Novikov

Its alright, could be a lot better if the waiters didnt blatently try and rip you off on the wine and food…make sure you have a rough idea what you want and stick to your guns, as their advise will only end up costing you a lot more than it already is…and this is no bargain bucket restaurant to begin with…and ive heard the same opinion a few times now from friends and collegues…however food is good and could be good for a large party for evening venture!…but seriously dont listen to them on the wine !

Asian restaurant I can't fault.

Italian: interesting, Las Vegas, atmosphere: not a bad way to handle an underground space. Desserts excellent, knowledgeable and pleasant well-trained Italian staff; the fault with the other dishes is that almost everything is cooked with way too much salt…

I haven't come across so much salt since eating bacalhau in a Portuguese restaurant near Lisbon that hadn't been soaked enough…

A pity, as but for that excellent.

Novikov is rammed to the hilt not with Euro Trash but with Global Trash. It heaves new money not old money, Non-dom not dom, second wife not first wife, 80s boom not 2012 recession, decadence not restraint.

Bucket loads of Russian money has been poured into the refit and it works. The route down to the basement bar with the view of the Italian restaurant and wine racks to the right is impressive.

We ate in the Asian restaurant and the food was a little below Nobu/Zuma but not by a lot. The Dim Sums were especially well executive and I enjoyed the Chilian Sea Bass cooked as chunks of fillets rather than on the bone. The classic ‘Black cod’ at £35 was pricy, a little small but excellent.

The waitress was too keen to take me up the list – she recommend Dim Sum at £45 rather than any of the others at £9 and pushed very hard for us to ‘go to the market’ and pick out fish we wanted to eat – a sure fast bill-expander (we declined).

The worst thing is the very load piped music. It is almost impossible to hear anything in the downstairs bar – rather a pity but with 2 beers, glass of wine and non-alcoholic cocktail costing £40 it was a good excuse to leave. Even the restaurant has excessively load music – they simply don’t need it but I suppose if you are in the mating game it helps when conversation falters.

In short I think this is a great fun place – if you don’t play dumb with your choices from the menu then the price is not as bad as it could have been. We were £70 per head for great food, moderate service but atmosphere that gives you a fill-good factor. Sadly you then walk out of the door and realise the recession has not gone away.

Perhaps the worst restaurant i've ever visited.
The place and atmosphere is very nice and modern like all the trendy restaurants in London.
But the FOOD & SERVICE???!!! we sat there for 3 hours only to receive very poor service and extremely average food not to mention that the price is ridiculous given that we were still starving when we had left.

Such a stunning restaurant, hats off to the designers. What a shame the kitchen can't get it right. After 2 and half hours, we had to give up on waiting for our main course, and went home hungry. The service from our waiter was great; it is a shame the kitchen spoilt it for him. And to top it off, the Door men and Maître D have some manners to learn. This is a business, where you are supposed to make your customers feel welcome, not treat them like they have done something wrong. I would rather go to MacDonald’s before I go back again

Decided to give Novikov another chance, having heard all good things. This time, i visited the Oriental section. Having arrived and given our name to the hostess, she kept us waiting at the bar, and then… totally forgot about us. We went back to remind her about us, and she lied to our faces claiming she went looking for us. little did she know we were wathcing her the whole time. Here we go again, i thought… Fortunately, the service, food, and overall experience after being seated was much better.

Overall experience: Worth going for the oriental food, but the rest of the experience is questionable.

If it hadn't been for Giuseppe Nieddu and really tasty desserts I should say it was the worst experience in an “italian” restaurant. You don't feel welcomed there, though the waiters pretend to be friendly. May be it's a problem of such a big space and plenty of guests. As for the food, it was rather ordinary and overpriced. Probably, I made a wrong choice: tuna with artichokes as a starter (I swear, it was kept in the fridge for a couple of hours before. I mean already served on the plate) and the sauce for ravioli was very salty, extremely. My friend was luckier than me with seafood carbonara as a main dish and deep fried squids as a starter. But both dishes were not something special. Unfortunately.
The interior is rather… strange. Sometimes eclectic interiors are very impressive, but not in this case. It's neither cosy nor posh.

