Cicchetti Piccadilly - London Piccadilly — Restaurant in London

Highly recommend to book a reservation if you wish to have a table otherwise you can pop in without booking and get a seat by the bar board. I enjoyed my staying here, but there weren’t only highs during the service but also a few lows, that’s why I am going to score my experience here a 3 starts out of 5.

Highs:

-Dishes where delicious, especially if you have never tried truffle is a must here, you can find it as topping in a large variety of dishes from the starters to the main pasta dishes.

-staff is quite friendly and professional, but if you understand Italian you might as well hear things that wouldn’t really suit the luxurious environment that should be... however, let it go has Italian humour ( I am Italian myself, don’t think I am discriminating or else please 😁)

-location is a plus for sure, right in the heart of London

restaurant layout is okay, a big point goes to that gorgeous marble wall at the bar and at the display in the window, very inviting.

Lows: -Regarding the inside layout, the tables are very close to each other, so it might resulting like you don’t have much of privacy while your talking with the people at your table. But that’s just my guessing because I sat at the bar seats.

-we ordered 2 main dishes, pasta basically, mine arrived first, I was happy about it, but as for good manner I wanted to wait for my partner to have his dish to start eating together... I sadly have had to eat mine cold because we waited over 10 actual minutes before his one would arrived.

-PIZZA, yes CAPITAL PIZZA, maybe because as Italian I have a precise standard of what kind of pizza I do like.. anyway I must say all pizzas in the menu are very inviting, but my main disappointment goes to the size; I was expecting a regular size pizza to find out that pizzas should be removed from their own category on the menù and be moved to the starter section instead, exquisite pizza but really.... I must have given a bite and it was already over 😪 It should be specified that they are mini pizza I wouldn’t be so sad now and if I didn’t order more than pizza I would have definitely ordered one or two more.

Dessert, I am sure it doesn’t happen all the time, but I ordered my millefoglie to find out 15 minutes later that the order wasn’t taken. Reordered and got...

My wife had this place on her must visit list in London. It’s a bit of a tourist attraction and has been around for a while so doesn’t generate as much social media excitement. We had no problem making a phone reservation for Sunday night for 2 on the day before. We arrived a little early and were seated right away. From the outside, the front window showcases an old-style display of Italian themed ingredients that belies the beautiful, bright, modern looking interior.

One thing that struck me was how genuinely happy and friendly everyone seemed. They didn’t give off the “Your new best friend” vibe as much as “so pleased you’re here!” Service was attentive and a few times the manager walked around and helped with the service. It’s kind of Tapas—style so they recommend 5-6 plates for 2. We started with the Insalata Caprese, aka tomato and mozzarella and basil but with a twist - avocado slices followed by Osso Buco - decadent with chunks of fall apart meat in a rich tomato based sauce over a bed of risotto. Pugliese pizza (with Parma, burrito, arugula, and black truffle) had to be tried since they had their own wood fired oven. It was bigger than I expected and I think intentionally not round. There were what looked like truffle slices on top but they didn’t exude that rich truffle smell or taste. Then came the Tagliatelle Bolognese - wide ribboned pasta with a hearty meat sauce. And lastly, the Spaghetti Carbonara (which I never order in a restaurant) - in that simple creamy fatty consistency, arrived. The pasta deserves additional description. When you go to an Italian restaurant, you expect the pasta to be the perfect consistency of al dente. I’m pleased to say that Cicchetti delivered. The food was classic and very well executed. It’s definitely from an older era but I would say that it has aged very well and still delivers an excellent experience. PS - the drinks along the top of the wall above the bar area are just decorative and not real drinks - like the “Italian martini” - not a thing there. And in their striving to please just made one up for us (kind of weird tasting to be honest) and it wasn’t until we saw the bill that they told us that their computer didn’t have that drink in their system so they just put an equivalent cocktail to ring...

Boring and Bland… I went in with a friend and we order quite a few dishes but they were all very disappointing… I used to love going to Fumo many years ago but I noticed the quality took a nosedive two or three years ago and haven’t been back since but thought I should give Cicchetti a chance but yeah it failed to live up to the expectations. To be fair, that would be my last time ever to visit its chain of restaurants Here’s what we ordered (I stopped taking pics as they didn’t look amazing Tbf) Beef carpaccio Rather bland. It wasn’t bad per se but it just tasted bland (especially the cheese) Duck salad One of the bright spots really. Good combination with rockets and olive oil. Simple dish but was done okay Sea bass in olive oil That was another better dish. The fish tasted fresh and often you don’t need too much trick if the produce is fresh as was the case here Veal Milanese Utter abomination. It looked really dry and overcooked. Not much flavour in it. Bit rubbery Ravioli lobster It wasn’t bad but it wasn’t great either. It was made with lobster bisque and some cherry tomato as you would expect. Not bad but it just lacked something to really wow my mouth. The fillings were just prawns. I couldn’t taste any lobster or crayfish. Pocerino risotto This was a huge disappointment. First of all, it didn’t look at all appealing. It was just some mushy rice placed on a tiny plate. There was a lack of colour and it tasted really bland and boring. After these, we weren’t full and decided to add an order of medium-rare steak. It arrived medium-well done to well done. I had to return it. The waiter asked if we wanted a new one and I just told them not to bother. I cannot forgive restaurants for not able to fry a steak as instructed. That’s the simplest task.

At the end, the manager kindly offered to take off other items that I wasn’t happy about to which I refused. I told them not to bother as they were all edible (besides the steak) but they didn’t meet my lofty expectations.

It cost the two of us 75 quid per person (we ordered some drinks as well). Food was mediocre but edible. At this price, however, there were many better...