Cipriani London — Restaurant in London

I was very excited to try the famous Cipriani restaurant. My mother was a regular customer a few years ago and she spoke so very highly of it, remembering both the food and staff in such detail and had even met the owner who sounded very kind and held his establishment at a very high standard.

The food was average and she was shocked to see the difference in service between now and then and I was extremely disappointed with the behaviour of the main waiter on our table. We were asked to wait 20' for our table, even though our friend had mobility issues and they were aware of that.

The atmosphere was quite loud so when the waiter was taking our order he had to lean in to hear what we were saying which is perfectly fine. When I was ordering, I was sure about the appetiser but thought it right to first ask a question about the risotto of the day two and the other main I was interested in and one of the two happened to be the same question a different person of our table asked. He replied "the lady has already asked me the same question" and I simply replied "Oh, sorry, I couldn't listen to your conversation", even though I had no obligation to say so or do so. When he explained, I told him the dish I had decided on and then moved on to order my appetiser to which he asked "is this your main course?", I replied "No, I would like this as my appetiser please". To which he replied "You always start from top to bottom, NEVER from bottom up", meaning you never start from your main and then order your appetiser. This was said in such a dismissive and aggressive way that I was actually left in shock but he swiftly moved on to the next person and I thought it best to leave it at that.

My friend was looking at the wine list and asked if they have a specific whiskey, to which he replied "No, we don't have that. If you want to see the whiskies you need the whiskey menu, not the wine menu", after which he disappeared and never brought it - we had to ask a different waitress, who kindly informed us that they do actually have it and brought us the whiskey list herself.

When everyone's appetiser came, he brought me the wrong one. I politely told him that this was not the prawn dish I ordered, to which he replied "this is the one you showed me" in such a rude tone and raised voice. This is impossible, by the way, because the dish I showed him was 3 dishes down from the one he brought me on the menu.

The cherry on top was the fact that he did not remove it from the bill and I had to ask for it to be removed.

This is absolutely unacceptable for such an expensive restaurant that has been around for this long. I truly will never understand what gives such people the right to behave in this way and how management allows this. This is the only reason why no one from our table will be visiting again and it really is a shame given its long history.

PS: We found out this morning that in the takeaway bag we asked for, they put leftovers from a different table. This establishment really is the epitome...

I had been dining at Cipriani / C London restaurant more or less since it first opened, which must be more than twenty years ago.

I booked a table for my wife's birthday with our two children, aged 13 and 15 and they refused us entry because my 13 year old was wearing shorts. These were smart, tailored shorts and it was one of the hottest days of the year - 33 degrees Celsius in London.

You can imagine the extreme disappointment of my wife on her birthday when her chosen restaurant refused her family entry.

We could have chosen to eat anywhere in London, spending our hard earned money at any one of thousands of restaurants, yet we had chosen you.

Not only did you let us down, you have lost a customer for life. As a well-connected, high-net-worth individual, I will make sure that I make every effort to convey my experience to others, to ensure that you lose future lifetime revenue and customers.

We were lucky enough to have been staying in a £7000 a night suite in the The Dorchester Hotel and a quick phone call to the hotel Concierge sourced an alternative restaurant who could not have welcomed us more openly. The service was superb and we ended up with a bill of nearly £2000. I gave the staff a substantial cash tip, on top of the standard service charge that had been added to the bill.

It is incredible to hear that C London, which now appears to be back using the Cipriani name, is doing so well financially, despite other hospitality venues suffering, that they can turn down business from long-standing customers or indeed anyone who wishes to spend money with them.

Once seated, no one can see whether a child is wearing shorts and so your policy is ridiculous. We witnessed other diners dressed inappropriately, wearing revealing outfits and covered in tattoos, yet you chose to take offence with my 13 year old child's smart shorts. This restaurant bizarrely allows dogs into their venue but not children in smart shorts.

I would warn other potential diners to read the other reviews of this restaurant and to think very carefully about whether you wish to associate yourself with a restaurant that operates like this.

There are thousands of restaurants in London, so choose...

Since the change from C London things have changed drastically for the worse. On my most recent visit i was left very dissappointed at the service, we left after main-courses along with other guests from neighbouring tables.

Our waitress had absolutely no redeming qualities, she failed to advise of ingridients and the way dishes would be served, this caused allergy problems for both of us. She offered no specials or explanation of the menu and did not make us feel welcome in a restaurant i've been coming to for over a decade.

We explicitly asked how items would come up, ie any sauces or dressings, each time she repeated the main ingridient from the menu, missing that it would come with allergens either mixed in or served on top. This happened for our starters and mains and she is lucky neither of us had allergic reactions that were unmanageable.

Our waitress then started moving tables and chairs around during our mains, taking items from our and others tables to add in another table for a walk-in, we lost our olive oil without so much as an apology or request. In moving the chairs, she barged them into my legs and then the chair repeatedly, other guests were equally barged into. Instead of stopping she carried on barging through so we all had to move and stop eating. She managed to upset at least three tables including one with a VIP guest on, who left shortly before we did. His comment was "bunch of amateurs" - completely agree.

The private rooms have been opened to the main restaurant to increase the amount of tables possible as well, overall the evening was a huge disappointment considering the price we paid. We have reservations for another restaurant in the group when on holiday later this year but will be cancelling it.

I dont know if the group is now just VC money (~30 restaurants on the website?) but it seems to have lost everything that made it...