Jamie’s Italian

Covent Garden location: Shame on you. Probably time to switch to a reservation system. This food better destroy — will update after.

C’est bien et pas *très* cher vu le bruit que cela fait dans la presse.
On y mange Italien (Pas que des pizzas!), avec des produits de qualité pour la plupart (les frites de Polenta avec du romarin sont tops, les pâtes a la vongole bien aussi, les desserts réussis, mais classiques)
Les calamaris frits, trop cuits (pas de bol?)
Et le vin (Prosecco en l’occurence), sans maux de tête le lendemain.
Une valeur sure du milieu Londonien. Sans surprise cela dit.
Idéal pour une bouffe decontractée, en couple ou entre potes.
Services ok (Londres est bien loti de ce cote la je trouve… Hein Paris… Si tu vois ce que je veux dire)

Whilst in London for the weekend, me and my girlfriend went to Jamie’s to celebrate her birthday. We’d booked a table but got there pretty early (45 minutes) we tried to ask the woman on the front desk if we might be sat earlier or if the time couldn’t be changed in which case we would have visited the nearby shops and come back. The woman barely looked at us and simply snapped that we should wait at the bar implying it may be earlier.
We ended up waiting for the full 45 minutes and longer until I had to go over again and remind them I’d booked (as we’d seen people with no booking coming in and being sat whilst we were still waiting). The bar area is right near the front door, has no seating and is really cramped with no atmosphere.
Once we were seated the waiting staff were much better, they were friendly and showed good knowledge of the menu. The food was its usual Jamie’s standard (very good). My only criticism of the restaurant area is the seating was very cramped — you could hear everyone’s conversations and you had to constantly pull your chair in to allow other customers to get in/​out of their table.
All in all our night got better than how it started but it was still a disappointing visit especially for a birthday meal.

Finally had Christmas dinner after missing out on this last year. Booked well in advance this time round. Orders were taken quickly. Meals were timed to perfection, didn’t really have to wait for very long in between courses. The plank of starters were presented beautifully. My main which was the steak was cooked beautifully medium rare. It was tasty, well seasoned and delicious. My partner had the Porchetta, which was made into a Christmas dream, great cut of pork served with apples and in season vegetables. Ended off the meal with meringue and a chocolate cake. It was perfect. Now I know why, they always sell out of this menu. Thanks for the amazing dinner. Till next year. Cheers

Nein, das hatte ich nicht erwartet. Der Besuch in Jamie’s Italien war ok, aber eben auch nur das. Denn zusammengefasst kann man sagen, dass die Speisekarte nicht wirklich imponiert und für ein italienisches Restaurant die Pizzen fehlen, die Portionen zu klein sind, das Personal viel zu hektisch umherwirbelt, die Tische viel zu eng nebeneinanderstehen, die Toiletten nicht wirklich sauber sind und es insgesamt nicht harmonisch und rund abläuft. Beim genauen Hinschauen im Grund genommen ziemlich chaotisch und enttäuschend.
Unser Kellner war sehr nett und zuvorkommend, organisierte sogar einen neuen Tisch, nachdem wir den ersten reklamiert hatten und gab sich sehr viel Mühe. Auffallend gastlich war auch der kostenlose Wasserservice, den wir nicht einmal bestellen mussten. Soetwas ist vorbildlich. Von daher auch 3 Sterne. Denn die Speisen waren frisch zubereitet und gut, aber eben nicht wirklich überragend anders im Geschmack oder der Zusammenstellung. Kein Gaumenkitzel mit neuen Ideen, die ich mir erhofft hatte. Schade!

My husband and i went here for our anniversary date. We did not have many expectations because of the mixed reviews in here but we LOVE mr. Jamie so we thought we would try it out.
It was such a nice experience!!!
We didn’t want to ‘splash the cash’ but still have a nice dinner and we did!
The service was so sweet and around the entire time, despite that it was a busy night. We had 2 starters and weren’t sure what to pick from the mains, so the staff suggested that pick 4 mains in the size of a starter so we could try deferent food. So we had 2 starters, 4 «small» mains, 2 desserts and beer and wine for about £54!!! That’s good!!! And we were SO full!!!
We can only recommend this place!!!

