0 | Service 0 | Atmosphere 2 | Value for money 0
Sunday, October 10, 2010

All told, I like this place. Not at first, although the welcome couldn’t have been warmer. The Spartan decor is fine, it’s just that the lighting is a bit too uniform for it, especially when it’s quiet. The food prices appear steep, but wine is good value and they do carafes. We had a very nice Sicilian sauvignon blanc to start for only £10.

Some things here are excellent. These included a delicious prosecco risotto, the other-worldly pistachio ice-cream and a tiramisu that would be the best ever if there was more of the fabulous coffee stuff under the duvet of mascarpone. The coffee is also very good and all the little freebie nibbles and biccies they give you. In fact, we didn’t have anything that wasn’t very good, but then we stuck to antipasti, pasta and rice and upgraded them to mains. Portions are small, but we couldn’t actually finish our desserts as is.

Our bill for some nibbles, 3 mains, a side of lemony spinach, 2 desserts, an excellent espresso, a carafe of white and a bottle of red came to about £35 p/h. Now, I’ve often paid more than double this for food and service that was good, but less memorable.

The place was curiously empty at 9:30pm on a bank holiday Friday. But by 10pm, when the set menus are offered, it was full and everyone else seemed to be Italian. I’ll be back and I know what I’m ordering already.
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8 Overall rating
Food 9 | Service 9 | Atmosphere 6 | Value for money 7
Wednesday, September 01, 2010

I went there for dinner with some friends during the week. I found the food of very poor quality (I had fillets of mackerels as a main course and a pear/rocket/parmesan salad as a starter). The fish was awful and the starter without any originality. I would thus definitely not recommend this restaurant. I also found the prices on the menu very expensive for a half-empty plate that leaves you frustrated at the end of your meal.
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4 Overall rating
Food 2 | Service 5 | Atmosphere 6 | Value for money 4
Tuesday, May 04, 2010

Went to Mennula last night for a special occasion.

You get a very warm, Italian greeting on the door, and that set the tone for the service during the entire meal. It's a teeny little place really - only 40 covers I read. The decor is a bit too minimalist (lack of ideas?) for me, but my date liked it very much. The food is the real treat here. It was superb. I had sicilian aubergine salad with buffalo mozzerella and it was divine. Date had tuna carpaccio - which was also very good. We both had pasta as the main course. In retrospect, my choice of squid ink spaghetti wasn't the best thing to choose on a date, but it tasted good. And my companion had lamb macceroni. Wine wasn't too expensive, and was very nice. My only little moan would be that we didn't find out that a dish was missing off the menu until we'd ordered it. Which is always a bit disappointing.

Oh - and I booked online through their website, and they emailed me back the same day, and rang to confirm on the day of the booking.
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P
8 Overall rating
Food 9 | Service 8 | Atmosphere 6 | Value for money 7
Tuesday, January 19, 2010

We came to Mennula with high expectations considering the great restaurants some of the staff hail from. And it all started rather well, I ordered the broad bean and fennel soup which was light, flavourful and well balanced. My girlfriend reported her starter of aubergine and bufala mozzarella was decent too. But the mains are where the standard dropped significantly. Feeling greedy I opted for a portion of gnocchi with almonds, pesto and tomatoes before my main and while the gnocchi themselves were the right consistency the sauce was oily and uninspired and the addition of almonds and rather sour unpleasant sun blushed tomatoes did nothing to add to the dish. For my main I ordered the artichoke and potato frittata and although the omlette was delicious the chef added yet another unnecessary ingredient in the form of an extremely pungent slab of goats cheese which utterly overpowered and ruined the dish. My girlfriend had swordfish which was well cooked, but again was served with the seemingly uniquitous sour tomatoes which seemed to be in every single dish- from the aubergine starter, to the gnocchi and the swordfish main! For dessert we both had the chocolate fondant, which was not bad but certainly no better than one you might find in standard cheaper Italian chain restaurants like Strada.

The staff too were almost as overbearing as the goats cheese and seemed to be leaning over you which did not create the best atmosphere. In terms of value for money we thought that £97 for two people without wine was pretty extortionate for what was a distinctly ordinary meal. Great cooking is as much about knowing what to leave out as knowing what to put in. At Mennula the chef seemed to constantly take it that one step too far by always adding just one or two unneccessary ingredients that ruined what would have otherwise been quite decent. Overall Mennula is just another overhyped overpriced and over complicated restaurant that fails to live up to the pedigree of the restaurants its staff used to work at. We shall not be returning.
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DC
4 Overall rating
Food 5 | Service 5 | Atmosphere 6 | Value for money 0
Sunday, January 10, 2010

I had dinner on friday night with two close friends and coming from an Italian background and where so much Italian food is of an average standard and lacking in innovation and/or a genuine back-to-basics approach, I was ready to just enjoy the company and let the food and service take a back-seat. However, this was not possible at Mennula.

From the moment we entered the smart dining room, we were immediately made to feel at home by the friendly waiting staff. The wine list was impressive and equally impressive was the sommelier's attention to detail and commitment to selecting the right wine rather than the right (read 'high') price. Each wine perfectly accompanied the food.

For my entree, I chose the cauliflower soup with gorgonzola and black olive tapenade. It was extremely tasty with the olive puree giving a lovely spice to the overall richness of the flavour. My friends both had the red mullet and spoke effusively about the freshness of the fish.

For main course, I opted for the yellow fin tuna served with fennel, aubergine and peppers. Again, it was extremely tasty and the tuna was cooked to a perfect 'medium' so that the fullness of the varied and distinct flavours were in harmony rather than fighting it out for supremacy. It was great and I will definitely order it again. My friends opted for the sea-bass and venison and again, both were effusive in their praise.

We hung about for quite some time- not leaving until nearly midnight, but there was no attempt to rush us and indeed, the chef came and said hello and asked how we found everything, just as happens in restaurants in Italy. All in all, it was an excellent dining experience- the service, the food, the wine, the setting.

I'll definitely be going back.

We didn't have deserts, but had a particularly delicious desert wine (sadly, by this stage of the evening, the name of the wine makes for lost memories.....).
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George
9 Overall rating
Food 9 | Service 10 | Atmosphere 9 | Value for money 9
Monday, December 14, 2009