Rate my Bistro

This is Carluccios flagship restaurant and it is spread over two floors. The entrance and interior reminded me of a grand home. It has high ceilings, stone floors and a big spiral staircase. We were seated on the upper level, which looked like the private dining area. There are huge windows that overlook the surrounding streets of Covent Garden. It felt like we were dining in a stately home!

The starter of foccacia bread was a big piece. It was a little heavy and plain to have as a starter dish even though it was served with olive oil to dip in.

The Arancini Di Riso Siciliani are two fried rice balls served with a red pepper sauce. One of the rice balls has a mozzarella filling and the other has meat ragu. I found that even just one of the rice balls is quite filling but what would complement this dish would be a salad.

The Pasta E Fagioli soup is described on the menu as being a thick soup with vegetables, borlotti beans and pasta. It was more of a broth based soup and not as rich as I would have expected it to be.

I have tried two different main dishes at Carluccios and definitely have a preference. I would recommend having the Penne Giardiniera. The pasta is served with a nice mixture of courgettes, fried spinach balls, chilli and comes with Parmesan and garlic. The flavours and textures of this dish really work together!

I really did not enjoy the homemade ravioli. The filling was spinach and ricotta. This dish was not at all filling. It tasted really bland even though it was served with butter and sage. Also, the side dish of spinach with garlic was average.

The Tiramisu is a fantastic dessert! It has the perfect combination of coffee, cream and chocolate. The portion was enough to share!

If you fancy something sweet, but don’t really want a dessert, then you should try the Ciocolatta. This is a satisfying thick hot chocolate with frothy milk on top. If you don’t want the spoonable hot chocolate, then you can always ask for extra hot milk on the side and dilute the chocolate down a bit!

The cappuccino is good and creamy and a nice drink to have at the end of the meal. Carluccios do not serve soy milk.

The staff were really friendly and the service was good. Carluccios have a shop on the ground floor where you can buy lots of Italian goodies and treats!

Carluccios, Garrick Street, Covent Garden, London, WC2E 9BH

Our Rating:

You can’t miss Rendezvous in Leicester Square with its green neon sign and the big ice cream cone at the front of the entrance! Although Rendezvous is in the heart of the West End and in one of the tourist spots of London, it wasn’t that busy when we went there. They have a huge range of ice-creams and frozen yoghurts, all displayed in the front counter fridge.

We had the waffle with kiwi frozen yoghurt and banoffee ice cream. The waffle was quite disappointing as it was just microwaved. I’m not sure if it was because the waffle was stale or if it was because it had been over microwaved, but it resulted in it being very chewy. After a little while, it was way too hard to even cut.

The ice cream and frozen yoghurt were both good! The banoffee ice cream definitely tasted of banana and it had swirls of toffee through it. The green kiwi frozen yoghurt was fairly refreshing but not too sharp!

Rendezvous do coffees, teas and hot chocolates. The latte was creamy and tasted good. The hot chocolate is quite rich. It’s nice that it is made from the liquid chocolate and not drinking chocolate powder like some places.

The staff and the service were nice and friendly. They let us take our time when we couldn’t decide on the flavours of ice cream to choose! The only thing that we were concerned about was the hygiene levels. One of the staff coughed and didn’t wash his hands before serving the food and drinks.

Rendezvous has quite a big outdoor seating area in Leicester Square. It also has the outdoor heaters to keep you warm on the cold days!

Rendezvous, 48 Leicester Square, London, WC2H 2LT

Our Rating:

Leon is quite a small casual restaurant! I liked it and think it would be good at any time of the day! On this particular occasion, I was there in the evening. It had quite a quirky feel to it. When I first entered, I wasn’t really sure what to expect and didn’t know if they would have much seating.

The waitress was really friendly and recommended lots of things on the menu including the Moroccan meatballs, sweet potato falafel and the original superfood salad! Although it was a busy time in the evening, there were a couple of tables free. I chose to sit in the middle part where they have the high chairs and this particular area separated the two halves of the seating area.

It was very dimly lit with some tealight candles! There were random books on the shelves, which I’m not sure if they were there just for decoration. It felt quite cosy and was the perfect place to warm up on a cold rainy day together with some hearty food! The atmosphere was very relaxed and there was some good jazz like music playing in the background.

I was more peckish than wanting a full blown meal so I was happy to see that Leon had a Kids menu! Some restaurants have age restrictions on their Kids menu but this was not the case with Leon.

The Leon Gobi was really good and as it was from the Kids menu, it was served with rice and peas instead of with fresh slaw. The Gobi was like a curry and consisted of chunks of cauliflower and sweet potato. The taste of the coconut milk definitely came through in this dish with the flavours of the spices being milder. The nutty taste of the brown rice was great and it went well with the peas, edamame and green beans! Even though it was a smaller portion than a main meal, I found that it was quite filling.

