Il Capriccio

Quick glance:
+ massive portion size
+ attractive looking dishes
— but looks better than it tastes
— under-​seasoned, over sweet
— grumpy service Full review:
We were strolling down the High Street in search of dinner on a Monday night and saw how lively Il Capriccio appeared, with about half a dozen tables of diners. As the previous Unilocaler mentioned, there is no menu outside which slightly put us off, but we quickly searched for the restaurant’s menu on our mobile phones and came to the conclusion it wasn’t going to break our bank. Once inside, the waiter in his bright-​green uniform led us to our table, initially next to the toilets even though the restaurant had about 20 other tables free. They did let us choose another table after we requested. We ordered a bottle of white and after my partner gave it an approving nod after tasting, the waiter poured some into my glass. But when I took my glass to my nose, it smelled of dishcloth and I couldn’t understand why my partner had thought the wine was acceptable (given he’s the wine aficionado!) I thought maybe I have gone mad and gave it another whiff only to pull a funny face, at which point my partner thought I was going mad. After about five minutes we realised it was my glass that smelled of dishcloth, not the wine. When we asked for a new glass, the waiter looked at us in bewilderment. I then explained to him that my glass of wine had a strange smell and invited him to have a smell. He gave both my glass and my partner’s glass two whiffs each in succession, only to conclude there was nothing wrong, which made me question a) his sense of smell and b) customer service. In the end, I let him take away my glass (with wine still in it) to get rid of the problem altogether. The restaurant runs a special dinner menu on weekdays which lets you have three courses plus coffee for £18, and it was a good deal judging by the portion size and the attractive looking dishes. For starter, my partner had the mussel and I had the whitebait. Although my dish looked attractive, full of colours and neatly arranged with carrot shavings and radish on the side, it was under-​seasoned. I suppose that’s why they had salt on the table Thankfully the mussel dish was delicious. Onto the main course, my partner had the sole in white wine and cream sauce. Again it was an attractive looking dish with prawns and mushrooms swimming all over the fish in a creamy sauce, but the fish was slightly overcooked by about a minute or two but still edible. I had the veal in white wine and lemon sauce which was fine. Dinner also came with sides of carrots, broccoli, and roast potato, all of which looked vibrant until you bite into it. I will never understand how they managed to get broccoli to look so fresh and green and yet tasted mushy, or how the roast potato looks golden brown but tasted so bland. Mind you, the carrots were fine. Finally, the dessert. There is a cabinet of dessert as you stroll past the entrance and the choices were staggering. There were at least half a dozen desserts to choose from; I had what the waiter confirmed was strawberry cheesecake, while my partner had the chocolate cake. My cheesecake tasted like Angel’s Delight except more solid, while my partner’s chocolate cake was slightly dry. Both, again, looked attractive and were adequately edible but tasted no where near as enticing as they looked. At the end of the night, we came to the conclusion that Il Capriccio might have been a classic Italian restaurant once (perhaps in the late 80s or early 90s) but it is stuck in its time. The food was adequately edible to the degree of a work canteen filling but with many gaps for improvement. A look around our table only confirms the dying spirit, with deep cracks appearing on the paintwork of the walls and thinning tablecloth that was probably once white but now greying. The waiters, too, looked like they have been there too long and lost the lustre they had for customer service once upon a time, having not smiled at us at all while we were there.

Oh dear oh dear oh dear.
In search of pre-​salsa food on Friday night, my friend Hilary and I wandered through Ewell again. We have almost eaten our way through the entire village but had not considered Il Capriccio as it didn’t have a menu in the window.
So we were quite pleased to see 2 waiters outside — they looked like they were about to have a cigarette.
So we said,“No menu outside?“
They replied,“No, we like to keep our food secret.“
Awkward silence. No offer to get a menu or to tell us a bit about the food.
If the owner of Il Capriccio is reading this, please get some staff who care about your business!
Only getting one star as Unilocal doesn’t allow no star reviews