In one of the most surprising restaurants failures of recent times, Pimlico’s Vivezza – 5 minutes walk from Sloane Square – has finally shut up shop.
Why surprising? Because Vivezza was an offshoot of Caraffini SW1, a veteran local success story; it originally seemed inconceivable that the place wouldn’t at least begin to measure up to its parent.
Indeed, in the early days (Spring 2007), Vivezza quickly did become popular… as a pizzeria. But they soon abandoned that formula, in a quest to go upmarket that never really worked. Based on the survey for the current edition of Harden’s – which concluded some two years after the launch – we noted that the restaurant “still doesn’t seem to have got its ‘offer’ quite right”.
Well, it shut up shop in October, and now a sign in the window says the old manager will be presiding over a new establishment to open shortly, whose culinary style is described as ‘English’.
English? Near Sloane Square? The times they really are a-changin’.
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