Jamie's Italian Nicosia — Restaurant in Nicosia

Food was ok but can't say the same about the stuff. The guy serving us has no idea what discretion means. He kept standing over the table in an intrusive manner to ask things. He wouldn't leave unless I gave him attention! For God's sake man! If we are ready I will call you.

I ordered the veal. The manager of the restaurant informed me it was "fried". Very kind of her, because then I wanted to know how it is fried. She kept saying cooking oil but then again I told her that there are many cooking oils from different vegetables and I wanted to know which one so I could take an informed decision. She seemed unwilling to answer and was borderline rude and only when I asked the waiter standing behind her, she felt annoyed and told me "I am the manager, I know better". Yet she kept not answering my question. Finally she decided to go to the kitchen and ask and then came back with an answer "it's vegetable oil". At that point I felt we could not communicate anymore and just changed my order.

We ordered wine by the glass. As indicated in the menu, by the glass meant 187 ml of wine. This is roughly half a glass of wine - the big glass type (the one if you fill up it can take up to 350 ml). . They brought us a rather small/average glass which was hardly half full. When I told them, in so many words "this is not 187 ml", the two waiters just stayed silent. No answer. Not even offered to bring the bottle and add some more wine. I mean, I do not agree with what people say that "the client is always right". But they could atleast try to provide an explanation. PS. Just think of this. 187 ml of wine is 1/4 of a bottle of wine. A small glass half full surely doesn't qualify as 1/4 of bottle.

I finally ordered a steak and my partner ordered chicken. Latter was good, but my rib eye was one of the smallest portions I ever had and average quality (although correctly cooked).

All and all, I need to reassess whether I will get back to this place or not. The food is not bad at all, but some things are overpriced if you think the quality...

I have visited this place twice and cannot question the quality of the food on offer. The mushroom risotto is sensational. However, the service on our recent visit was slightly strange to say the least. Upon arrival we elected to sit outside where there were numerous tables available. Initially we were seated at a small table that had the most uncomfortable chairs I can remember. We asked to move which prompted numerous waiters/esses getting involved. Eventually we were moved to another very small table despite there being numerous larger tables available.

Knowing how big the plates are we anticipated that there would not be enough space on the table so started to move glasses and bottles onto the nearby window ledge.

When the food arrived there still was not really enough room on the table, so the waiter brought a fabric top stool (presumably that people had been sitting on) to place other items on. Very strange.

The food was delicious, make no mistake. After eating we noted that there was a strange smell on one of the napkins. We checked the other napkin on the table which was fine. The smell was clearly excrement and most likely human. We then noted that a small pellet of what looked like a lentil was on the table under where the plates had been. We were obviously slightly surprised to realise that this is where the smell was coming from.

We discussed this with the manager who disappeared to investigate. Upon returning he informed us that he had searched the kitchen and did not know where it had come from. He agreed with our thoughts that it did look and smell like excrement.

We requested the bill. We were very surprised that there was no offer of compensation in the form of a reduction or voucher.

As mentioned above, the food is of excellent quality, but the quality is clearly lacking in its staff. I am sure that in most restaurants around the world that in similar circumstances there would have been a much greater effort to explain, appease or compensate for the incident that has left a rather sour taste...

I only gave it one star because there was nothing lower. I am a BIG fan of Jamie Oliver. I watch all of his tv shows, own most of his books. But the restaurant in Nicosia is a disaster. Firstly, while taking our order, the waiter informed us that the kids menu came with fresh fruit juice, but I had, to remind them a couple of times to bring the juice over, which finally happened at the end of our meal. And when it did come, it came in this HUMONGOUS glass that was impossible for my son to even reach, let alone hold in his hand and drink. The chicken we ordered as a kids menu was so dry that, although my son absolutely loves chicken he didn't eat it. When I tried to taste it to see what was wrong, I couldn't even bite into it. Another fiasco was, about half way through our meal, WHILE WE WERE STILL EATING, a waiter came with a broom to sweep up the couple of pieces of food my son had dropped onto the floor. In other words implying that we were making too much mess and were not welcome there. When I asked the waiter if he had to do that now he replied he was told to do so... definitely NEVER going there again!!! As a side note, the food I cook at home with the help of Jamie Oliver's recipe books taste WAYY nicer, no need to...