One of the eleven Jamie’s Italian outlets in London. Cosy ambiance, friendly staff, classical Jamie’s Italian Restaurant with a nice and warm decoration. I like Jamies’ especially cause they are kid friendly. Seafood spaghetti is good, al dante and all the sea food is fresh. Squid is really crispy and yummy. Definitely will come back. #jamiesitalian #camdentown #london #spaghetti #foodie #italiancuisine #pizza #ciabatta #seafoodspaghetti #fruttidimare #mycapture

Worst Italian food in London, hands down.
My fist Unilocal review, and I’ve been using Unilocal for years. Wanted to add my voice to those warning people away from this place.
I had a reasonable amount of respect for Jamie Oliver. I’ve learned a few things from his cooking shows. Thought his campaigning for better school food was a noble one. And Fifteen, his original restaurant, was my go to place to entertain friends visiting London. Had many very satisfying, reasonably priced meals there… until something changed a couple of years ago. Tables were crammed in, menu changed to tapas everything, prices raised, and I was asked where I was from about 5 times from the staff. Needless to say, the food quality and overall experience plummeted, and the bill doubled. Haven’t been back, and became sceptical of his other establishments multiplying across the city.
My family was in the Covent Garden area for my daughter’s birthday a few weeks ago. My wife suggested we try Jamie’s Italian for dinner, as she heard that it was good for kids. I reluctantly agreed. After about a 25 minute wait (at 5:15 on a Thursday), we were seated. We all ordered pasta, myself a meatball pappardelle, for my daughter a «cheesy pasta bake» (which was described as having an «organic seven-​veg tomato sauce»).
Cooked ground meat that has been defrosted in the microwave gets a dry rubberiness. This is exactly the texture of the meatballs with my pasta. The pasta was also quite dry, and I believe the chef forgot to include flavour with the dish, as it had none. Typically I will eat what is in front of me. I couldn’t eat this. To his credit, the waiter noticed that my meal wasn’t being eaten. Out of character, I gave him my full opinion of the dish. He offered to replace it. I ordered a different pasta. It was better, but no better than a cheap sauce out of a jar. This is the very first time I’ve had a meal sent back. It was that bad.
My daughter’s meal was also a disaster. She just picked at it and wasn’t all that interested in it. I tried it, the pasta was well done, and the dish had no flavour. There was no cheesy crust, no sauce, no colour. It appeared to be just a bowl of fusilli. I asked the waiter about the cheese part of the cheesy pasta bake, and he explained that it was a sauce mixed in. If this was true, there was very little of it, and it was flavourless. This bland, mushy, beige dish, with zero nutritional value, is exactly the type of rubbish that Mr. Oliver was working at having removed from the plates of children at school. Here it is on the plates of his establishment.
I understand that Jamie Oliver is very busy and likely has little involvement in this restaurant, but considering how bad this was, I would say his involvement is about as close to Ronald McDonald’s involvement in the kitchen flipping burgers… none. Mr. Oliver should be horrified that his name is associated with this place.
Upon exiting, there were about 20 people waiting for tables. Likely all tourists basing their dining decision on the name. They won’t be back, neither will we.

It pains me to give this restaurant a 2 star rating. I am a fan of Jamie Oliver for a long time since the beginning with Naked Chef. I understand he is a restaurateur and celebrity now and not really a chef cooking anymore. He is just lending his name and brand but holy cow this was a bad experience. The restaurant was under staff and confirmed by our server who was less then trilled to be there. We should have left right then but we were hungry and tired of walking so we stayed. After waiting forever for our wine, then our food, we finally get the bonus of flavorless and tiny pastas. My wife ordered crab pasta — no exaggeration very little crab (see photo). The highlight was the starter scallops, they were very good with great mushy peas. The server did try to save the night by giving us more wine on the house… But be warned Jamie is not there and the standards are very low.

Better make your reservation earlier because this restaurant is excelent! The main speciality is pasta of course, because this is an Italian restaurant, and as the waiter explained me, all the spaghetti should be served al dente.

