Well,this was a pleasant surprise! Tucked away down a small side street off Vauxhall Bridge Road, Gustoso was a true lunchtime delight. From the same stable as Al Duca in St James and The Beehive in Paddington, the owners are now bringing their trattoria style quality to the Victoria/Pimlico area. The restaurant itself is simple but attractively furnished with unfussy wooden tables and chairs and the large frontal picture windows give good daylight to the room leading to the bar area at the rear. The place was busy but the staff were attentive and helpful and did all they could to make us feel welcome. The food was very good and excellent value: choosing from a wide selection on the daily changing specials board, my starter of chilli prawn linguine was very good and the monkfish to follow a wonderful blend of textures and flavours. My companion's beef carpaccio was very well presented and his special crab pasta dish was “an absolute delight”. The wine list, whilst not extensive contained a reasonable selection of trustworthy, competitively priced Italian varieties and the Puglian Copertino we had (a subtle blend of Negromara and Malvasia nera grapes) was a great accompaniment to a delicious meal. One to visit – you won't be disappointed.

If you have been anywhere near Georgia and love the real Georgian experience, I am afraid Colchis will disappoint. If you are looking for a decent restaurant in the Notting Hill (NH) area with good service and reasonable food, then this place will suffice. However authentic Georgian it is not; it is quasi Georgian dressed up for the Western (NH) diner.

The staff were all super friendly, the pre-dinner cocktails were very well made and presented (the pomegranate mojito being particularly well received by our group) and the ambience in both the bar and restaurant was warm and welcoming.

In fairness, the starters were mostly delicious, well cooked and presented but almost a travesty of the real thing. For instance, a Georgian restaurant without the staple Georgian starter Chicken Satsivi, at its best a sumptuous blend of chicken in a creamy walnut and garlic sauce, is unthinkable. The Colchis pretender to this dish “Chicken Bazhe” is a bland uninspiring affair – when we asked why no Satsivi, the answer came that Satsivi takes 8 hours to cook properly whilst their Bazhe takes only 30 minutes: I am afraid it tasted like it. As a positive, the Khinkali dumplings were delectable. Next up the Kahachapuri – usually one of the absolute delights of a Georgian meal, made with the local suluguni cheese. The Colchis version was made with a mix of feta and mozzarella and whilst perfectly edible (indeed very tasty!) was not how real Khachapuri should taste. Furthermore, a Georgian restaurant without Mzhave, Chicken Tabaka and Tolma?

The head man navigated us admirably through the Georgian wines and made 2 very drinkable suggestions: a dry white Marani Tsirandali (eminently drinkable and good value at £23.00) followed by a Orovela Red Cuvee Chadredi (a mix of a local Georgian grape Saperavi, bolstered with a bit of Cab Sauvignon, at the same price) and which would have complemented the Mtsavi (grilled meat or shahslyk) very well. Unfortunately the grilled meats (we chose the mix of three: pork, lamb and veal) were disappointing, being oversalted and lacking in true grilled flavour. The group left more than we ate.

All in all, Colchis tries hard and partially succeeds in its warmth of welcome, atmosphere and decor. But it wasn't what we had anticipated it to be. If, like we were, you are looking for a real Georgian dinner experience, better to head for Mimino in Kensington High Street, where your diing neighbours will lilely be Georgians or Russians. Cheaper and done better.

We came here, without a reservation, on a busy Saturday night (27/11) after one disaster too many at the Hope & Anchor on The Cut. The place was humming and fully booked, but the friendly maitre d' found us 2 seats at the bar. The way we were looked after you would have thought we had been given the VIP seats! Once you get over the rather stark furnishings which remind you of your university canteen on a good day and the slightly harsh lighting, the rest is just right. The wait staff were all very friendly and helpful and Zeren, the charming and knowledgeable sommelier, helped us around the very extensive (and well priced) predominantly Italian wine list with some real gems. We chose a a delicious 2003 Barberesco Roagna with a very reasonable mark up – a great start. [Sadly only 3 bottles left!] We had the fresh grilled anchovies as a starter – served up very simply but cooked just right, with enough citrus on them to give them a mouthwatering flavour. I then chose a simple grilled veal chop with fresh spinach and lemon watching the chef diligently preparing it in front of me. The spinach was just flash fried in a little olive oil and was fabulous – unlike so much of the spinach served around London which comes over-garlicked or just ridiculously creamy and overcooked. The chop was also cooked to perfection, pink enough to be full of flavour but not off putting and with lemon zest. My wife's bugatini pasta dish was also delectable with cardoons (tasting part artichoke, part celery) and grilled prawns – looked fabulous , tasted even better! We never got to desserts but I am sure they will be delicious too. To cap it all, Sam Harris, the chef/owner came out to chat with us to make sure we had enjoyed our dinner! A great touch – well done Sam. I really can't fault this place – great value, excellent quality and a really buzzy vibe. Make the effort to get there and you will not be disappointed.

