Sparrow Italia — Restaurant in London

A disappointing Valentine’s Day dinner.

It pains me to write this review as a very frequent flyer of Noble 33 group restaurants in the USA. I’ve been looking forward to known coming here for a long time ever since I’ve knew that a restaurant would be opening up in central London. The experience received for Valentine’s Day dinner was not that of the high standard one would normally experience from this brand.

Ambiance: 4/5. Love the decor mix with modernism, small intimate, and the vibe was just right. Typical of the brand. It was a bit cold though which was odd. Seemed like the AC was on?

Food: 2/5 I was pretty disappointed to find out, while chewing, that the fish that I ordered was not deboned. I’ve had the same dish that’s offered at other noble 33 group restaurants and it comes deboned. I don’t know if that’s just standard here or if that was a mistake—but it certainly wasn’t a pleasant experience to pick little bones out of my mouth while trying to eat. Another dish that was ordered included lobster that was so chewy as a gummy worm. Not the melt-in-mouth experience I would’ve anticipated. Oh, and the salad that we didn’t get was included on the bill, so we had to wait again for them to remove it. They were nice enough to comp the drinks without us asking and that was much appreciated.

Service: 1/5 This is the part that really destroyed the night and it’s very unfortunate considering I hold this restaurant group in high regard in the states. We sat for 35 minutes before anyone came over to take our drink order and we didn’t even have a cocktail menu, so once it was brought out, It was another 15 minutes before our food was ordered. One member of the party didn’t get their salad. I honestly don’t even know who our waiter was because there were three different people that came to take different orders. The bus boy was the only saving grace, considering our water was refilled plenty throughout the night. Lastly, the coat check employee gave us the wrong ticket for our jackets so I literally had to go into the coat closet and dig up my two jackets. Icing on the cake—and we didn’t even order dessert because I just wanted to get out of there.

This place is clearly very highly rated on Google—as it should be for a noble 33 restaurant. Unfortunately, maybe last night was a fluke or maybe that’s the recent norm. Regardless, I’m hoping that changes because I would like to come back next time I’m in London, because I love this restaurant brand so much. Wishing you the best in utilizing recent feedback to improve service...

The guy on the front door. Greeted us warmly. The reception was warm, well lit and smelled fab. All behind the desk were smiling and welcoming and efficient.

The bar area is amazingly good and beautifully lit. Bad lighting is one of my bugbears, but here it is well done. I love a velvet bar stool and although these were heavy, felt sturdy and comfortable. Barman James, was very welcoming and knowledgeable and served us well made and well presented cocktails in appropriately nice stemware. He even was able to talk to us about the food and made recommendations, which was thoughtful.

The food was served by a charming American waitress who could not have been nicer. The service was efficient and very well paced. Not too fast and not too slow. The wine, an elegant Sancerre was delicate and complex and such a great food paring, we had a second glass.

The dishes were all vegetarian and superb. It is rare to find such a diversity of vegetarian dishes on offer in a restaurant of this quality. AJ McCloud and Ivan Simeoli have created dishes that are inspired and interesting.

The musical soundtrack from the DJ was cool as was the addition of a live trumpeter. Some other restaurants we have been to have attempted this and it has been a disaster. But here, in this intimate space, the volume was appropriate and the trumpeter, muted.

Our departure when it came, though we didn't really want to leave, was equally slick. Coats were retrieved efficiently and the doorman engaged us in pleasant, friendly conversation and asked if we needed transportation.

All in all this was a brilliant dining experience and is a restaurant that...

The Food:

The appetisers were good, the tuna tartare dressing was lovely and the cutlery and tables were clean.

However, that's where the positive ends. The "Rigatoni" was more like penne with the small pasta size. The octopus was horrendous. Overcooked and burnt so it tasted like smoke. And the response from the waiter was: "Its Mediterranean style".

The tiramisu was 99% cream. And the chocolate mouse was all ice cream, no mouse.

It's evident they spent a lot of time on the presentation of the dishes (using glass covers and designs) which I appreciate. but to sacrifice the quality of the food for it isn't ideal.

The cocktails were decent. Yet, the waiter took the cocktails when they were not yet finished which was odd.

The Service:

The service was horrendous. We arrived on time yet we were told to wait at the bar for over 15 minutes.

The waiter in the background dropped glasses TWICE.

And our conversation kept getting interrupted by the manager trying to get opinions on the restaurant. I appreciate asking customers for opinions but it came to the point where we could not have 5 minutes of conversation without getting interrupted.

The Atmosphere:

We went for dinner and the atmosphere was dark which some may like. Yet, the issue was the music was WAY too loud which made conversing hard. Another issue was the tight spacing between tables. I could practically rub shoulders with the person on the table besides me.

Overall, due to the price of the restaurant compared to the experience I had (paid £335 for 2) I would...