Locanda Locatelli

Truly one of the worst meals I've had in London in quite some time. Veal was like leather. The special cod starter was like an average fish pate. A real disappointment.

Locanda Locatelli oozes money. The staff, the decor and the clientele. They all scream, in a modest understated way, that if you have to ask the price of anything, you shouldn't be here. Now beating up a restaurant on Portland Square, next to Little Arabia and just up from hedgefund-land, for its pricing might feel a tad unnecessary. It's like attacking the child infused atmosphere of a Harvester during the middle of the summer holidays or as someone less verbose than I would put it, like shooting fish in a barrel. That being said, I feel it's important to make the point, as unless price is entirely and utterly irrelevant to you, pricing this steep can easily get in the way of even a very good meal.

Baccala’ Mantecato, that Venetian treat of salt cod blended with olive oil to a smooth paste with the lightest hint of the sea came with aromatic pomodoro tomatoes, watercress and a crumble of tasty polenta crisp. A rustic winter classic, scoffed by the ton as a way of getting the most out of the preserved fish in leaner months. A beautiful and expansive starter with tons of contrasting flavour, followed a vast and interesting breadbasket, opening well, but at £14.50 a plate, enough to give all but the most homesick of Venetians a moment's pause.

We both went for a pasta course as our main, my guest sampling the Strozzapreti pasta, a rougly rolled penne style ideal for holding a thicker tomato sauce full of olive and spicy soft n'duja salami. I went for perfectly cooked risotto over, slightly salty, duck ragu, served with a handful of girolles. It was good ribsticking fare, the kind that you'd expect at any trattoria across the Italian countryside, but with both at over £20 a plate when you pay the main course ‘supplement’, a little (or a lotto) on the steep side. The carne and pesci selections are also often recommended by regulars, small selections of pan fried or char grilled fresh fish and meats with simple accompaniments.

As you'd expect, the wine list is aimed at the high end, but there are a number of reasonable surprises and it's telling that they've won a number of awards for the long, well thought out (predominently Italian) list. It's not just the obvious regions they cover, we went for a Nero Di Troia from unfashionable Puglia in the South, it's bright blackberry and prune notes with only a hint of tannin balancing perfectly against the rustic tomato and meat sauces. You'll find a few below fifty a bottle, but you have to look hard.

Despite the vast number of night clad servers, roaming and floating between the soft white clad tables and gold banquettes like exclusive, sleek and designed water taxis through the Venetian canals, the attention to detail was mixed at best. The water server seemingly over-compensated, leaning across us to refill after every gulp of (not offered until asked for) tap, for the stingy smear of Sicilian extra virgin, poured, providenced but never topped up and the long, long wait to get the bill. Minor quibbles sure, but, as with the food itself, the caveat has to be that you expect better for the price.

This is food my mama used to make. Its food her mama used to make! I have had four dinners here in three weeks (am trying to get as many lovely evenings out before my twins arrive in early june) and I am not only a very lucky woman, I am astounded at the level of professionalism. I am an Italian who spent her childhood listening to my family discuss what they were eating for breakfast, lunch and dinner, not understanding the importance as a child. Now I get it! Giorgio Locatelli's flair for keeping everything simple, tasty, nutritious and clean is un-surpassed. This is truly Italian food, in a glamorous and sleek operation that I can only imagine will continue to thrive. The bread basket is heaven on earth – prehaps the only fault was that it was impossible to leave it alone. No cover charge for bread! And what bread!
I had the sole (on the bone) which was the freshest fish I think I have ever eaten in London. It came on a bed of vegetables that were al dente and full of flavour. The service was seamless and the (half glass – pregnant remember) red wine that I had with my pasta – kid goat ragout – starter, reccomended by the sommelier, was top notch.
Everything faultless. Love you, Locanda Locatelli. Get those high chairs ready – we're coming back en famille!

A good choice for dinner, lovely food, really authentic. I think if you are a foodie, then this is your place, as the chef does Italian very well.

Location is right behind Oxford street, so very central.

Ambiance, I wasn't convinced. I'm more of a Chelsea type, but it seemed a bit flat to me.

Food was the absolute highlight, so go for that. Go elsewhere for a scene.

