Pescatori Fitzrovia

Thought I would find pretty well only fish on the menu but although fish is a strong theme of this restaurant, the theme is essentially classy Italian food. I wanted to ask if the lemons really were from Amalfi and was to shy to question in what way they were different but are overall experience was pleasant. A lovely ambience, a wonderful table as we were early, excellent caring service, and first class food. With a discount, it was acceptable. Without, they have serious competition elsewhere

Granted it took a while, but eventually I got my act together and invested my £100 SM 2015 3rd place winner’s voucher on dinner at Pescatori. A veritable treat on all fronts! The restaurant is located in lively Charlotte Street, a part of town that I do not know well at all, but in clocking all the pubs and restaurants that line the walk from Oxford Street, it is only a matter of time before I return. The liveliness of the street outside is matched within the restaurant, which came as a nice surprise as for some reason I was expecting a more genteel and refined eatery. Front of house welcome was warm and we were escorted to our table which joy of joys, turned out to be one of the banquette booths. Just the two of us so a table plenty big enough to accommodate menus, food, wine, water. For some reason Pescatori does not advertise its pasta dishes as being available as a starter size so I was glad that I asked as I was then informed that they could offer them as half portions. As such, the bloke went for a tagliatelle of wild mushrooms which smelled and tasted wonderful but he was in a bit of a picky mood and suggested that a tad more sauce would have not gone amiss; personally I think it was a touch of plate envy as my panciotti of seafood in a saffron sauce was a complete showstopper. For mains, he probably edged it as his fish and prawn mixed grill was a very generous looking selection; my monkfish loin was absolutely fine although the cress mashed potato was a bit too slushy for my taste but our sides of roasted jersey royals and fried courgette with parmesan more than complemented the mains. Desserts were a lemon tart and semi-freddo which both disappeared at a rate of knots. Service is engaging and unhurried which suited us fine as we just wanted a relaxed and chilled evening with great food and that’s exactly what we got. My only gripe is given the quality of dishes offered I would have expected a much better wine list both in terms of selection and price range – this list is borderline High Street Italian, in fact the bottle we had was what we ordinarily order at Carluccio’s which was fine but obviously not worth the £10 premium here. That said, I can certainly see us returning and with the current offer of 25% off the food bill, it is very good value.