Bancone Golden Square — Restaurant in London

Basically - don’t go if you have any difficult dietary requirements.

This would be a perfectly lovely restaurant if the owners didn’t have an actual policy of refusing any requests to make tiny, easy changes to dishes because they don’t want the pics to go online. It’s a really silly policy; I had to have quite a long discussion with the waitress, then again with the manager, before they would agree to simply remove some items from the plate. I had to go into extensive detail about my medical condition to persuade them! When they did serve the food, the server stressed “please don’t take any pictures; they will skin us alive” (“they” presumably being head office/chefs). It’s obviously an exaggeration and I appreciate that the staff did eventually agree to accommodate my (incredibly simple) requests, but it’s a pretty shameful policy for the head office/chefs to make front of house staff enforce. Their menu even says “tell us if you have any dietary requirements” but the first response I got when I said “can I have the burrata please but without the tomato, because I can’t eat that” was a straight “no”, followed by silence.

I’ve had complex dietary restrictions for three years and eaten at a lot of restaurants in that time, and I have never experienced anything from staff/managers/chefs other than a genuine desire to accommodate my condition to ensure I can have a nice experience in their restaurant - eg. see my other very positive review of Manteca. (And I really do my research before I book any restaurant so I can be sure any changes I request will be really simple - I literally only ever ask restaurants to not include certain items on the plate, I never ask for substitutions, and I accept it completely if my request is impossible because of the way the food is prepared). But in this case, it was made very clear that the only problem was that the chefs/head office simply don’t think customers should be allowed to customise their plate, even if for medical reasons - and they’re far more concerned about the pictures that go online than the experience people have in their restaurant. It seems that if the front of house staff agree to customer requests, they’re essentially putting their neck on the line.

The whole thing was a shame because me and my four friends (all of whom have worked as wait staff or chefs) were so gobsmacked by their reaction that it dominated our conversation for half the evening. Sucks when we were trying to celebrate a friend’s birthday! Big thanks to Alexandra, the lovely server we spoke to at the end of the night - she was honestly the first staff member all night to express any real empathy with my situation and apologise, which really helped. Even when we left, the manager followed us outside to basically ask us not to leave a bad review. We had a five minute conversation where I explained that I appreciated it wasn’t his personal decision, and was grateful that he ultimately agreed to accommodate me, but I just thought it was a cruel policy for people with medical conditions and other potential customers should know about it (which he eventually acknowledged). I promised to leave a fair review, which I hope this is.

The food was perfectly nice, the atmosphere perfectly nice, but honestly me and all four friends will never go back to Bancone. There are just plenty of other restaurants in London that actually want customers to have a nice time, and won’t force me to explain exactly how their food would hospitalise me before they agree to take something off the plate.

Genuinely hope the owners get over themselves and change this dumb...

My family had chosen your establishment for an Italian meal. While the quality of the food was genuinely excellent – a sentiment we acted upon by ordering multiple rounds – our experience was severely marred by the unacceptable and seemingly discriminatory behaviour of one particular female staff member.

We are a party of four adults and were so impressed with the initial four pasta dishes we ordered that we subsequently ordered two more, and then another one, in addition to desserts. We were eating efficiently.

Despite our clear enjoyment and continued ordering, the issues began when we had only been seated for approximately 90 minutes. At this point, after our additional pasta and dessert arrived (which we intended to eat after two members of our party, who had briefly stepped out, returned), the aforementioned female staff member asked if we needed anything else. We replied "no." To our shock, she then attempted to clear away these freshly served, untouched dishes. This was perplexing and deeply uncomfortable, especially as we were well within any reasonable dining time and long before the two-hour limit she later arbitrarily mentioned.

Following this, instead of allowing us to enjoy our meal, this staff member appeared to escalate the pressure. It seemed she dispatched two other colleagues to repeatedly approach our table to ask if we needed anything else. This happened multiple times in quick succession, even after we had clearly stated we were fine. She herself also continued to ask if we needed anything, making it a total of five such interruptions, and repeatedly tried to clear plates prematurely. This created an atmosphere of being rushed and watched, despite many empty tables being visible in the restaurant.

When we finally questioned this staff member about the typical seating time she had started to enforce through her actions, she informed us it was two hours – a policy never communicated to us. Her subsequent remark, upon learning we had spent around £150, was, "How long do you expect to sit?" This was not only rude but also deeply offensive. We have never encountered such inhospitable service in London, where we are accustomed to enjoying our meals without being interrogated about our spending or rushed out.

The behaviour of this staff member – the premature attempts to clear untouched food (when we had only been seated for ~90 minutes), the dispatching of colleagues to repeatedly interrupt us, the constant pressure, and the final offensive comment – made us feel unwelcome, targeted, and frankly, discriminated against as people of East Asian appearance.

While we genuinely commend your chefs, this experience has ensured we will not be recommending your restaurant to friends or acquaintances. The actions of this one employee have overshadowed any culinary positives.

We urge you to investigate this matter thoroughly and take appropriate action, including staff training on professional conduct and customer service, to prevent other patrons from enduring such a distressing experience. We expect a formal response to...

A nicely designed restaurant – I was given a counter seat looking out onto the street, which was lovely with all the windows open, making it airy and perfect for people-watching. The music didn’t quite fit the vibe and, in my opinion, cheapened it slightly.

The staff were great – super friendly, personable, and confident in explaining the menu and offering recommendations when needed.

To start, I had the pasta fritta with lemon, togarashi, and Ragstone goat’s cheese. It was a very interesting dish and not what I expected, but I was still happy with it. Presented as one sheet of pasta fried until crispy, topped with a lemon sauce, goat’s cheese, and Japanese chili seasoning, it was unusual but tasty.

I also tried the endive with carrot, Calabrian chili yogurt, and pecorino, presented as a salad. Another interesting dish, though probably my least favourite of the meal. I wasn’t expecting the carrot to be a sauce – similar to the lemon on the pasta fritta – and I think these could have been described more clearly on the menu. I’d recommend asking your server how a dish is prepared if you’re unsure about an ingredient.

For my main, I had the silk handkerchiefs with walnut butter and confit egg yolk – a really fantastic dish. The pasta was cooked perfectly and delicious even on its own, and the sauce was silky with a wonderful mix of nutty flavours from the walnut, butter, and egg yolk. This might be sacrilegious to Italians, but I personally would have loved a touch of lemon or orange zest to brighten the dish and cut through the richness. That said, it was pretty perfect as it was.

I finished with a macchiato and the fior di latte with Omima Romana oil, rosemary, and sea salt. The dessert was a beautiful finish – all the ingredients complemented each other perfectly – though the rosemary was far too subtle, almost unrecognisable, and I would have liked more. It also had a crumb layer underneath for texture, which was lovely but not mentioned on the menu. The macchiato, unfortunately, was disappointing – very bitter and dark, even by Italian coffee standards.

My meal came to £45, which I was happy to pay for this quality. Overall, a fantastic dining experience – excellent food, great staff, and very fair pricing for the quality. My only issues were that the coffee wasn’t to my taste and the menu descriptions didn’t always set clear expectations, putting extra pressure on already busy servers to explain dishes. I understand the appeal of keeping menus short and sweet, but I’d personally prefer more accurate...