Whilst it may not be cheap, I have always found the service at Locanda Locatelli to be excellent. In fact it was the service that from day one, drew me in and encouraged me to make repeat visits. The food is excellent and LL is home to the best scallop dish I have ever had… The Capesante Al'Aspretto di Zafferano is a revelation of carefully balanced flavours. Plump scallops with celery and a saffron vinaigrette are a great way to kick off the meal. The one thing about LL is that the food is pretty simple. If its innovative, stylised cooking you are looking for then you are better off spending your money elsewhere. My Italian friends blast LL for what is essentially overpriced and very simple and rustic cookery… But where quality is concerned, there is no scrimping here. The standard of cookery is excellent, even if the skill involved isn't overly complex.

I always like to choose fish when I eat here but depending on the time of year, they do a mean pork and also veal chop, cooked to perfection, juicy and succulent. I am always happy to pay those prices for beautifully cooked and prepared food.

The only down side is that the dining room is a bit lifeless, which is why I prefer to lunch here as dinner's lack ambience.

I'm sorry that my first review for 2011 has to be a negative one. My last visit to Locanda Locatelli was about a year ago and I thought the food then was clever and inventive. So I was really quite excited about going back. Sadly like the stock market, restaurants can go down as well as up, and this was the case with Locanda. This time the beef carpaccio, which I usually love, seemed tasteless and the stewed neck of lamb was fatty and stringy. I understand that the vogue (culinary or financial I wonder) is to use cheap, unloved cuts but this one truly was a case of mutton dressed up as lamb. To charge £27.50 for it therefore showed that Signor Locatelli has a stronger nerve than most. For me however, I'll be voting with my feet; it's back to Incanto, my local in Harrow on the Hill where the food is nearly as good for half the price. Oh and if the waiters had smiled even once I would have put their service score up a point.

What a treat I had, my Husband and younger Daughter booked us in for the most fabulous lunch for my Birthday treat, (this is our special treat Restaurant).

The Restaurant is quietly decorated, with a feeling of space due to the clever design seating -no dodgy tables and chairs, flattering lighting-thank you for that! the atmosphere is of people enjoying wonderful food, a contented happy, being served with polite decent people.

The bread basket was lavishingly full of the most wonderful FRESH Italian Breads.
My Husband and the Wine waiter decided on the most delicious Sparkling White to start and a very beautiful Red that complimented our main course, (the wine list would leave any wine buff speachless and the waiter knows each and eveyone of them).

For a starter I had the smoked Goats cheese with spinach, refreshingly gorgeous
As it is the Truffle season we could not resist the Veal with White Truffle for main course, heavenly treat.
For desert everything Chocolate, sex on a plate!
Again the waiter knows the way round the menu dish by dish.
Coffee and home made chocs, the perfect way to end a perfect meal.

I have nothing else to say but as always, from the moment we walk in to when we leave, absolute perfection.

THIS GUY HAS IT RIGHT!, not done the Restaurant chain, like so many of the T. V Chefs, we have had the most dreadful meals, poor service and at times been ill for several days after eating at their Restaurants. Hence, this is why we have Laconda Locatelli as our special Restaurant, the experience is good to look forward to and look back on!

Thank you for making a celebration so special.
See you for the Husbands 65th!

Jan.

I had a very disappointing experience at Locanda Locatelli last night. I first went a couple of years ago and rated it as one of my best ever meals out, however yessterday was a big let down, reflecting some of the other recent reviews. Firstly, the service was very poor – after fifteen minutes of sitting at our table I had to call a waiter over in order to ask if we could have an apperitif, not something you'd expect from a restaurant I used to consider one of the best in London. It then took over an hour from sitting down to getting our first course. We hadn't ordered anything unusual, and the restaurant was only half full (we had a relatively early sitting), so I can see no reason for this delay. We had been told on booking that we would have the table from 7.15pm to 9.15pm and by almost 9pm we were only on our second of four courses, through no fault of our own. The waiter said we could stay longer, but completely missed the point that it shouldn't take the best part of 2 hours to get 2 starter courses – at that rate it would have become a 4 hour dinner! After asking them to speed up, service became very surly, with food banged down in front of us and silence from the staff. The quality of the food was very mediochre compared to last time – the pasta was great, however the pre-pasta starter and the mains were more worthy of an italian chain restaurant and the beef (at £31 for the main course) was bland – I had a better tasting steak from Sainsbury's recently! The only saving grace was the sommelier – we asked him to select a different glass of wine for each course and he chose some excellent, unusual wines that were very memorable. Overall I left with the impression that my first experience here was when the restaurant was making a name for itself, but now it is resting on its laurels. If you want average quality Italian food I suggest going to Strada for a quarter of the price.

