Cipriani

Carina (28 November 2005)

In a restaurant where one is looking to pay at least £60 per head for a meal (excluding wine which is usually >£100), one may expect a luxury experience, but you are mistaken. On arrival we were quick to understand Robbie Williams was there, and soon spotted Simon Cowell. Let’s make it clear, on entering the restaurant everyone scans you to make sure you are not a celebrity, that what people seem to do there. It was chaos, there was no decent entrance area, no where to seat, no one to check your booking and eventually we had to ask a waiter to take our coats as no one had offered. It reminded me more of a cattle market. I would not liked to have been on the tables where people who had just come through the door were standing, with coats and bags with waiters having to squeeze past. I nearly got knocked over when some people decided they were more important than I and wanted to get to the bar, I did not hear an ‘excuse me’ which led me to think more about the type of person this place really attracts.

Eventually by miracle we were taken to our table. They had to remove a couple of places as a couple of people in our group had cancelled on us, leaving one member of our group without a bread dish. The service I have to say was sloppy, they stood there waiting for you to make your choice rather than run you through the menu, answer any questions and then come back when everyone is ready. The menu was in Italian and I found it hard to understand many of the dishes and what they were i.e. looks fancy but it not practical. The cutlery was laid out messily and they did not place a spoon for pasta dishes, I had to ask for it, along with parmesan for my minestrone. This is all before we mention the food. My minestrone soup was terrible. There was no tomato in it - which is the fundamental ingredient in the history of the traditional soup. I ordered the tagliatelli bolognaise, which was ok. The pasta was a bit too soft, and the meat not very tasty and not very juicy. It co