Evening Standard
David Ellis suffered a “night of glitz, glamour and ennui” at the latest branch of a New York-based global group which is the headline restaurant of the swanky new Mayfair hotel that he informed us is cruelly nicknamed the “Chancery Premier Inn”.
With its celeb clientele (“Victoria Beckham with her brood sat on the next table”) and low-lit interior of red leather and velvet, there is “no denying its glamour. It feels like dining in an outtake from the Rat Pack’s Ocean’s Eleven”. But service is “patchy”, as is the staggeringly expensive Italian-American food – a plate of lasagne costs £98, while the famous spicy rigatoni vodka comes with “a tomato sauce I think I last had with spaghetti hoops… But no one is coming here for the kitchen, which is best for everyone involved.”
David made clear he won’t be coming back. “In the end you remember you’re in a chain, Pizza Express with the lights down. I longed to be dining at the Dover instead, which is half the price but twice as good.”
David Ellis - 2025-09-21The Times
Charlotte Ivers also dined at the week’s big opening, on the same night as David (see above) – either that or the designer fka Posh Spice is already a regular.
“We are sitting at the bar when Victoria Beckham walks in. I immediately choke on my cocktail, tequila cascading down my shirt. I don’t know why I’m so surprised. A couple of evenings ago, Leonardo DiCaprio was here. Kate Moss too.”
But if Charlotte seemed more excited than David by Carbone’s celeb count, she was more brutal than he was about its cooking: a chicken dish was simply “inedible”.
Charlotte Ivers - 2025-09-21
