Oliveto

The Olivo / Olivomare group has a great reputation which is why, to my shock, I was surprised at my experience at Oliveto. We made a reservation and walked to the restaurant from home, a 30 minute stroll on a late afternoon. Upon entering the restaurant with my buggy and new born baby, I was immediately met by the scornful manager who sternly ordered us to deposit our pram upstairs. Of course I would have been happy to do so – had it not been for her scathing manner. I asked her if she would make an exception as the restaurant was almost empty, and my 5 week old baby was sound asleep. Seeing that we have been patrons of Olivo and Olivomare for so many years, I thought she wouldn't mind. To my shock (and to the shock of the diners there) she started to raise her voice and ordered us out, pushing me with her hand, at which point my baby woke and started to cry. To be fair, it is a small restaurant and I understand the no pram policy, but her manner in instructing us was quite unbelievable. Some patrons who witnessed the scene came out and agreed that her behavious was extreme. I will not ever be going to Olivo or Olivomare ever again.

(I mistakenly wrote a review for the wrong restaurant Olivo). We had a mixed experience at Oliveto, we were met with an arrogant and very rude manageress who scolded us for being 10 minutes late for our reservation despite the fact that the restaurant was empty on an afternoon. The food was good, other staff were charming, but after the trreatment we had at a local restaurant that we've been frequenting (the Olivo and Olivomare group), I will never go again. After reading a fair amount of reviews about this particular managaress, I'm surprised she's still there. Never again.

This is a great local Italian, popular with families for Sunday lunch. OK it gets really noisy when full (ask for a table at the front if you can) and sometimes the serving staff can then be worked off their feet, but the Sardinian food is delicious. My particular favourites are the spaghetti bottarga and the crab linguine. Also the sea urchin spaghetti when they have it. The pizzas are fine as are the deserts. A refreshing change from the rubbish at chains like Strada and Zizzi.

I could write this review quite short. Imagine a mediocre Strada, but multiply the bill by a factor of 3.

For some reason my expectations differed wildly to reality. Having had a great visit to one of the sister restaurants some time ago, I thought Oliveto would at least justify the rather hefty price level. Truth is, it isn't even close. Apart from the dimmed lighting, this could have been part of any chain imaginable; Zizi, Strada, Pizza Express etc. The sad this was that the food actually was passable, but the problems were the poor service, the cheap chain-like decoration and the fast-food like atmosphere.

The only reason I ended up here was the fact that we had drinks across the road at Thomas Cubitt. It's clear that we should've stayed there for dinner.