Oh dear, another celebrity chef that is coasting along on his reputation and the fact that celebrities dont know their arse from their elbows when it comes to good food and amazing flavours. The only dish to knock our socks off was the porcini with rocket and parmesan: one of those simple dishes where each ingredient was at its peak and it was sublime! The other dishes were bland at best but one dish stood out for sheer horribleness: the seabass with artichoke. On the menu it said white wine sauce, fair enough, that goes with fish but it turned up with a tomato sauce. Sorry, I dont believe tomatoes and fish have been good bedfellows since 1988! Something was off, the tomatoes had a horrible sour taste, the artichokes were horrendously lemony/vinegary and I wanted to send it back but my boyfriend being oh-so-polite English insisted on giving me his dish instead.

We got there at 715, were told the specials, one of which was grouse, and ten minutes later when we wanted to order it, they said they didnt have any!?! Selling out of a dish that early on a Friday night is very poor. The rest of the service could not be faulted and the cosiness of the tables was another plus but hardly points enough to ever persuade me to give them my money again.

I have always wanted to go to Locanda Locatelli and last night I finally went with my sister. We were prepared to spend any amount of money to have a great dining experience. Sadly this was not the case. We started off with antipasti salads (green bean with potato and black truffle, marinated tuna on a bed of rocket and bean puree); they were fresh and outstanding ingredients but poor seasoning rendered them insipid mouthfuls. Then came the linguine with lobster. Perfectly al dente pasta with a good amount of lobster was again let down by poor seasoning. The chef in charge relied on too much olive oil to bring the dish alive. £19.50 for a bowl of pasta with zero wow factors was the great disappointment of the evening. I was bored from the first to the last linguine on my plate. Thankfully, our mains somehow redeemed Locanda Locatelli although I’m not sure it deserves to be called the best Italian restaurant in London. Monkfish with walnut and caper sauce was simply divine and wild sea bass with artichoke puree was prepared expertly. To sum it up: quality ingredients, nice restaurant atmosphere, impeccable service but all combined with surprisingly uninspired cooking resulted in a disappointing evening and at £170 (incl a bottle of wine, water and service for 2) rather bad value for money.

This restaurant is very dissappointing. I was looking forward to going for a meal here for a very long time.

When we arrived, we noticed that the menu didn't have much variety and there were a lot of odd combinations in the food. The waiter told us that they had a special steak which could be shared between 2 people, £60. we said we would have that… 15 minutes later, he comes back and says that it will take an hour to make it and suggested we have something else so we changed our order…

An hour later, we were still waiting for our food!!! the table next to us had already eaten 2 courses and the table behind us that had come in half an hour after us was served before us too!

So we got up and left. we had enough of waiting for our food.

This restaurant has about 10000000 waiters and the service is just awful…

don't go, you will be ripped off and the food isn't even that great on the menu…

What a disappointment. Had eaten here a couple of times a few years back and absolutely loved it. This time the food was utterly lacklustre. The room is still wonderful and service was ok but all four of my party were desperately disappointed with the food.

I took my partner here for his birthday – its certainly beautiful and opulent inside, like a big lovely hotel bar!

We arrived early though the waiting area is tiny, managed to get a comfy seat. Its very impressive inside – smelling of money! We were greeted by a friendly waiter and a huge basket of lovely homemade bread. Mental note – try not to pig out. I had the most delicious gnocchi to begin with whilst my partner had scallops – both wonderful. The mains werent as impressive though could be because we chose wrongly. I had pan fried cod but it tasted slightly sweet and sickly. Perhaps it was the side of lentils. My partner had pumpkin ravioli but he also said it was very sweet and almost like a pudding. My cod was massive and dare i say it, too much of it…Pudding was as exceptional as the starter – i had white chocolate soup with passion fruit jelly and pistachio ice cream – a strange combination but worked perfectly. Altogether, the final bill was £110 for all this which was fair enough for such a place but i didnt feel the food lived up to scratch.

Id say, if you are a bit boring like my partner and i!, choose something tried and tested for your main and youd have a dream night – otherwise i think there are other very good, slightly cheaper places – Enotuci Turi, Theo Randall – to name but a few.