I work pretty close to this Jamie’s and decided to meet some friends there for dinner after work one day. Being gluten free and going to an Italian restaurant isn’t always a great idea but to my surprise they had gluten free pasta and were able to easily accommodate my needs. The service was good, though a little slow and the tables are pretty packed in together. However, the food was delicious. The menu is decent with something that will suit all tastebuds.

(2014 Review). Hands down the best meal I had in London. Always been a fan of Mr Oliver’s, but never realized he had multiple restaurants in London and that I would stumble upon one. Played it safe with a hamburger for dinner and got two «Olive on Ice» apps prior. Nothing was a let down from the service to the food. Highly suggest you give it a go!

Famoso pelo programa de televisão, Jamie Oliver é mundialmente conhecido por ter introduzido hábitos saudáveis no cardápio das crianças em idade escolar na Inglaterra. Talvez por isso passou a ser o queridinho dos pais e deus restaurantes famosos no mundo inteiro.
No Covent Garden, bairro tradicional de Londres, há uma unidade com comida saudável, orgânica e deliciosa! Por coincidência nosso garçom foi um brasileiro super simpático que nos explicou toda o cardápio. Bem variado, agrada crianças e adultos e com preços justos, sem levar em conta a conversão da Libra, claro!
Super recomendo!

I visited Jamie’s Italian on a busy Saturday lunch time, but we were seated and served vey quickly.
The menu isn’t huge, but offered enough variety.
My mum and I shared a cured meat plank for one, and it was plenty. Our waitress explained the different meats and cheeses, describing the flavours and even recommended we eat one particular meat last so that it’s flavour didn’t overpower our palates and ruin tasting the other meats, which was a helpful tip.
I opted for a delicious sounding special of scallop and truffle spaghetti with prosciutto and leeks. My mum opted for a summer Gorgonzola risotto.
Our portions were a good size, but unfortunately I was really disappointed in mine. It was quite oily and tasteless, the spaghetti stuck together and scallops stingy in portion.
My mums risotto was tasty but very rich so she couldn’t finish it and asked for a box to take half of it home with her. They don’t do boxes but our kind waitress did wrap it in a foil parcel for us instead.
A mixed experience… Nice service but not the best food. There are certainly better Italian restaurants out there, and at £15.95 for my dish, I certainly left feeling a bit disappointed.

Came here cause my sister was dying to try out one of Jamie Oliver’s restaurants — left sorely disappointed.
The service was so slow. It took forever to get our order, our food out and just to get the check to leave.
I can’t believe we waited an hour to be seated for this low quality food. I ordered the summer truffle risotto and it was just so salty. I would NOT recommend this dish at all to anyone.
Save yourself the pain and just eat somewhere else that’s not overpriced and taste better.

