Amalfi Ristorante - Argyll Street — Restaurant in London

The Amalfi restaurant is an Italian restaurant in the heart of the London shopping area, less than 100 metres from Oxford Circus on Argyll Street. It is just across the road from the entrance to the grand London Palladium theatre.

We were there just before 5pm for dinner before a show, as were many of the other diners at that time. Within the following hour both floors of the restaurant were full, booking a table was essential.

The menu was classic Italian: starters, pastas, main courses and, of course, a good choice of Pizzas and a batch of tempting desserts. A good selection of diverse non-alcoholic drinks, as is fashionable nowadays, and a good selection of wines and beers.

Service was a bit slow and the small number of serving staff appeared to have rather minimal English. But the familiar dishes on the menu were well known, so ordering and receiving food and drinks was not a problem: the requirement was a little patience.

So what's the problem? There are two issues.

Firstly, If you have a specific dietary problem there is a list of what every dish on the menu contains, set out in now familiar columns referring to a large number of conceivable dietary problems. The list is only available online by downloading and viewing on your phone. Scanning the dozens of columns while searching up and down for menu items you might or might not choose to eat is far from easy. There is no printed version available and there is no help from the staff, even if you can attract someone to talk to

I am old and, like a significant percentage of those of my age, I am lactose intolerant. Pizzas are out - as are all cheese dishes - I of course knew that before choosing the restaurant. As it turned out there was only one item I could have as a main course: a burger and fries. The other possible item was not available, a sea bass.

The wines by the glass were expensive but it's central London and that is to be expected. The choice was the usual South American Malbecs and Merlots, and Australian Shiraz etc: the standard supermarket plonk costing more for a glass than they paid for a bottle. But where were the Italian wines?

Which brings me to my second gripe: the bill. It is of course "London prices", but for what we paid (£40 per person) there are many fine restaurants (some Italian) around the area, albeit less handy for that theatre.

Despite paying a lot for a rather ordinary burger, the saving grace was a superb dessert. I smiled...

The restaurant is aesthetically pleasing, however, from the minute we sat down, we were approached simultaneously by three different members of staff asking for our order.

We were asked for our drinks order and in noticing a QR code to order to table, we proceeded to order some starters e.g. bread selection, prawns and the bruschetta. The staff member returned after some time to ask us for the food order, to which we explained we thought we had to use the QR code placed on the table. To this, they responded by throwing their hands in the air and slapping them on their hips - saying how difficult this made things.

Once the staff member calmed down, food started to arrive, the focaccia was underproofed, resulting in some doughy texture running along the bottom of the bread (see picture).

Finally, we got around to paying, whereby the staff member albeit pleasant (now) - probably to do with the 'optional service charge' then went onto writing their name onto the receipt and insisted I complete a google review in the restaurant. I explained I will leave a review, however, not now, we would like to sort the bill (each paying approximately £45pp).

The staff member, who I wont name, continued to press the review and held the contactless payment machine, indicating first the review. So I opened the google review, to which she then, uninvited started swiping, telling me to focus on the stars and to say something about her (assuming they meant positive things). I found the meal from start to finish, unpleasant, food quality if ok, but take advantage of their location (do look for alternatives) and to finish, with an intrusive member of staff, uninvitedly scrolling on my mobile whilst stood over me. I was most displeased with this conduct.

I would not return...

Myself and my partner had the unfortunate experience of eating here yesterday, along with her family who were visiting from abroad - to celebrate my partner's birthday. Despite being a well reviewed establishment, I would not recommend this to anyone - in fact, I would actively advise against.

The risotto was a particular highlight (or as it turns out, low-light), as it tasted poor, was undercooked and the waiter argued that it was the "first complaint of the day". Whether this is true or not, the customer service was terrible.

The pizza was good - and is the only dish any of the party were happy with. However, you can get far (and I really do mean far) better at Franco Manca's - or probably any other Italian place you can find.

This was topped off with a 25% discount (which was a somewhat fair gesture) on the basis that we chose to pay the "optional service charge" which the would agree to take off should we pay full price.

If you are looking for undercooked risotto, "gluten free" options which will make you ill due to (clearly severe) cross contamination (which did happen to one of our party despite the waiter's assurances), argumentative staff and generally poor Italian food, then Amalfi is for you! All in all, very poor food, very poor customer service and generally a terrible evening to be had here - as you can see I cannot recommend it enough (recommending going elsewhere obviously). Needless to say, we...