Cipriani - Davies Street

Sue and Jo - 17th March 2009 (20 March 2009)

I agree wholeheartedly with Lisa-Jayne, March 2009. It was pretty awful. My daughter wanted to take me somewhere special for my birthday and had been recommended to try Cipriani's. What a disappointment! We had much the same experience plus my daughter had to send her over-cooked steak back and was rather abruptly told to choose something else - no chance. So £91.00 for a couple of glasses of wine, 2 starters, 1 uninspiring main course - only half-eaten - we left. I certainly will not be recommending this restaurant.

Lisa-Jayne (1 March 2009)

Once of the worst meals I've had! I booked Cipriani for my husband’s birthday and having eaten at 'Harry's Bar' in Venice, was very much looking forward to its London counterpart. What a huge disappointment! We arrived to what only can be described as 'mayhem and madness'. We had a reservation but could barely make it through the front door as people were hanging around the bar area. After managing to fight our way to the reservations clerk, we where shown to our table without so much as a 'can I take your coats'. Within seconds a basket of bread was dumped on our table without the waiter even looking at us and the same for the menus. We ordered two beef carpaccio, one risotto primavera and one prawn risotto. The carpaccio was thick and covered in sauce and there was no offer of black pepper either. The risotto came within 30 seconds of the starters being cleared and it was the most awful risotto I've ever attempted to eat. There was no flavour whatsoever, not even seasoning. The rice was stodgy and over cooked and the vegetables, dark green and mushy. No colour, no al dente and obviously re-heated to the point of no return. We had to ask twice for our side salads which came as we were finishing our main course. Pudding wasn't much better and they forgot the coffee. Two bellinis, two starters, two main courses and one pudding came up to just over £170! With a 15% service charge, we left unimpressed and deflated. The table next to us of two adults and three teenagers spent the entire night getting up and down to ask for autographs and craning their necks over our table to see what celebrity was coming in next. At one point two of the kids even stood on the chairs to get a better look! It was a complete waste of time and money. Awful food, dire service, over priced and full of wannabes. If you don't care what you’re eating, money is no object and you’re celebrity obsessed then you'll love it. The lighting is dreadful, over-bright and bare light bulbs. It's noisy, pretentious and tacky. I heard from a good source that they seat approximately 120 and try and turn over 450 covers a night - that just says it all!

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