The Italian Greyhound — Restaurant in London

Italian restaurant Bernardi's impressed me with beautiful, tasty food and outstanding, friendly staff. Would I go again? Of course!

When I arrived at Bernardi's in Marylebone, just off Edgware Road, on a Saturday evening, the place already was fairly busy. The very friendly guy at the door checked the bookings and went out of his way to find me a spot - although just for an hour. Still, after being sent away by another new, French restaurant that did not even check the bookings, I highly appreciated the effort.

I like the style, Bernardi's is a beautiful, light, modern restaurant with a simple design that pleases the eye.

After settling down at a nice table in the corner, I browsed through the wine list. I was looking for a white wine, and the waiter asked a few questions and then recommended the 2014 Verdeca, "Askos" Masseria Li Veli Apulia. Not a bad choice - it was probably a bit too fruity or sweet for my palate, but the slight minerality made it still enjoyable, just as the waiter had told me.

Not long after my wine arrived, a basket of thin crunchy Italian flatbread with something like a tomato, parmesan and basil dip came along. I appreciate a good slice of soft bread, but those crispy bites were also a great way to start a meal and bridge the time until the first course of the evening was ready.

I had ordered the burratina antipasti with heritage beetroot, almonds and basil. The dish looked stunning, bright colours - green, red, yellow - beautifully arranged around the white cheese with finely sliced almonds sprinkled across the plate. All components individually tasted nice and fresh, forming a delicious symphony of flavours when combined. The burratina was smooth and soft, the funny heritage beetroots added a refrehsing fruityness with the almonds throwing in some salty texture. I must admit, I wondered about those pieces in different colours on my plate - I soon found out that heritage beetroots come in various colours, a nice touch.

My main that evening was tarragon gnocchi with rabbit ragu and pancetta. The plate was hot when it arrived and looked as beautiful as did my antipasti. Recently, I started to appreciate rabbit more and more, it is a light kind of meat with a great taste to it. The only detail marginally impeding the delight was a piece of bone hidden within the ragout - not sure whether that was intentional or not. I also was surprised to see that the gnocchi looked like they were pan-fried. However, I did enjoy the minor crunch effect it added together with the crumble. As with any Italian dish, or anything really, freshly grated parmesan made this course even more tasty than it would already had been without.

So far, antipasti and main course were great successes with me. It was probably no easy task to top this with a dessert, and unfortunately, the milk chocolate mousse with hazelnut was somewhat disappointing. I had been hoping for a stronger chocolate flavour. Still, I did like how nice and nutty it was.

After a little chat with a lovely Italian waitress, who happens to live in London for five years - just like me - I finished off my dinner with a bitter, Italian espresso. Not my favourite style of coffee, but I guess what people expect at an Italian restaurant.

If you ask me, Bernardi's in Marylebone is a great restaurant delivering on flavour and service. Next time, I should also try one of...

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Arrived about 15 minutes early, shown to seating where it was cramped and tight and table next to us very close and occupied. However since we were early, many available seatings and we requested to move. Shock awakes us!- Whilst waiting for our food, we noticed our order (few plates) was served and being placed onto another table; we had a full view to what’s happening, waiter made mistake, didn’t check properly, placed food on wrong table and created confusion -Covid is around. Imagine all the talking droplets on our plates of food whilst sorting confusion over wrong food served at wrong table! Then waiter brought the plates back to kitchen, realized error and food was resend back out to our table by another waiter. Hygiene concerns?! …and just when you think there can’t be any more issues, the waiter who served our plates, did not balance one of the plates well, some contents of food fell onto table. Waiter picked up food with hand (oh dear?!) and said will replace but did not. Probably forgot? Empty plates were not cleared despite waiters walking up and down. Forgot to replenish water when requested. Clean plate served had food stains, requested for change. As service/hygiene was so awfully poor, we brought it up to person in charge and requested for service charge to be removed- rude awakenings begin. Person in charge said food was not brought to wrong table and insisted without checking with staff that mistakes had indeed occurred. Am then rudely told service charge is part of the meal condition, cannot be removed despite mistakes by Restsurant and also the deal was with a drink order. I said I’ll order coffee but person in charge said drink order had to be wine, beer, cocktails etc and when I said I am diabetic, person in charge said that’s ‘on you’. Wow! Shocking response as restaurants are meant to take note of customers food allergies, dietary requirements etc… As the situation gets unpleasant, person in charge said not to offer me the first table discount. Will charge me full bill. Person in charge then went back to check with staff and confirmed few plates were indeed served to wrong table, removed the service charges. In short, extremely bad service rendered, plus rude, aggressive, intimidating behaviors by person in charge - it’s totally unacceptable! When asked for his full name, person in charge said they have my details. Intimidating? No one can justify paying service charges for restaurant’s service mistakes of sending plates of food to wrong table + (hygiene concerns? ) and then resending them to me + food contents dropping off from plate onto table - Awful! As customers, we just want a good meal and good time. Restaurant could perhaps provide basic staff trainings in food service and professional service behaviors to customers- with rude intimidating behaviors and bad service- ultimately it’s the restaurant’s brand that...

We came to visit the restaurant to try the food and view the private dining area as we wanted to make a group booking, but they wanted to charge a £3,000 minimum spend for their private dining area on a weekday night for 20 people when their set menu starts at £45 per person. The vibe is very much a polished family sit-down restaurant, everyone was in casual wear with dogs allowed, no buzzy music - so I can’t imagine how they expect us to consume so much drink in addition! There are so many other trendier spots across London requiring a minimum spend in that price point.

But we still liked the food and were looking for something more quiet/family-oriented so we explored a regular booking in their public dining room (split across multiple tables), which they refused to take without a £1,500 minimum spend PLUS force us to take the set menu while everyone else dining in the same area can order ala carte. While our group would probably spend this amount (or even more) anyway, we were really put off by the inflexibility and customer service. It makes zero commercial sense to mandate a minimum spend + set menu requirement when there’s no private hire! They’ve just lost our business. What a letdown.

Edit in response to owner reply: it seems like the restaurant further misses the mark with this response. The negative impression is not brought upon by our inability to dine ala carte, our preference would be a set menu. But dining in your regular seating area can not be claimed to be semi-private. Having 20+ paying patrons sat in your restaurant is not “closing off your trade”, it’s generating you business and ensures your tables are full on a weekday evening. Having canvassed across multiple restaurants in London over the past few weeks for our booking I can confirm forcing a group to take the set menu and imposing a minimum spend when there is no private hire is not commonplace across the industry...