I have been living in London for almost 4 years now and I always tried to avoid ‘tourists’ restaurants such as Zizzi, Hard Rock Café, Prezzo, Carluccio’s, Angus Steakhouse…(and even Starbucks!) because I prefer to give my money to a smaller company that pays more attention to customer and offers better quality food.
I went only once to a Jamie Oliver’s restaurants: it was in 2013, I went to his new restaurant Jamie Oliver’s Diner and I didn’t like it (burnt and dry burgers with soggy fries). Since then, my parents went for diner to Jamie’s Fifteen in Amsterdam and had a lovely time. Only fools do not change their minds… so my boyfriend and I went to lunch at Jamie’s Italian on a Saturday, the place was packed with families and couples — surprisingly mostly English people (not that many tourists!) Both hungover, we decided to start our meal with two non-​alcoholic cocktails, both were good and very refreshing.
As starters we shared crispy porcini mushroom arancini and the special starter of the day: scallops served with peas and bacon. Both of us enjoyed the arancini, they were great even if I thought they could have been a bit more creamy inside and more crispy on the outside. The arrabbiata was really tasty and full of flavour.
The second starter was just ok but a bit bland, nothing really special about scallops with mushy peas, a slice of crispy bacon and breadcrumbs especially if you could hardly taste the scallops! My boyfriend and I were a bit disappointed by the size of the scallops, they were very tiny, same size as the one you can find in Tesco! The dish was around £8.50, which I think is totally overpriced considering the tiny size of the scallops.
For mains, we decided to play the adventurous card, we both ordered from the special boards. My boyfriend had the homemade pasta dish with cumberland sausage and I had the special fish dish. His pasta dish was very good. It tasted fresh and light, the yellow pepper sauce was the highlight of this dish and tasted very summery. My dish was a sustainable tuna sliced steak, the whole dish was perfectly cooked and seasoned, the tuna was pink in the middle as I like it, and asparagus were a bit crunchy. I didn’t like the cold truffle potatoes and I think it didn’t add anything to the dish. To compliment our mains, we had some polenta chips on the side. They were perfect, light and cripsy. Only bad thing is that they arrived 10 minutes after our main dishes.
It was a nice experience but nothing exceptional. Some dishes were a bit bland and overpriced in my opinion for what they were, special mains were both good but I think it could be easy to find something similar for cheaper elsewhere in central London.
Overall I just felt the food was a bit average and not anything over the top. We had a great service, we didn’t wait too much time between dishes apart from our side, which is not too bad considering the restaurant was full.
Even if this recent experience has been better than my Jamie Oliver’s Diner memories, I am afraid my opinion hasn’t change a lot, I don’t think I will become a Jamie’s Oliver restaurant fan soon. I will stick only to his TV shows, which I like.

This place was such a disappointment. I went here for lunch on a Saturday while in London and wish I would have picked anything else.
One star because:
1. The service was terrible. After we got seated, it took 20 min to even get waters and s menu. The waitress was unapologetic for the wait
2. The food was sub par. I got the crab spaghetti and it was over salted. I had to request cheese and pepper for my pasta. The waitress was again unapologetic and it was an attitude like she was doing me a favor.
3. The price was not worth the quality of food or service provided.
This place should be ashamed of the service it provided and the quality of food it served.
There are many other great restaurants to pick from in the area (in fact, Dishoom which is right next door to this place is amazing). Save yourself time and frustration and go elsewhere.

Can’t find the listing for the Jamie’s Italian location we went to which was near st James park so I will post here.
Came here for a late dinner with the husband. We got seated fairly quickly with no reservations. There’s lots to choose from as the menu is massive. Not thinking about portion sizes we ordered the plank for two, arancini balls, crab and avocado bruschetta, and pancetta carbonara all to share. We also ordered a half carafe of the house wine to share.
The plank for two is a pretty good portion of meats and cheeses for two people. I think we should have just ordered that! We were really stuffed after everything! For me there was just too much fried things that filled me up with not a lot of flavor. The arancini balls and I guess the polenta fries that came with the plank were just ok. The bruschetta, was super filling and it was on a huge piece of toast so it was a bit difficult to share. The carbonara was good but I just wanted more sauce and for it to be a bit more flavorful and spicy.
All in all the meal was satisfactory. The ambiance was great and our server was very nice to us. He even sat down next to us as we asked for recommendations on what to see and do around the area!
Would recommend this place for a solid happy hour choice!

I went there just beause I was curios about this Jaimie Oliver everyone talks about (in Italy he is not so famous), having litterally zero expectations.
We decided to try the fish and chips and a pizza, just to check if what he says about his ability to cook real Italian cuisine was right.
I have to say that both dishes were delicious and the pizza crust was far better than many I have eaten in Italy.
I know Jaimie doesn’t need my feed back, but here it is: amazing ingredients, very good batter for the fish and chips, potatoes cut by hand, low prices considerng the name and the location… So, it was definitely a good surprise!