Leon is good if you have dietary restrictions. They specify on the menu which items are gluten free, wheat free, dairy free, low GI, vegetarian and low animal fat.

The way that it works in Leon is partly self service. Quite a few eateries seem to adopt this idea. The waitress gave me the menu and she also gave me a small paper with the menu on it. She told me that I just filled out my table number and specified which items I wanted. I should then take this to the counter and hand it there. I sometimes prefer this method as then you are not waiting around for the attention of staff and usually it is a quicker way to get your food! This was the case with Leon as in the food was served pretty fast!

Leon has a great range of salads, main dishes, wraps, snacks and desserts. They also do smoothies, juices, coffee and tea. The soups change daily and they also have a daily main special. In the time that I was there, the type of soup that they were serving, changed a couple of times! It’s nice that they have such a variety. All the food seemed really fresh and healthy and you can tell that Leon takes pride in its meals.

Leon, 73-76 Strand, London, WC2R 0DE

Our Rating:

Richoux had a French feel to it with it dark wood decor, deep reds and green seating. This is slightly strange as it describes itself as “the home of traditional English food”. It reminded me a little of Cafe Rouge.

The tea and coffee were both served by the pot. The tea was served in a ceramic pot and the coffee in a metal one.

Richoux has its own blend of tea. This was an average tea and I don’t think that it tasted very different to other black teas. It was nice to get quite a few cups of tea from a single pot!

You can go here for breakfast, lunch or dinner as the menu includes soups, salads, sandwiches, meats, fish, pasta and risotto. They also do afternoon tea and have quite a few pastries, cakes and ice cream sundaes for people who have a sweet tooth!

The service was a little slow and we were there for quite a while before any of the staff came to take our order. On the other hand, it was nice that we did not feel rushed while we were having our drinks, even though the cafe got quite busy at some points!

The staff were pleasant enough but they just seemed that they were there to do their job. The service did not feel very personal.

We were seated at the front of the cafe which meant that there was the constant opening and closing of the door. Also, there were always people walking past and queues of people waiting to be seated. I think that the busyness of Richoux had a lot to do with its central London location.

Richoux, 172 Piccadilly, London, W1J 9EJ

Our Rating:

So, as promised we went back to the newly refurbished BFI Cafe.

The original review from August 2008 can be seen here:

http://ratemybistro.co.uk/bfi-film-cafe/

The interior is all new and they have the separated seating areas: one for the restaurant and the other for the cafe/bar. I think that the bar area has tried to become all trendy and I don’t think it works. It has lost its charm, cosiness and its relaxed atmosphere. It is has become more of a bar than a cafe  and I think that they are enough bars around!

The lighting is dimmer, and its a real shame that they have taken away the high window seats that you could sit on and have views of the river. Also, the big wooden tables and benches that made up the outside seating have gone. This has been replaced with a hedge enclosed table and chairs area.

We used to love the hot chocolates from BFI but not any more. The hot chocolate tasted wooden and like cardboard. Not an indulgent drink at all. It was actually not very drinkable. We miss the rich, creamy hot chocolate that would not fail us, especially on a cold winter’s day. They now serve soy milk.

Now onto the restaurant area. This has actually improved and feels a lot cleaner and defined. There are huge wooden communal tables as well as individual seating. You can still see the open kitchen area.

We had the veggie burger which came with salad. The staff were happy to replace the salad with chips. The bowl of chips were good. They were more like chip shop chips which made a nice change. The veggie burger was really tasty and it was in a nice soft white bun. The veggie burger had a really nice tangy taste  and was very moreish. I would actually say that it is one of the best veggie burgers out there.

One major thing that we had a problem with was the hygiene standards that we could see going on in the kitchen area. This particular situation happened after we had eaten our food. There was a tray of fried onion rings on the shelf between the kitchen area and the restaurant area. One of the chefs was just eating these onion rings  and then in the next moment, he was cooking the food in the kitchen. He did not have any gloves on nor did he wash his hands before making the food. I think that this is quite unacceptable. More should be done to ensure good hygiene practice.

Another thing to mention is that we could see our food just waiting on the shelf, before it was served to us. It was there for a real long time and we were surprised that it was still hot when it was served. The service was quite slow. There seemed to be a lot of staff who did not seem to be very attentive.

All in all, we had a mixed experience. This cafe has lost all its charm. The original star rating, as can be seen from our original review was a fantastic 5 stars.

http://ratemybistro.co.uk/bfi-film-cafe/

We feel that this is no longer justified. BFI used to be one of our most trusted and favourite places. Now, we are not sure that we would really return to this establishment.

The Riverfront at BFI Southbank, Belvedere Road, London, SE1 8XT

Our Rating: