Aimee's review of C London (formerly Cipriani)

Well what can i say! I was mortified at how awful it was! We had dined at Zafferanos the night before which was superb and thought Cipriani would be better! I have dined at Cipriani on a friday lunch time and it was very good-this however was a saturday night and it was a nightmare from start to finish! On arrival we were rushed to our table and menus were thrown at us! We were given very little time to choose and asked for more time! We ordered starters, mains and an expenve bottle or wine! We were constantly aware of 8-10 staff stood behind the table like vultures watching every mouthful of bread and sip of water! I ilke Italian restaurants for their often buzzing atmosphere, this however was off the scale! It was like a processing factory, it isn't remotely customer orientated, its money orientated! The man that night at the reservation desk was constantly looking over at out table whilst gesticulating at staff to clear tables whilst pointing at his watch! Staff were knocking into the back of our chairs and dishes of food were being passed over our heads to other tables! Food was spilt on my friend at the table and staff were rude and arrogant and were visibly taking the mickey out of people. Our starters were average and were removed instantly when finished! I then got up to go to the toilet when i returned after a couple of minutes-my main course was sat on the table going cold! Not exactly the service you expect at this restaurant.
The gnocci was mushy and lacked adequate sauce! The wine was not refilled and we had to ask for more! As i was eating my last mouthfuls the bread basket was whisked away and the tablecloth changed! I was getting more wound up by the minute and had indigestion and felt under pressure to eat up!!! As soon as our plates were lifted off the table, somone was holding a lemon meringue pie infront of me and then a choc torte and something else! At this point i flipped and said, i do not come to an expensive restaurant like this to have 3 courses and a bottle of wine in 30 mins! We were shocked and disgusted! We asked for a break before dessert and we were glared at! They asked if we wanted any more wine!! We said of course we do!!! So they eventually refilled our glasses! Whilst we were trying to digest our main courses which we had literally just swallowed we were aware of staff looking at our table! We were at this time brought some petit fours!!! We saw this as a sign that they wanted us out! We told them that we wanted to order some desserts-when they arrived they asked if we wanted a coffee-we said we might after dessert!!! We were both too wound up to eat our desserts and very upset! We asked to speak to the manager and explained the above and how rushed and harrased we felt! He wasn't exactly apologetic but did sway the bill! He stated they couldn't time when i went to the toilet! I said that they should be more observant and not bring food out when a customer is in the toilet!! He offered to pay for dry cleaning! We were both furious and stressed! We departed and will not be coming back again!! OK you might see a celeb but thats about it! And lets face it most of them wouldn't know quality if it slapped them in the face! If you want to be seen for 30 mins and have food thrown at you by rude disinterested staff this is the place to go! Take some tranquilsers with you!