Reservierung über die Homepage = 100% geklappt (Bestätigung per SMS und Mail)
Kamen zu etwas spät (weil verfahren) = Tisch für 4 Personen wurde freigehalten, super!
Deko = Schöné Atmosphäre in einer schicken Umgebung, leicht zu finden.
Service = Unser Kellner war flott, freundlich, aufmerksam und hat in regelmäßigen Abständen gefragt wie uns das Essen schmeckt/​ob alles ok ist/​ob wir noch etwas wünschen und hat zügig abgeräumt als wir fertig waren, 1A!
Essen = 4 Personen, 4 verschiedene Gerichte (THE JAMIE’S ITALIAN BURGER, TAGLIATELLE BOLOGNESE, BLACK ANGEL SPAGHETTI und SEAFOOD BUCATINI). Ich hatte das SEAFOOD BUCATINI und muss kann wirklich sagen, dass alles frisch war — die Jakobsmuschel war so zart wie frischgefangen, die als Deko auf die Muschelschale gelegt wurde, sondern «klebte» noch echt an der Schale. Die anderen Meeresfrüchte (Muscheln etwas sehr klein, imho) und Speisen waren ebenfalls frisch und knackig.
Preise = Für Londoner Verhältnisse sogar eigentlich ganz gut. Das Preis/​Leistungsverhältnis war super!

Lovely spot near to all the theatres. After bad experiences at the Manchester branch I was pleasantly surprised by the service and food. After asking if the caprese salad had any garlic in and the waiter saying no, he then went and double checked with the chef who actually said the tomatoes were marinated in a garlic oil. This small extra mile massively stands out. It was lunchtime so I went with the mozzarella, melon and Parma ham salad minus the pesto dressing. It was really delicious and much more filling than I expected. We had skinny fries and polenta chips to share — not sure about the latter, perhaps an acquired taste?! Only 4 stars as the non alcoholic ginger mojito really just tasted like limeade and was a bit disappointing for the extra pennies spent on it. The restaurant is bigger than you think with plenty of seating downstairs too.

This place is fairly decent, but the experience depends on the weather and passersby. I don’t remember the food being spectacularly exciting, but it’s not bad, though on the slightly expensive side.
Also their menus are really big, as in physically and comically large.
Anyway, I’d recommend this as a nice place for a meet up our first casual date. A second date would be someplace quieter and with a ceiling.

Ooooh! Highly recommend!!! Wonderful, wonderful food! Great selection on the menu and great table service too (very friendly staff).

Um… after visiting Rome and Florence… and dining here… eck.
ALL HYPE… not worth it folks!
I think Pasta Pomodoro in the Bay Area does more justice in making Italian food than this place.
We were a party of six and dined downstairs… token «colored» people with a token Brit in our group… I didn’t particularly loved the staring that the people next to us were giving our party… ignorance still exist! :)
Anyway… service sucked. My sister ordered about 5 bottles of wine… yet our dinner entrees didn’t arrive until it was closing time and mind you, it wasn’t packed. The delay time from appetizers to dinner was mind blowing that by the time our food came, we lost our appetite. Oh wait, maybe we lost it because it WAS that bad!
It was so bad… I didn’t remember the numerous appetizers my sister ordered. I did remember my Honeycomb cannelloni trio for £11.45 (Aubergine & sun-​dried tomato; pumpkin; ricotta & spinach) and it was ECK! It literally tasted like frozen cannelloni.
Long story short: don’t bother going here. Not worth your gazillion GBP pounds! Such a disappoint for our reunion with a family friend that my family and I haven’t seen for 20 years. Not even the amount of wine we consumed help make us eat what they served food.

Dans le cartier de Covent Garden, on retrouve le resto italient de Jamie Oliver. Hyper Branché. On vous confie un petit boitier qui vibre quand une table se libère pour vous. L’occasion d’aller boire un verre dans le coin.
La décoration est géniale. Pour la nourriture, plein de choix très alléchants. Un peu déçue. Certains des plats sont à tomber, d’autres moins bon que ce à quoi l’on s’attend.
Mais je conseille quand même, rien que pour l’ambiance et le cadre.

