Lume Restaurant & wine shop — Restaurant in London

I was looking forward to eating here following having read a positive review in the ES, my first dinner was on a Sunday evening we shared the a Pane Frattau the 63 degree egg was completely over cooked, to follow my guests lamb tartare with a pecorino "soup" was crudely chopped hard and lumpen the pecorino soup was granular and gritt, my buratta was good but the fruit garnish not ripe. Pasta as our main course was a major dissappointment my guest the pappardelle which was like a plate of slop pasta was mushy and overcooked the ragu had no definition or flavour possibly one of the worst plates of pasta, my special ravioli was bought but was the one from the menu, it was changed as well as guests to another of the same the owner promising it would be as it should again the same slimy pappardelle and ragu appeared my ravioli with girolles and summer truffle arrived it was ok at best but didn't sing as good pasta should. My guest complained the owner said "they" were having difficulties this evening as the head chef was off celebrating his girlfriends birthday.........he then suggested that he order the linguine with sicilian prawns, at least the pasta arrives better cooked the prawns were good very generous but the sauce was muddy and murky with another green sauce drizzled over why just a mess? We weren't the only ones sending dishes back or wrong dishes being served perhaps it was a just a bad evening. I thought it must be better when the Head chef is at the stoves so I booked on behalf of a friend again for the Wednesday. We arrived it was buzzy very atmospheric I was looking forward to enjoying my dinner, menus bought chatty service as before wines ordered which are very good my host ordered the octopus a very generous portion howevershe said it was quite hard, solid and relentless very over generous when compared to my seared tuna starter I asked for my tuna as rare as possible what arrived looked like left over scraps of tired day old fish grey 3 tiny tiny pieces sitting in a mulch of unseasoned borlotti purée and some onion yuk out of politeness I didn't send it back, my host had guinea fowl with summer truffles she said the bird was ok but all rather lacklustre trying too hard was her verdict. I ordered the Sicilian red prawn pasta slightly better than the previous visit but certainly not worthy of the press accolade apart from a very good tomato salad which was excellent great produce. Apparently the head chef wasn't in the kitchen that evening either I'm sure that when Paola is in the kitchen things are better but a great disappointment when he's not...

Lume Primrose Hill: “The Wine Bar that Goes Wrong”

If you enjoyed the play or are amused by the concept, and are looking for similar real life entertainment, I have the perfect wine bar recommendation for you. If you’re after a relaxed evening wine, good food, attentive yet unintrusive service, a welcoming ambiance and the perfect environment to meet friends, Lume in Primrose Hill is absolutely not for you. Avoid. The ‘plot’ for The Wine Bar that Goes Wrong, speaks for itself. No attention to the entrance waiting area leaves customers waiting 5 minutes to be acknowledged. A standard “How are you?” greeting to our reluctant waiter met with “Alive” as a response. Perhaps ironically an instant mood killer. No booking in a half full setting met with “Probably not” before we are then seated. 10 minutes to get wine and food menus. After an extraordinary amount of time, managed to ‘hail’ a waiter to order only for him to be called off mid order to another table. Tried to order wine from one of the two waiters in the wine bar only to be told they could not as the other waiter took wine orders. Tried to order food from one of the two waiters in the wine bar only to be told they could not as the other waiter took the food orders. Finally get served wine after 30 minutes. Finally order food only to be told we had been given the wrong food menu so needed to reconsider. Finally ordered three starters / small plates from the now correct menu only to be told some while later there was only one portion left of the two we wanted. Ordered the one. Asked an hour later where the order was only to be told the chef was confused and thought we’d cancelled the order as we only wanted the one portion left having previously ordered two. Finished the wine before the late late confused starter arrived. We were asked if we wanted another bottle to go with our 90 minute late starter. But were also told they had run out of the Gavi we were drinking. All delivered by staff who clearly did not want to be there. And that’s the plot twist. A winebar / restaurant, with no wine, no food, no service and entirely inhospitable. For balance, the menu was well thought out albeit dishes unavailable and the wine list comprehensive and interesting even if only for interest as our wine choice was also unavailable. This was supposed to be a pre dinner drink and canapé ahead of a dinner reservation at Lemonia. Instead it was an ordeal that outlasted our subsequent restaurant booking leaving the three of us hungry, thirsty, and thoroughly unentertained....

We’ve really been looking forward to going to this restaurant since lockdown ended, and especially as we live a five minute walk away. I went with my friend yesterday evening and the food was very mediocre. The starter which was fried calamari was too salty. The main was duck pasta which was cold - the pasta was too hard and the duck was chewy. The tiramisu was delicious. No one offered us a bread basket like the others were given and I had to repeatedly ask for salt and pepper. In the beginning of the evening the service seemed too much, as if we were being rushed, and towards the end of the evening there was no service at all with most of the staff in the back of the restaurant being hard to get a hold of. Finally there was a couple with a dog sitting at the table on the owners lap. Towards the end of the evening the dog started barking and one of the waiters made a big deal of the dog licking her hand? I have no issue with dogs as I have one myself and given there is an outdoor area for this restaurant they should be requested to sit outside. But I do have an issue with hygiene if animals are sitting on the table and eating food. For the prices (which are a lot and similar to prices in central London) the food was extremely mediocre and cold. I won’t be returning and there are plenty of restaurants in primrose hills SJW and Belsize Park which would fare better with more fair prices. A rather...