“Removed from the tourist/shopper crowds of Oxford Street”, this large self-service food court strikes many reporters as a “decent” place for a quick meal, with a hint of Continental style thrown in; on the downside, it can seem “cavernous”, “brash” and “noisy”.
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Somehow the word ‘cafeteria’ doesn’t appear in the propaganda for this new Italian, er, cateteria. Well, we always thought that was the word for the sort of place where you take your t...
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Press Reviews (3)
Terry Durack (28th July 2008)
11/20
“[I]n spite of the sleek urban space with its various seating areas, floating fireplaces and split-level bar/lounges, Vapiano still feels like an Italian self-service cafeteria”, notes the critic, on his visit to this large new chain operation near Oxford Circus. “There are already 21 branches in Germany and 13 others across Europe and the US. None in Italy, I notice.” Perhaps that’s because, “[l]ike most dining concepts, Vapiano is more about the concept than the dining”.
AA Gill (7th July 2008)
2/5 stars
This new pizza, pasta and salad cafeteria, not far from Oxford Circus, turns out to be “the punch line of a very old Euro joke: this is the Germans improving Italian food”.
Anne McElvoy (20th June 2008)
4/5 stars
We’re not purists about how only restaurants critics – whoever they are – can do restaurant criticism. (We’re only too well aware of the old joke about how you might get the opera critic to do the restaurants, but never vice-versa.) But we do think that there’s a point in consistency, and we do find it rather frustrating the way the Standard’s reviewers keep changing from week to week. Do the awards made by London’s own newspaper of record reflect the reviewer or the restaurant? How is one to know?
Terry Durack (28th July 2008)
AA Gill (7th July 2008)
Anne McElvoy (20th June 2008)
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