Category: Brasserie
Bertorelli (St. Martin’s Lane branch),in the middle of the theatre district,really has a great location. However,this is the only positive thing I can say about this restaurant which serves overpriced,utterly indistinctive food.
I went there with a group of girls before seeing Enron at the Noel Coward Theatre for a light and fast pre-theatre dinner. The service is slow,my god! Fortunately we had enough time and only ordered one course…!
Food-wise,the disappointment started with the bread which was very dry and unsavoury,not helped by the tasteless olive oil it was served with.
I didn’t like their menu - I personally often prefer simple pasta dishes to sophisticated ones and I think each Italian restaurants should have some simple and cheap(ish) pasta on the menu. Bertorelli doesn’t. Everything is either with meat or fish and nothing below 10.95£ (why they can’t write 11£ I don’t know).
I didn’t feel like either so my escape seemed the Raviolini di ricotta e spinaci (10.95£).Raviolini are per definition “very small ravioli”–I got very large ravioli filled with dry and tasteless ricotta,possibly also with some spinach somewhere. My giant ravioli were served with butter and a couple of lonely sage leaves that did not taste of very much either. I added about half a bottle of olive oil and loads of salt and pepper,–then it was kind of edible,but by no means good.
The pizza (Bianca di Parma, 10.50£) was ok. It was not exciting,it was not delicious,it was ok (with a lot of salt and olive oil).
So in my opinion there is absolutely NO reason to go there unless you like bland and overpriced food and slow service. And really –I don’t accept the “good location”argument,hey,you are in the middle of London’s most exciting restaurants,and Bertorelli clearly is not one of them…
- Food: 3/10
- Ambiance: 4/10
- Service: 5/10
- Value for money: 3/10
- Chances of returning: 0%
- Verdict: bland,overpriced and slow
37 St Martins Ln
London,WC2N 4
(020) 7836 5837
www.bertorelliristorante.co.uk
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