Il Castelletto — Restaurant in London

Do not go here...EVER! Not even with a Groupon-like voucher! It'd be a waste of your time.

Went here yesterday with my bf and it was so bad we actually thought we were on candid camera. Not even an English pub would produce Italian food this badly. When the meals arrived my bf and I looked at the dish, looked at each other, and then had to try and stifle a laugh. I know what good Italian food should look and taste like, and I mean authentic Italian - down to earth, homemade, delicious and good value, none of that pretentious stuff. This, however, was not cheap (i.e. £9 for pasta, £12-14 for chicken/veal dishes) and absolutely awful.

For starter, I went for avocado con gamberetti - actually it was just prawns in a thick, very sweet overly mayonaisey marie rose sauce, with some slices of avocado on top. Not horrendous, but not Italian and not worth the money.

For main, my bf and I both went for a veal dish. Mine was Veal scaloppine al limone and omg the sight and smell of the 'lemon' sauce was disgusting - thick, artificial and just horrible - it was definitely not freshly made and I'm pretty sure came out of a bottle - how lazy can they be. Veal was just about cooked ok, but that, for a restaurant, should be a basic task. It came with vegetables but not even that they could get right - they were uncooked and incredibly just tasteless and anyway, covered in lemon sauce too. My bf's dish was probably worse - Veal Scaloppine alla Romana = same veal, but dry parma ham, no sage (a main ingredient for this dish), and all covered in a thick, foul-smelling brown gravy, why!

Honestly, I've had some bad food, but this is probably the worst I've ever had in my life, and I'm not being picky or exagerating. Imagine something worse than the worst school dinner!

It's right next to the British Museum so unknowing lunchtime tourists probably, unfortunately, keep...

Looked inviting after an exhausting day walking round museums. But the service (a single person) although prompt enough was lacking in charm. We did not feel particularly welcome. My husband chose a seafood pizza and Peroni beer, I chose the Saltimbocca alla Romana and a small carafe of the house white wine (£13.50). The beer was fine, and the wine was very good for a house wine, though actually I'd have preferred to order 250ml glass. But no complaints at having to have a bit more wine!. However, I'm sorry to say that the food was only ok. My Saltimbocca (veal fillet, parma ham, wine sauce and roast potatoes £13.50) was disappointing, not very hot hot (served on a cold plate is probably why) sauce was tasty but very thin and the roasted potatoes (4 small half potatoes) were just blah. I have had roast potatoes in many Italian restaurants and they have always been crispy small herby squares. The veal was OK as was the parma ham - a bit chewy but OK. My husband left most of the mussels on his seafood pizza as they were flavourless (we live in a seaside town so know how mussels taste) and the pizza dough was doughy rather than crisp. The bill was £52, my husband paid £55 in cash and asked for £3 change as service was included. Eventually, as we left, he asked the serving person for his £3 which he was given. In short, a disappointing experience and one we will not...

My wife and I were looking for a nice alternative to the dining room in our hotel near Russell Square and, among other options, Google came up with Il lCastelletto. While looking at reviews, I noticed that someone had used a Groupon there so I signed up with Groupon and purchased a voucher.

Unfortunately, I didn't properly read the fine print and so didn't realize that a reservation must be made 24 hours in advance. So when we got to the restaurant, the waitress told us of the reservation policy and suggested we make that reservation and come back the next night. We told her that this was our last night here but that we'd order dinner anyway, get a refund on the unused Groupon, and placed our order.

Astonishingly she returned in a few moments and told us that, ast it was our last night, not only would she honor the Groupon but she'd allow us to put what we'd ordered on the Groupon even though they weren't on the special Groupon menu!

My wife had the ravioli and I had the risotto marinara and both were quite delicous. As were both the tiramisu and creme brule that we had for dessert. I can also recommend the monepulciano at under 6 pounds for 175 ml as an excellent wine accompaniment.

In short, I highly recommend this delightful and delicious neighbornood restaurant with an outstanding concept of...