In practice, the Hope & Anchor is a great place but it is getting to be just way too much trouble to eat there and the food isn't SO good to make it worth all the effort. This was our fourth visit and each time the hassle becomes that littel bit more annoying.
Firstly, you can't book a table so it's always very hit and miss getting in. Either quite quick or a very long wait indeed. Not good if you're hungry or if you are out with Grandma! Then, if you're not eating in a group, there is the rather limited choice of dishes. On Saturday evening 27/11, there were 4 dishes on the menu for 3 people or more, 2 of the singleton dishes had already run out when we got to sit down (40 minute wait) leaving just 3 dishes to choose from. Ridiculously, they had cassoulet designated as only for 3 people or more and were unable to serve it for one person…what is so diffcult about giving cassoulet to one person?! Likewise Irish hotpot…I mean, can't you just spoon out a single dishful for one person?! Both are simple dishes to make but were seemingly too much trouble to serve for one diner.
I then asked if it would be possible to have chips with a dish that wasn't marked as “with chips”. “No”, came back the answer, “all our chips are specially made for those dishes marked as such, we only do chips for those dishes and we don't have any more and can't make any!” Unbelievable. What is so difficult about that?

So, having been unable to find anything at all on the menu that did not involve a group eating it (we were just two) we regrettably had no choice but to leave and go elsewhere. A great shame, because the place is fun and (once you get there) the food is good, if only it weren't such a hassle to get in to eat it. Gastropub meets gastropain!! If you want gastropub dining, go to The Garrison on Bermondsey Street – you can book, you don't get hassle and the choice of dishes is better! The whole dining experience there is that much easier!!!

The restaurant gets a great vibe from the lively bar (which it overlooks) and gives relaxed comfortable surroundings in which to enjoy the food. The menu is interesting, without being particularly exciting but did have a few nice little touches, and the wine list was good if rather unadventurous. That said the food was very well prepared and presented – absolutely delicious – and the £38.00 Chianti was eminently drinkable but, oh boy, does the service let it down, in both the bar and even worse in the restaurant. A great shame because the staff were super friendly and the food would have me running back there tomorrow, but they had to be chased ion absolutely everything. Even the bill!! Value for money? Not really; it's pretty expensive, especially given the poor levels of service.

This was a great surprise. A view to die for, impeccable service and delicious food. Well priced wine list, and everything well presented. Few little gripes: rare steak was rather overcooked, no finger bowl with the lobster, table (for 2) rather small, but staff keen to please and attentive without being intrusive. If something was needed, it arrived quickly without fuss. Smart crowd, sophisticated. Much better than expected – we'll certainly go back

Something has gone very badly wrong here. When Richard Corrigan took this place over and revamped things, it was a roaring success and qucikly became our London fave, especially the downstairs grill/brasserie area. It had a great atmosphere, good value food and friendly efficient wait staff. However, our last 2 visits (once upstairs and once downstairs) have been disappointing in the extreme, and were marred by sloppy, disinterested and inattentive service on both occasions. The most recent visit (early October) my chosen dish was so oversalted as to be inedibble (both the Dover sole and the spinach) and had to be sent back. Our guests from abroad were not over impressed. The restaurant did not charge for the returned food, but by then the damage was done

It all smacks to me rather of complacency. Start off well, get the punters coming in and then relax. At these price levels there are certainly now better alternatives in London. Bentleys needs to either pull its socks up or drop its prices or else people will start going elsewhere Caveat emptor…