Absolutely wonderful food – the pasta and desserts are the reason why I continue to go back again and again.

Service is often hit and miss, waiters tend to be quite brusque and appear busy even when the restaurant is half empty. Easier to get their attention if you speak to them in their native tongue!

Overall serves the best Italian food outside Italy and that includes Del Posto in New York!

Highly recommended

Although he's now getting a run for his money from L'Anima, for me Locanda remains the top Italian in town. The service is exemplary and the cooking is exquisite. The quality of flavour and the cooking never fails to delight and impress. Give me dinner here every time instead of the poncy indulgence of the modern french styled London Michelin restaurants.

Probably one of London's best restaurants. Excellent fresh food, with great service.

Great acoustics if you want to hear your companions conversation. Very relaxed and enjoyable atmosphere.

SG,London. Jan 2010

Locanda Locatelli serves the best Italian food outside Italy I know. It is seldom that a celebrity chef so directly delivers what he promises. The restaurant is a true pleasure, of course this level comes at a price but it is a truly very good effort. The menu covers the classics but allows for some slightly more innovative dishes as well. A top pick in London.

I recently took my boyfriend to Locanda Locatelli for his birthday. We were greeted by a friendly receptionist and immediately felt welcomed.
However, on sitting down at our table (under the air conditioning and I had to keep my coat on for the whole meal), it took a very long time for the menus to arrive. We had to try and attract the waiter’s attention for pretty much everything: drinks, food, water, pudding menus… We waited half an hour before they even took our order, although the food arrived suspiciously quickly soon afterwards. The waiters all seemed very busy despite the half full restaurant, but nobody was attending to our table in any way.
In terms of the food, the flavours tended to be overpowering with a lack of sensitivity in the cooking. We found it very expensive for a plate of pasta and will not be returning as you can find much better Italian elsewhere in London at a fraction of the price. The wine, however was excellent, thanks to Square Meal’s Chianti recommendation!

Last visit Dec 2008

I have to agree with Ms Macaroon that the food is not the only draw to Locanda. On my first visit Mr Locatelli made his way around the shop floor ensuring that he paid each table attention and made them feel special. He didn't even balk when my colleague pulled out his latest book and asked him to sign it. It's so nice to visit a place where the chef is so much in evidence and not just a name above the door.

The food is divine and the pasta an absolute must. On my last visit I had a chestnut ravioli which just melted in the mouth and was so light that I even had room left for pudding and cheese. I am a big cheese fan so it is always a test of a restaurant how good the cheese board is. I was not disappointed. I was presented with a plate of cheese sorted in order of strength and to match some mini jars of honey, again sorted by strength. A little fiddly I have to confess but it really worked.

The sommelier was very helpful so the wine choices we had were wonderful and the front of house staff were slick but friendly. The decor is modern, elegant and stylish without seeming dauntingly trendy. There are definitely some tables that are better than others – on my last visit we were siting in a booth in the centre of the restaurant which gave a great vantage point (even if getting out to the loos was a bit tricky). On my first visit we were on a table by the door which was a little high traffic and draughty.

I was fortunate enough not to be picking up the bill on this visit but I get a sneaky feeling that it wasn't cheap but then for that kind of quality and expertise in cooking it would be a crying shame not to reward the effort.

The only criticism that I would have is that the restaurant is so subtle that I nearly walked straight past it. A word to those who plan to visit – look hard for the signage, I didn't really notice it till I was through the door.

Serious Italian, served by serious people. The kind of food that makes you feel inadequate and stupid, forcing you to ask ‘excuse me what is that?’. Once explained, cooked and served, however, it’s heavenly. The night I dined with my wife, Prince William was there with Kate, along with at least five big blokes all ready to take a bread stick in the throat for His Royal Highness, so let’s be honest my wife could have been served three courses of peanuts and she wouldn't have complained. That said, the food was out of this world. The mostly Italian wine list is very good and offers good value. The coffee, perhaps unsurprisingly, was terrific. The bill, huge. Good to take the wife or someone you were reasonably confident of sleeping with. Wasted on in-laws and penniless friends or relatives.

