Locanda Ottoemezzo — Restaurant in London

So we arranged a family lunch at the Cafe Locanda Ottomezzo (next door to the Restaurant). It was a special occasion which I did not want to ruin by complaining at the time but I cannot ignore such poor cooking. To be positive the place looks nice and the alfresco table on the quiet street was perfect in the sun. The wine list was just what I expected and the Rosso di Montalcino was smooth and delicious (£62). The two female staff were cheery but the male staff member looked out of his depth. We were brought some pizza slices as an aperitivo after we ordered which was a nice touch. We had to remind the staff to put condiments on the table & then also cutlery after the food arrived. Now to the food - I had the mussels and they were the worst I have ever had anywhere. They clearly had been cooked well in advance and then chilled and then a poor attempt had been made to warm them up - so I got rubbery overcooked lukewarm mussels in a bowl which at the edges was cold ie some mussels were chilled. Appalling not to be freshly cooked! Then the ravioli with beetroot and goats cheese was undercooked so the corners of the ravioli parcels were chewy and the overall dish was far too sweet as there was barely any goats cheese salty tang to balance it out. The pizza was pronounced as adequate but half of it was left on the plate and the aubergine parmiggiana was judged average. My main course was forgotten about and I had to ask about it. It arrived when the others were nearly finished with an apology from the waitress and also with a complimentary plate of calamari which was nice - unfortunately my main was the aforementioned ghastly undercooked bland ravioli. So good points were location and ambience, the wine was excellent and the wine list looked good, the female staff were very nice. Bad points were inefficient service and some very poor (and lazy) cooking. I cant believe this is the normal standard of cuisine as the business would...

Locanda Otto Emezzo: 1st time there

I've been in many places in London comparable to this, just to name some: Macellaio south Kensington, Fenchurch sky garden, Barbecue St Paul's, Luna Rossa Notting Hill, Duck and Waffle Liverpool Street and so on.. all of them had something good enough to make me feel I'd like to go back there again or I wanted to suggest it to someone with the knowledge he won't be disappointed.

But this one had only the service, impeccable for a nice little every day un formal restaurant, location and venue. All of them dressed very well, nicely done as most of people would say, but other than that not much..

I had 2 courses, 1 "pasta/primo" dish of homemade pasta with shrimps and 1 "main/secondo" halibut with butter squash. None of them impressed me, and I am trying to be kind.

The halibut was simply wrong, the chef managed to ruin a tasty decent piece of fish, paring it with can chickpeas. Very disappointing.

My girlfriend had a meal based on meat dishes, she said they were good.

On the upside, the desserts were very tasty and properly made, they met my expectations there. Obviously again well dressed, but that is part of the show, at least there was some substance.

We ended up paying £125 roughly, which isn't an unreasonable bill if you eat good food.

Overlall on a scale from 1 to 10, I'd say 6, a lot of potential, but still a lot to improve.

I understand we are in London and appearance is the first step to success, but then there is the second step and a third and so on.

Probably you can get a date with some make up on, but if it goes forward you better be preatty otherwise someone will regret the experience the next morning.

Suggestions for readers:

A very nice and cosy restaurant, where service is special and bespoke is Marianne in Notting Hill, little bit more pricy, but 100 times better...

Authentic Italian food, somewhat expensive but worth the detour!

The restaurant has its own cachet, composed of small rooms over 2 floors and uniquely decorated.

The menu is short, which is always reassuring and shows freshness, and mostly composed of the daily specials. My girlfriend and I started by sharing a plate of pasta and beef carpaccio with black truffle followed by veal ossobuco and porc chops. The sides were the same for both main dishes and very tasty (the potato millefeuille was "wow"). Throughout all these dishes you could really taste the true flavor of the ingredients with the right amount of seasoning to flame things up. We finished with a tasty Tiramisu and accompanied the entire dinner with a lovely Italian wine.

Probably one of the restaurants I am most looking forward to go back in London. One star less on the food because the porc chop was slightly raw on the bone side. Overall the price felt a bit above what was expected but it remains a very...