Evening Standard
David Ellis liked much about the new venture from Charlie Mellor, ex-Laughing Heart, from its good looks and “Casablanca” atmospherics to the choice of 10 olive oils and a £3 cover charge that buys bread, oil, a little cheese and still or sparkling water.
But the cooking, over two meals, was “a mixed bag”. Dishes of artichoke, red prawns, salt cod and a mixed grill “made clear the chefs have chops: a Vegas pink slice of lamb rack couldn’t have been improved”. But one of two risottos was “chalky and undercooked”, a ragu was “grim”, and ricotta tortelli with tomato and butter “had the sting of a lazy Sunday supper about it”.
With a two-course meal costing around £85 a head and wine starting at £50 a bottle, the food should be better – “that’s the rub,” David said. “I’m not sure this is Mellor’s fault; it may simply be the cost of operating in Soho. Restaurants require chefs, but they also take lawyers, accountants and landlords. Someone from that craven trio is ruining it for the rest of us.”
David Ellis - 2026-03-08The Times
Camilla Long dilated at length on the unfortunate name of Charlie Mellor’s new place in the heart of old Soho, aided by her lunch guest, Rupert Everett, as they word-associated filthily from vibrators to butt plugs to remote-controlled electronic sex toys. (It turns out that “vibrato” references Charlie’s earlier career as an operatic tenor.)
As for the restaurant, “it screams: upmarket shagging” with its lush wooden counters, Italian chairs and terrazzo flooring, while “the food is great, no question. There’s a fresh, almost chalky hot pile of lightly battered mixed seafood. A crostino with roasted pepper and bagna cauda, plus the X Factor parsley. A plate of veal tartare is devoured: salty pink beads, littered with parmesan. A hearty little clod of salt cod is comforting.”
The only fault is a “wheedling, obsessive tide of neurotic service” in which every dish is over-explained and “honestly — every wine came with a 478-page Tinder profile”.
Camilla Long - 2026-03-15The Guardian
Grace Dent gave a standing ovation to this new venture from opera singer-turned-sommelier Charlie Mellor, declaring it was “already worth singing loudly” about and “has all the makings of an institution…. good restaurants are an antidote to this cruel, grubby world”.
Rating it a “more adult affair” than the Laughing Heart in Hackney, Mellor’s previous gaff, she said Vibrato was “timeless”, with “gorgeous” flooring, dark panelled walls hung with eclectic art, and “a sexy little sit-up cocktail bar tucked away at the back”.
The food was equally gorgeous, including grilled sole with Pantelleria capers, amaretti baked to order, and “a white risotto that’s as close to heaven as I’ll ever get on Earth” – all backed up by a wine list running to about 300 bottles.
Grace Dent - 2026-03-22The Times
Jay Rayner followed a possee of critics to this widely acclaimed new Italian, where he clearly sensed that the founder, former opera singer Charlie Mellor, had nailed it as soon as he walked in: “The room, with its half-wood veneer-panelled walls, white tablecloths and dribbling wax candles, manages to make me feel nostalgic for something I didn’t experience: the trattoria boom of 1950s Soho.”
The cooking, though, is clearly far superior to anything found in post-War London. Typical was tagliatelle with a ‘white courtyard ragu’ – originally anything found in the farmyard, in this case rabbit, pork belly and offal – a classic cucina povera dish, “the humble elevated beyond itself, only here re-engineered for the not-so-humble who can afford £29 for a bowl of hand-made pasta”.
The clincher for Jay, who moonlights as leader of a jazz sextet, was the arrival of a pianist who serenaded the room with ‘Willow Weep For Me’, a standard from 1932 – “at which point I am willing to declare my love; beautifully executed Italian food, an impressive wine list and a piano player who knows what he’s doing. What more do you want?”
Jay Rayner - 2026-04-05