I had a superbly enjoyable trip to Locanda Locatelli last weekend and the restaurant lives up to everything you'd expect. Decor is quite contemporary and smooth and the tables spacious enough and chairs very comfy indeed. The food was as you'd expect excellent – nothing over the top in presentation and you get the feeling that the food is all about the taste rather than making it overly pretty. Not to say presentation wasn't good however. Our starters were tagliatelle di castagne ai funghi selvatici (home made chestnut tagliatelle with wild mushrooms ) and tortellini in brodo (meat parcels in a clear broth ) both totally delicious. I couldn't decide on my mains so persuaded my wife to try medaglioni di cervo, porcini, crema fritta e radicchio (medallions of venison with cepes, panfried cream and radicchio) while I had filetto di branzino in crosta di erbe e sale (fillet of wild sea bass in salt and herbs crust ) – to be honest they were both so good I wish I could have had both! For dessert I went for the cheese selection which may sound boring but finished the meal off perfectly. We'd asked the sommelier to select a glass of wine to match each course from the list by the glass and he did a superb job. I was pretty surprised how full the restaurant was considering we dined at 2pm – the full sitting a testament to Giorgio Locatelli's skill and hard work. Prices are pretty high but it's easy to see what you are paying for – definitely a great place for a special occasion.

We were lured to Locatelli's by his excellent book which contains recipes that are hard work but produce superb results. The place exudes class from the moment you are greeted by the friendly efficient reception staff and the layout offers a perfect balance between a certain amount of privacy and the opportunity to watch other people in an atmosphere that manages to be laid-back and busy at the same time. We were told first of all about the evening's special cocktail. We heard about vodka, mango and cranberries. Sounds good, we thought. It was more than good, sipped with the parmesan breadsticks while studying the menu. They brought a basket of bread, all of it excellent with a little dish of oil for dipping. We went for salted anchovies with peppers and capers, ravioli with red onion, pork fillet with a fruit mustard crust and borlotti beans, poached beef fillet, berries and yoghurt ice cream, trifle that was a work of art, looking as if sculpted from seashells. An excellent bottle of chianti classico at £33 and jasmine tea to follow. Every mouthful of food and drink was a real delight, the flavour of everything distinctive while complementing perfectly what was alongside it. And you might say, when presented with a bill for £175 for two, that so it should have been, but it's certainly a meal that I'll remember for a very long time. An anniversary was the excuse for this visit; I hope I can come up with equally convincing reasons for a return.

In a word – Belissimo! This was no ordinary visit to begin with as we were celebrating an anniversary, so the restaurant had already gone through my meticulous criteria to make it through. Once we stepped in though I knew at once this was going to be one of the better dining experiences I've been privy to in this great city and was not let down. From tasty and authentic food such as the Plaice with Tomato and Basil and deliciously balanced Tiramisu to pallete approving wines and a rather nice Martini aperitif, LL delivered on the three essentials: atmosphere, food and service. Waiters were the right blend of attentive, not too pushy, not too ignorant and wine was regularly topped up without the need to ask. One thing I particularly liked was the lack of pressure for table turnaround even though we were pushing past our two hours. Overall a great place for special occasions with partners, gatherings for model R. Lauren families and a nice opportunity for celeb spotting the likes of Benecio Del Toro, who we sat next to.

OK two things about this place rock – the food & Georgio. Every dish is a perfect balance between gutsy & delicate, with a few things I could eat every day, such as the papardelle with kid goat ragu. Also, the opportunity to catch a glimpse of gorgeous Georgio himself is a huge incentive to visit, and is not a rare occurance. But a few things let Locanda down. Firstly the common sight of more than a few glamorous 'younger ladies' with men who are certainly not their Daddys. Secondly, ladies, whose husbands have long meetings in the adjoining Churchill hotel, who sit with lots of children at huge tables in the restaurant, barely eating or speaking. Sadly, it stifles the atmophere in what should be a glamorous, buzzy restaurant.

I've eaten here a couple of times and both times I've been a little disappointed by the food. It was good but, for me, not great – even though everyone else raves about it. Last time I had smoked mozarella which I didn't particularly enjoy (perhaps a bad choice on my part as I've never had smoked mozarella before – and won't again!), followed by lobster, garlic & chilli linguine which was…fine. The restaurant is gorgeous though and the staff are great, very attentive without constant topping up etc and VERY Italian – prego, prego. Really good, buzzy atmosphere too and I would happily return as I would love to be proved wrong about the food.