Andre's review of Jamie's Italian Canary Wharf

Apart from the maitre'd, who did his best to temper our expectations with the waiting time (the possible 1.75hr wait turned out to be, thankfully, only around half an hour in the end), the service at the restaurant was absolutely abysmal, from inattentive (bar staff chatted with each other whilst we waited almost ten minutes to be served – incidentally, there was no one else waiting to be served) to unknowledgeable (had no idea when trying to identify what they were serving, gratis on account of us waiting for a table, was the very basic and humble mortadella). Usual complaints on this thread about empty tables despite long wait times were definitely a problem we encountered.

It has to be said that the maitre'd was very knowledgeable when it came to advising on wine pairing (for our mains – not normally the job of a maitre'd, we know, but he seemed like the only person who was switched on) as we wanted to have some wine whilst we waited for our table.

The food fared better. We had starters of truffle tagliatelle (very tasty), crispy squid (a classic done very well) and truffle salami (this was ok – we've had better, although admittedly we're used to the ‘good stuff’ from tuscany). For mains, I had the lamb chops lollipop which wasn't too bad – the herbs that came the dish were especially tasty, but the portions were small. I expected this so it didn't bother me, but if you're after a hearty portion, keep this in mind.

My wife had the fish in a bag, and that was brilliant. Having nicked a bit to try, I can report that the steamed sea bass was very succulent and tasty, having absorbed all the juicy flavours from the accompanying shellfish (mussels and clams).

All in all, the food was worth the wait but I don't think we'll be back again. Sorry Jamie, we really like you, but you need to sort out your staff…except for the maitre'd who should definitely keep his job!