My friends and I are regulars at London's exclusive restaurants and private members clubs' scene. On this particular evening a big group of 16 we decided to celebrate a friend's birthday at Novikov's Asian Restaurant which we had heard good reviews of. The lounge was booked to start the evening off with drinks and allow for everyone to get together before dinner. I arrived with one other friend to be greeted by a cocky Door man who interrogated us on our booking details before he was completely satisfied and allowed us in. We were then greeted by his female equal who was what it seemed already having a heated discussion with another friend of ours who was part of the party. Her argument was that though we the party of 16 had already booked the lounge, (and 11 of us were already down there) the rest of us were not allowed to join since they had reached full capacity. We spent the next 30mins explaining to the lady we had a booking for 16 and our friends were waiting for the group to gather..to cut a long story short we finally made it down to the lounge to join the rest of the group where to our Shock we found not a couple, but a FEW large empty tables..our party of 16 was crammed on a table of 10.
At the Asian restaurant we again found ourselves crammed on a table that was clearly not made to accommodate a party of 16! Nevertheless, we were faced with the fact that a party of our size at this time would be difficult to accommodate ‘last minute’ anywhere else so decided to eat humble pie, hold our tongues and make the best of a bad situation.
The food was good, tasty and hit all the right spots..finally something Good about the place! the waiter service was fine too. We left with no real bad taste in our mouth because our last experience as Novikov was the eating bit which was to our relief good. I'd like to say worth all the hassle and initial attitude we were met with but it really isn't. And I don't think i or any of our party will be rushing off there any time soon.

This is our second visit to the Italian restaurant and it's quickly becoming one of our favourite restaurant in London. We were pleasantly surprised when the manager Salvatore recognised us and escorted us to the table. For a Wednesday night the place was packed and I wondered, in this economic climate, how many restaurants in London can boost such a high number of customers as Novikov. We were seated quite close to the open kitchen and it made our evening even more interesting. We were mesmerised how Chef Carnevale managed to coordinate all so precisely and at such high standard. While looking at the menu, we were served a lovely basket of breads, olive oil and water. To start with, we ordered the eel Carpaccio and ravioli scampi, both nicely presented and delicious especially the ravioli. To follow we had the baby goat, which was succulent and simple scrumptious. Service was friendly and attentive. Good variety of deserts, our favourite being the chocolate chaud. Prices are reasonably, if considering the quality of ingredients and the area.

Being welcome for dinner at the Italian restaurant by its manager, Mister Giuseppe Nieddu, we were immediately served cocktails and champagne while being informed about the specials in the menu. The ambience was buzzing and the deco was impressive with attention to details and a quite soft light. We were seated at a round table, perfect for six people. We were promptly served breads' basket, olive oil, water, while ordering our wine and food. The dishes took some time to arrive but the waiting time was worthwhile. Having the funghi porcini mushrooms as entree and capretto meat cooked in the wooden oven as main course, it was succulent , simple delicious.  The tuna carpaccio and the salads were nicely presented and I was told they were extremely fresh. Service was friendly and attentive, keeping our glasses full and asking if there was anything else to be done. The open kitchen, with totally different lighting from the restaurant main floor, had a vivid, interactive and clean atmosphere. Good variety of deserts, very fresh fruits and perfectly sweet chocolate chaud. Price is £££ , definetly a place to go back.

