Mennula

Went there for a family dinner and a great evening to say the least. Staff was lovely and incredibly attentive to my young daughter. Ricotta was out of this world, and food in general was excellent. Will go again.

Wondered why TV-famous restaurant has become easy to obtain a table? Neighbouring restaurants were hectic but Mennula was quiet and only had one other occupied table. Service was painfully slow but food of good quality. Front of house was laughable in not allowing us to have a booth (set for 3) when we were 2 people, given that restaurant was empty at 8.45 on a Thursday evening. Two different couples were allowed to have the booths 20 minutes later – we should have left at the start because the ambience was poor.

Mennula,
Last Friday was our anniversary and recently we had been to Sicily and were a little disappointed with the food over there…
So after seeing mennula on that Gordon Ramsey show thought that it would be nice place to try and bring back the great time we had in Sicily and for my Italian girlfriend to show me that Italian food isn’t that bad, me being a chef for over 26yrs etc…
What a disappointment… On arriving we were shown our table and the staff were quite attentive, the problem was the head chef (recognised him from show) had his back to us talking to another table, normally I wouldn’t mind but being a very small/pokey restaurant it was like he was on top of us, they must of been regulars as we over heard nearly all the conversation unfortually…
The bread arrived, which was excellent and then my starter crab with potatoe and cress salad. Well the plate was slate and the poached quail egg warm and the crab cold and some sauce done in a modern style pull across plate, didn’t like a luke warm plate. When we finished the chef asked if we like it and my girlfriend asked what he would recommend for a main course that was Sicilian he said that a couple of the dishes authentic but the rest were from all over the country (defeating the purpose I thought of mennula)
Mains arrived, partner’s meal very nice pasta venison dish though my duck dish i could of had in any French bistro or at home definitely not Italian or Sicilian…
Desserts were okay and wine and service good, it did make me laugh when we left that the chef had moved to another table and was chatting up 3 young ladies and even the waiters looked a bit worried…
Possibly the programme has gone to the chefs head and he should go back to the basics…
Won’t be returning…

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 english restaurants review there are so many great places to eat in London and this isn't one of them.

Saturday night dinner for 3. They have squeezed in tables like a tetris board, the result for us being a bit of an inelegant squash in the back of the private room – diluting the atmosphere a little. The service however was instantly slick and super-Sicilian charm all through – kicked off with great little amuse bouche, wide choice of breads and an interesting wine list. Menu of the unusual variety where almost everything sounds tempting. Starters were good, mains merely average – swordfish underdone and lukewarm, rabbit a tad flavourless, venison a little bland, dessert of passable semifreddo and canolis helped to make up for it. As big lovers of Sicilian food we were hoping to find a new staple to add to the repertoire – but the food still needs work, and you need to be at one of the booths to be comfortable. Given the great service, we'll probably go back in a month or two and see how it's settling in.