Ave Mario — Restaurant in London

After seeing all the wonderful pictures on Google Maps and reading enthusiastic reviews, I was really looking forward to Ave Mario. But from the time I walked in the door with my wife and daughter, something wasn't quite right. Bottom line up front, this place seems to be coasting on its reputation and its Covent Garden location. The food is like something you get at a restaurant chain like Olive Garden in the US (actually, it's worse), and the kitchen probably lacks a single professional chef--or if it does, he must have graduated at the bottom of his class.

The interior certainly wasn't as impressive as in the photos. The restaurant was packed, but we arrived on time for our reservation and were quickly seated. We were taken down some stairs and the hostess tried to seat us at a rather dark table, but my wife requested a better one, and we were accommodated. In the review that follows, please note that there were no problems with the service. Sitting down, the first thing I noticed was that all the plates on the table were chipped. When they brought us some water, the water pitcher was also chipped! Seriously? It seemed like a bad omen. Looking around us, it appears this is clearly a date place. Lots of young couples and everyone seeming to be having a fine time. I started by ordering a Kenough Mojito. For London, it wasn't overpriced. It was pretty tasty. My daughter ordered the Coco Loco Virgin Cocktail, which was better, but why is it served in a cup with breasts on it? In any case, we shared a Frittatina Di Lasagna as an appetizer. It was pretty good, especially if you like cheese. So far, so good. Then our main dishes arrived. My wife's Branzino in Guazzetto consisted of several pieces of filleted fish, which were pretty bland tasting, as was the sauce. The fish wasn't particularly fresh tasting either. The only really good part of the dish were the tomatoes. My daughter had the Melanzine al Forno con Stracciatella e Datterini (baked aubergine, i.e., eggplant). It was the best of our three dishes. It had much more flavor than the fish and was accompanied by a dish of charred romaine lettuce, which was quite good. I ordered the Sex - Bombette (I believe; a day later, it doesn't seem to be on the menu any more!) It was a very (VERY VERY) thin cut of pork wrapped around cooked spinach, with bacon wrapped around the pork. It was way too salty. Certainly with bacon, one expects salt, but this had even more than that. The first few bites were interesting, but after that the salty taste and the chewy bacon (and overwhelming bacon flavor, since the pork fillet was almost non-existent) made finishing the dish not a pleasure. It came with some crispy potatoes (not enough of them) which were good. It was also accompanied by a considerable amount of salad (romaine again) which looked like some unskilled kitchen help chopped it up and plopped it on the plate. Not appetizing to look at or eat. When a staff member asked me if I enjoyed the meal, I told him my feelings about the dish, and he at least gave me a 50% refund on it. I suppose there must be better things on the menu, perhaps the pizzas. But I certainly won't be back to try them. I have eaten at several Italian restaurants in London and they have all been quite good or even exceptional (Norma). This place needs a...

I’d wanted to try one of the Big Mama restaurants for a while, but it’s pretty hard to get a table! I wanted to go to Jacuzzi but despite going online a month in advance, the reservation system said there were no tables. Not sure what happened there, so I opted for Ave Mario instead. The booking was for my birthday and we had a table for four. We walked in expecting to sit in one of the round red booths in the insta-famous dining room. I didn’t know there were other dining rooms - turns out there are two more. One behind the first and down a couple of steps - not as pretty and bold in terms of decor, but still nice and has all the Italian vibes. Then the third is down lots of stairs, next to the toilets and is very dark and plain with white plastic looking tables and chairs and no vibes. This is the table I was taken to for my birthday! Fair enough it’s probably lots of people’s birthdays, but I was really disappointed to get what seemed to be one of the worst tables. Luckily, the member of staff who seated us agreed to check if we could sit in the main dining area, although he informed me the only table was next to the door and would be cold… He came back after a minute or two and moved us back upstairs. The table by the door was fine - it was a bit quieter and wasn’t actually cold as there are double doors before the outer door. So lesson learned - maybe stipulate you’d like main dining room in your reservation if you can!

The huge house cocktails were good and really fun. I thought the starter options were a little limited and I’d like to have seen more mixed plate type options - ie rather than just a plate of prosciutto, to be able to have a bit of mixed charcuterie etc, but that’s just personal preference. Mains were good too - we had the carbonara in the cheese wheel. Sadly you do not get to eat it from the wheel 😉 but it was tasty and filling.

It was my birthday and the restaurant put a candle in one of the desserts. Somehow they put the candle in the wrong one, so I had to blow on my friend’s tiramisu, which was a bit awkward for her. They sang happy birthday as they served the desserts, but failed to give any of us a spoon before leaving the table. So again, a bit awkward. The lemon meringue was huge and delicious. I was nowhere close to even finishing half to recommended it’s shared!

The round tables are a little cramped for four people once you have the huge menus in front of you. And I loved the pretty plates but it was a shame nearly all of them had large chips.

All in all the food was nice but not spectacular and the service was mediocre. The insta hype for this restaurant set my expectations high, but in reality it’s style over substance. I wouldn’t go back here again, but I’m still keen to try the sister restaurants and will likely go to Jacuzzi when I can...

This is the second time I have been to Ave Mario, the first time was excellent, but unfortunately this time, the service really let the experience down.

I asked to taste a 1 of 2 rosé wines from the menu that I was recommended by our waitress, which is a pretty standard request. The waitress seemed surprised and said she’d need to check with the manager. After waiting around 5–10 minutes (while she was on her phone), we had to politely remind her. We could hear her speak to the manager, who said that tastings were fine for wines sold by the glass, which applied to the second rosé she had recommended.

When she came back she asked if we wanted a glass or bottle, to which I politely explained again that I just wanted to try it but she told us we couldn’t. I showed her on the menu that it was sold by the glass. She was still arguing back about it so my friend took my phone (that the menu was on) and explained again. She then behind my friends back but right in front of me, my other friend and another waitress made the most dismissive, rude facial expression - huffed and puffed and stormed off.

I was so taken a back by it I locked eyes with the other waitress and said wow she is rude. This waitress looked shocked too and immediately apologised. I asked to speak to the manager to calmly explain what happened. While I was talking, the rude waitress came back over, interrupted, raised her voice again, and denied the whole thing — even though my friend and another waitress saw everything. I firmly said “I do not want to speak to you anymore”. The manager just called it a “miscommunication,” but I said, maybe — but either way, she was rude. We didn’t have any other contact with that waitress.

From then on the experience was great. The food, the vibe and the new waitress. I feel sad to give an average review but I can’t give it any higher given the service we received at the beginning. If it wasn’t for dining with friends I hadn’t seen in a long time then I would’ve left. We were given a limoncello each which what felt like a peace offering after our meal (but actually every table got one)

I had being told something was a miscommunication when in fact - you are just rude.

ALSO - we were instructed to pay via an app & a QR code. We did and it was easy. I got an email with the receipt that I looked at this morning - we were CHARGED £12 for the limoncellos we didn’t order (I think we got one free as it says £4 discount on the receipt - but still how did we have this experience and still get charged more) and a £1.59 app fee is added to your transaction. Ask for the card terminal and do it that way. We paid the service charge as I didn’t want to penalise the chefs or the...