Mayfair, Italian Restaurant Guide

With its “understated” style, Angela Hartnett’s “elegant-but-relaxed” HQ manages to be one of the most personal of the “luxury” central London restaurants run by a big name, particularly one in Mayfair. Under head chef, Oscar Holgado, the accomplished modern cuisine “with an Italian twist” is “first class”, as is the wine list: incredibly consistent and, “if not cheap, not wildly expensive”. But it’s the “professional service with a smile” that sets the seal on the experience: “warm, welcoming, and less pushy than at some other top destinations”. “I’d just returned from Rome and was worried I’d be disappointed, but in fact it topped things off with a level of refined luxury I enjoyed very much”.

“Exemplary Italian ingredients cooked to perfection” and “served impeccably by delightful people” has earned a glowing reputation for the English-born former River Café chef, whose dining room off the foyer of the 1970s-built Intercontinental Hotel tower near Hyde Park Corner provides some of London’s best Italian cuisine. The “soulless setting” always attracts adverse comment, although it is “much improved” since its renovation a few years back.

This “formal” Mayfair Italian is “one of the best D&D London venues”, in a “beautiful, discreet and spacious setting”, with “expert service” and an “excellent kitchen” nowadays directed by ex-L’Anima chef Francesco Mazzei. All this comes at a price, of course, so while the formula might “work well for business-lunchers”, it can appear “expensive” to other diners.

“There’s always such a buzz at any time” at the original Cecconi’s, “tucked away behind the Royal Academy” – a “bustling” and “sophisticated” all-day Italian brasserie, whose “open, bright, pavement terrace” helps make it a big favourite amongst the St James’s set, be it “for an upmarket business breakfast”, or as “a treat during a day’s shopping in the West End”. When it comes to the cooking, it “can be a bit hit or miss, but is generally good”. Nowadays owned by Soho House, the brand is being rolled out, but its diverse family of spin-offs echo rather than replicate the original. There’s a City outlet in The Ned’s capacious food hall, which like Mayfair is “fun” and “an excellent place to do business” of a less formal kind. Beyond that, the food is “reliable” but pretty “basic at the price”, and the setting can be “the noisiest ever”. A Soho pizza spot carries the name, on which there’s little feedback. New in September 2018, the Shoreditch branch is “a very good addition as a real neighbourhood restaurant”, with a “nice bar”, and a generally “winning formula”, including for brunch.

“Brilliant pizzas” (alongside “typical trattoria dishes”) are served at this Mount Street Italian: “good for quick business lunches” and offering notably “great value in the heart of Mayfair”. It “could do with some investment in decor and ambience” though.

“Beautiful cooking and a stunning room” set the scene at this “quiet Mayfair Italian, perfect for business”. The heavyweight wine list reflects its ownership by a Tuscan banking and wine dynasty stretching back 30 generations. “Why isn’t this restaurant more popular?” – perhaps because: “it’s better if you’re not paying for yourself – it’s pricey!”.

Wreathed in the über-Eurotrashy environs and telephone-number prices of Russian restaurateur Arkady Novikov’s well-known, Mayfair glamour-magnet, it’s hard to form a totally balanced judgement on its Italian dining room. It’s fabulously “overpriced” of course, but most diners do actually feel the “classic Italian cuisine” is “proper” and “delicious”.

In a prime Mayfair location, this “noisy”, Russian-owned Italian wins acceptable ratings, but divides reporters on the subject of value: fans hail it as “wonderful all-round, with a variety of choice and well-presented dishes” (including “top pizza”), but to sceptics “although the food is decent, it’s majorly overpriced, in particular the wine list”.

2018 Review: “Maybe I’m just not the target audience, but that still doesn’t justify the bill!” – this eurotrashy Mayfair scene (forced to drop the [C]‘ipriani’ from its name in a lawsuit a few years ago) continues to live down to the low expectations formed by former surveys: “service is slow and condescending”, and “prices are outrageous for ordinary dishes” (think of a number, then double it).