Mayfair, Italian Restaurant Guide

“Delicious pizza and pasta” at remarkably sensible prices for the area draw a steady crowd to this recently refurbished family-run Italian (est. 1953) on a Mayfair corner site.

2024 Review: “You can’t fail to impress with the food, vibes and service”, according to fans of this Moscow-based chain, whose Mayfair offshoot is not short on glam. It provoked less feedback this year, though, in our annual diners’ poll (too limited for a rating), but expansion is coming in the second half of 2023 with a new branch, below the Strand Palace Hotel.

“Excellent on every count!” – Angela Hartnett’s elegant Mayfair HQ is strong on “understated luxury” and yet is a case of “unfussy fine dining” without the striving and pretentiousness that can go with this level of cuisine. Under chef George Ormond (in place since autumn 2023), the menu is “inventive but unmistakably Italian” and his “refined” dishes are “beautifully prepared” and all delivered by the “professional yet unfussy” staff. Perhaps because of its personable approach, it’s seldom recommended by expense accounters; certainly, when it comes to the bill, it’s viewed as being relatively affordable: “not cheap obviously, but quite good value for this class of place”.

2022 Review: Navigate through the pan-Asian section of Russian restaurateur Arkady Novikov’s ultra-luxe Mayfair scene, and you find an elegant if slightly incongruous classic Italian dining room at the rear. Key themes that emerge in survey feedback: it’s notably “overpriced”; the food’s not bad; and for a business encounter, it’s worth considering.

“The energy is fab” at this “busy and buzzy” Mayfair haunt, whose large central bar, pavement tables and green leather stools import a sense of chic Italian glamour to this corner-site a minute from Bond Street. The Italian food (cicchetti, risotti, pastas, traditional mains) doesn’t detract from the occasion, but is “highly priced for average quality”, albeit “all decent”; and “service can suffer when it’s over-busy”. Nowadays part of Soho House, its branches spread from Berlin to West Hollywood, via the City of London (in The Ned). Comments on the latter aren’t terrible, but less enthusiastic than those for W1.

D&D London’s well-tailored venue on Savile Row “remains a firm favourite” to fans, who applaud its “beautifully cooked” Italian cuisine and elegant standards generally. But high-profile chef Francesco Mazzei left a couple of years ago and our current annual diners’ poll inspired limited and mixed feedback: chief concerns are incidents of “mediocre food” and the fact that it’s “not cheap”.

2023 Review: Few restaurants can boast the heritage of this Mayfair two-year-old: the first ever spin-off from a Milanese original of over 120 years’ standing. It’s still a case of promise unfulfilled, though, with reports that are very up and down, despite a general acknowledgement of “friendly service and a pleasant interior” (the latter very classical in style). “Eye-watering prices” are key to the ambivalence felt by diners, despite some dishes that are “clearly wonderful” – if you give it a go, perhaps try the set lunch, which is “exceptional value by comparison to other options here”.

2024 Review: “Request the elegant first-floor dining room” when you dine at this large Italian in Mayfair, imported from LA (there’s also a ground-floor bar). It opened in late 2022 and reports are still not as numerous as we’d like; but early diners are wowed by the classily ritzy decor and high-quality cuisine. There’s also a cigar lounge and terrace.