— no reservation possible; you have to wait 30 – 45 minutes (maybe at the bar with some drinks; where it is very crowded, too)
— very friendly staff
— nice location, however, a little bit crowdy and the tables are set very closely to each other
— bathrooms could be cleaner
— we had both a vegetables and a meat plank (for 2 persons each; 6.95 p.p.): the mozzarella was excellent; vegetables, cheese and meet were very good, too
— for main course we had:
Honeycomb Cannelloni 3 ways: aubergine & sun-​dried tomato, pumpkin, ricotta & spinach (11.45) very tasty; big portion
Pumpkin & Squash Gnudi: fluffy English ricotta dumplings with Cropwell Bishop blue cheese, chili, pears & walnut (10.00); nice recipe
Jamie‘s Italian Mixed Grill: Guinea fowl, beef, lamb, rabbit, artisan sausage & devilled kidney, grilled under a hot brick & served with pickled pepper sauce (18.25) together with polenta chips (3.65): meat was okay, but not excellent; polenta chips were very tasty
wild rabbit tagliolini: slow cooked ragu with garlic & herbs, mascarpone & lemon (11.75) were okay, but not too much rabbit in it
— suggested drink without alcohol: presse ginger/​pomegranate, etc. (2.95)
— for dessert we had:
tiramisu (4.95); tasty and big portion
warm brownie: Chocolate, raspberry & amaretto brownie with vanilla ice cream (4.95); very tasty, too
Conclusion: Very good food in a crowded and commercialized restaurant!

Jamie is great. You have to wait a while, but thats normal in Covent Garden. Delicious food and very friendly staff. I specially recommend the noodles with prawns and I love the desserts (especially the Tiramisu).

Wir hatten vorher im Internet am Samstag Abend für ein schönes Diner reserviert. Jamie schreibt schon auf der Speisekarte wie er doch die italienische Lebensart und besonders die Kunst Essen zu genießen, sehr schätzt. Dann liest man das leider nur 1,5h zur Verfügung stehen, danach wird man hinaus gebeten-​passt nicht so ganz zusammen.
Auch sonst muss man sagen das viele Mitarbeiter umher laufen und viel Unruhe verbreiten, dafür wird alles rasch aufgetischt, bis auf unseren Tisch. Es brauchte eine halbe Stunde bis wir unser Glas Wein bestellen durften. Da überlegt man genau was man zu essen bestellt, nicht das man vor der Tür die Mahlzeit beendet.
Ganz so schlimm wird es wohl nicht kommen, doch so kann man es einfach nicht genießen, denn di Atmosphäre ist wirklich super, toll eingerichtet und super freundliches Personal!
Beim Essen hatten wir dasselbe Problem wie unsere Vorredner, das Filet war bereits nach 5 Minuten kalt. Bei den Nudeln mit Lamm, war kaum Lammfleisch zu finden. Sind beides Sachen die nicht passieren dürfen. Zu dem der Preis natürlich etwas über dem Durchschnitt ist, aber dafür sollte man auch entsprechende Qualität bekommen.

Das Essen war super (nichts total aussergewöhnliches, aber doch kreativ und vor allem lecker) und die Preise sind ok ist halt ein berühmter TV-​Koch. Typisch Londoner Preisverhältnis halt. =) Wir waren zu sechst (mit Reservierung) und wurden super bedient. Es lohnt sich (atmosphärisch) im Keller zu reservieren finde ich. Detaillierter Bericht mit Fotos hier:

Bei diesem Namen und den tollen TV Sendungen mussten wir einfach hierher. Trotz nicht zu reservierendem Tisch (per Internet) sind wir einfach gekommen und hatten innerhalb von 5 min einen Tisch. Weil der Laden so voll war, mussten wir natürlich warten, das Essen war teilweise auch nicht mehr so heiss wie es sein sollte. Ich hatte mehr erwartet. Liegt wahrscheinlich am Namen, dass ich eine so grosse Erwartungshaltung hatte. Melzer in HH macht es viel besser! Wenn Ihr nach Hamburg kommt, besucht die Bullerei!

Wir waren acht Gäste, jeder hatte etwas ganz Unterschiedliches bestellt —
und alles war superlecker!
Nettes Ambiente, Preise moderat, jederzeit wieder!
Ohne Reservierung geht hier allerdings nichts.

Fantastic foot and very lovely ambiente. One more reason to join London.