Mayfair, Italian Restaurant Guide

Angela Hartnett’s “superb” Mayfair flagship has taken Pip Lacey’s 2017 departure in its stride, and although its ratings dipped fractionally year-on-year, many reporters still feel Oscar Holgado’s “Italian-oriented cuisine must be amongst the best in town”. When it comes to the interior, the harsh view is that these “un-flashy” premises “on a quiet street” are “a little dull”, but the more common verdict is that its “restrained and elegant” style “oozes class and calm” and that “the warm welcome and graceful professional service gets any visit off to a flying start”.

The “stunning, consistently good Italian food” at this three-year-old Mayfair venture is accompanied by a wine list that reflects its ownership by a 700-year-old Florentine banking and wine dynasty. It is certainly expensive, but “I don’t fully understand why it’s not busier”.

“Ideal for a business lunch” – D&D London’s “large” and posh Italian (overseen by Francesco Mazzei) is widely seen as “a safe bet”, with its combination of “well-spread-out tables”, “rather formal service” and “a reliable, good quality of food”. The flipside of this assessment, however, is that it can also seem “very Mayfair but nothing special” and “overpriced for what it delivers”.

“The BEST secret in Mayfair”, this “bustling and buzzing traditional Italian with the most amazing pizzas” is just a few steps from the Connaught. “The oven-fired pizza is thin, crispy and excellent”.

“Brash but fun” Italian bar and brasserie in Mayfair where “the people watching is good”, and where “a window table, especially when the front is open in summer, is the best place to be”. Service can be “slightly dismissive” and “it’s not the greatest food, but it’s worth it for the buzz”, and particularly popular for business entertaining, notably as “a go-to venue for breakfast with clients”. Owned by Soho House, it has been rolled out as a global brand, but how well its expansion goes within London remains to be seen. The year-old venture in The Ned (see also) is a bit of a non-event (“a business Italian with City prices, but nothing exceptional in the food”); and it’s still early days for its ‘Pizza Bar’ in Soho, or its September 2018 opening in Redchurch Street, Shoreditch.

A few fans – all of whom seem to have put ‘Investment Banker’ in the occupation field of the survey form – feel the food is “first rate” in the Italian section of Russian restaurateur Arkady Novikov’s Eurotrashy Mayfair hang-out. Those not blessed with a career in the money factories are more apt to feel the experience is “appalling all-round”, with particular antipathy to the Sputnik-high prices – “bare-faced robbery!”.