Having been a building site for over a year Novikov finally opened its doors before Christmas 2011… I liked it more as a building site. Quite Simply the most appalling service I have ever experienced – I don’t believe I have ever left a venue, having paid over a thousand pounds, so fuming in my life.
The food was good if you can cope with starters and mains arriving at the same time. The wine was good, if you didn’t mind waiting 30 mins for the bottle to arrive. The cocktails where lovely, if you don’t mind having to wait 30 mins for your order to not be put through but the bill bought to your table anyway. The lounge waitresses downstairs were pretty yes but unless you own half of Russia & have 5 peroxide haired orange skinned 18yr olds with you they will strut past you, not take your orders, and smile inanely rather than apologise once their shocking service has been pointed out.
To clarify the restaurant staff in the Asian section were sweet & polite; Dim Sum was great as was the wine but from 20.00 onwards it turned into a circus. The general staff – Bar staff, coat ladies, receptionist, bouncers, clip board posers and 1 in 1 out lady standing at the top of the lounge bar stairs – were quite simply the most arrogant, ignorant, unpleasant and rude people I have ever come across in the hospitality industry.

Unfortunately it didn't take long for this place to turn into a mecca for the trashy in Mayfair. Service was appalling, 6 front of house staff couldn't find our coats even though we had a ticket – all were incredibly rude. We were told we had to leave our table because the next booking had arrived (half an hour early). The waitress didn't know what a Moscow Mule was, in a Russian owned restaurant. We moved to the bar, tried to order drinks but told rather abruptly we couldn't. Finally ordered (1 bottle of wine) but the waitress didn't process the order, ordered again, then received our bill before we had received our bottle of wine. Tried to order again, no drinks arrived after half an hour so we left. In two hours of waiting we had one drink. Front of house staff are rude and very unhelpful. In making a complaint at the end of the night to the manager (we had spent £1000 on dinner) we were told it wasn't their fault. The manager is totally incompetent and it shows. Shame as the food is actually rather nice.

Went there for a business lunch (Italian Side). The space decor is impressive, bringing that famous Novikov's Moscow feel to Mayfair. We shared a Caprese for a starter which was very nice (mozzarella texture was very fresh and delicate). Very nice selection of breads in a basket. For mains, char-coal grilled Mackerel was lovely, if a bit too fatty (but to be fair you can't expect a mackerel to be skinny!), and char-coal beef Tagliata was delicious – a perfect medum-rare pinky texture, made even more succulent by some light oily sprinkle. I would highly recommend deep fried courgettes as a side as they offered a perfect combination of fluffy inside and crunchy skin.

For desserts, i'd sell my soul for another slice of the divine white soft merengue cake (goes down really well if you ask for a shot of limoncello to go with it), and I'm told that green tea dessert with icecream was equally delightful.
Service – very Italian and gracious, although given the number of staff on the floor they could provide a bit more attention. The Lounge bar downstairs is also very worth a visit.
Overall – a pleasure, and valuable addition to the sometimes bland and boring London high dining scene.

This is a huge restaurant and even though the kitchen is coping on timing and quality the Front of house isn't. They need to quickly poach an experienced manager from the empires of Corbin/King or Carling, organisations who understand the ethos of service. The scene at reception when we arrived for our Saturday evening booking in the Italian restaurant was chaotic with a queue of people waiting for tables. It was obvious they were behind in service and (probably) overbooked! Nonetheless the resourceful young man in front of me achieved a table despite no booking with a £50 tip to the hostess! We were eventually seated, and the service from our charming waitress (Carla) was terrific. around us however there was continued chaos, the bus boys, waiters, clearers, endless managers ran around arguing among themselves all evening. This is the buzziest, best people watching spot in town and the food is fine. The chef is coping brilliantly as he must do more covers a night than he did in a month at his previous and excellent local,Rosmarino.
The wine waiter was flummoxed when asked to recommend a ‘crisp dry white’, from the lengthy list, but, to his credit went for help immediately, although it reflects a woeful lack of training. At the end of the evening we asked to go into the lounge and were told by the surly manager that he would let us jump the queue once he had let in the 40 people already waiting!! So, despite having run up a decent bill preference was given to a few Essex boys wanting to buy a beer.

Nice new addition to the ‘Green Park Area’! Lounge bar downstaris is a great place for a glass of wine, the interior is cool yet cozy. I have no idea why they have the music on so loud though – hard to talk after 8pm when they crank it on like in a night club. Are they trying to attract (deaf) 25 year olds??

Food in Asian part is lovely, yet pricy. Service good.