Rate My Bistro

There is no major sign indicating the property of Circus. All we saw were some black doors that were open and then looking inside, we could see that there was some sort of dining area. It’s only when we went inside the building, that there was the Circus sign in lights on one of the entrance walls.

The decor is quite cool and quirky. There was a main long dining table with a few hoops above it, which we were told was for the circus entertainment in the evening. The other tables were to one side of the main dining table. The chairs were a mish mash of plastic and material chairs, all in black, white or translucent. On the other side of the main table, you could see the kitchen area.

Circus reminded us quite a lot of the Sway Bar and Kitchen in Holborn:

http://ratemybistro.co.uk/sway-bar-and-kitchen-holborn/

There was also an additional area filled with comfy seats and seemed like a good place to be able to lounge! The walls and lights were glittery and shiny!

The menu had some variety but it only had one main vegetarian item. To start off the meal, we had the baby squid and the chicken wings. The crispy fried baby squid was ok; it wasn’t greasy. It was supposed to have a sticky coconut glaze but I couldn’t taste it.

The tamarind and chipotle chicken wings was a good portion. I was glad that it came with a hot sauce and a blue cheese dip, as the chicken wings on their own seemed to lack flavour. The chicken wings were tender.

I was hoping that the main dishes and the side orders were going to be tasty. The vegetarian parcels was like a big round puff pastry pasty! It was filled with cheese, sweetcorn, black beans and other vegetables. It was very filling and it also came with a pomegranate and pecan salad. Again, it needed the coconut dip to give it that extra flavour. It was nice that it was a baked dish.

The chorizo and king prawn pizette was average. It was quite dense with the toppings and also with the cheese. The pizette was enough for one person.

To go with the meal, we had cornbread and portobello mushrooms. The cornbread came with Cajun honey butter and it was four thick triangle slices. Unfortunately the cornbread was really very bland and only tasted  better when we dipped it into the coconut dip.

The portobello mushrooms were a better choice. They were presented in a little clay pot and were quite juicy. They had been flavoured with garlic butter.

For drinks, there was a good range of hot and cold drinks. I had the fresh mint tea which was served by the pot. The little teacup that came with it had some quirky circus related image!

The staff was friendly and gave service with a smile. We were served quite efficiently and it was good to see that the staff were knowledgeable about the items on the menu.

Circus had made the effort on the presentation of all their dishes. It is a shame that most of the food was bland and it just lacked that little something. It had seemed to have got everything else right, such as the decor, the service and the ambiance!

Circus, 27-29 Endell Street, Covent Garden, London, WC2H 9BA

Our Rating:

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:

Wahaca calls itself Mexican market eating! This restaurant is located below street level. It all looks bright with a turquoise colour theme, wood panelling and bare concrete walls.

First impressions definitely count for something on most occasions and for Wahaca, this did not work in its favour. When we arrived, the restaurant was fairly empty. We asked for a table for three people and the waiter showed us to a table that was clearly just for two people. So we asked if we could change to a slighter bigger table and he let us but wasn’t too happy with us doing so.

I’ll talk about the food and drinks first and then go onto the service. Two very different experiences! I decided on sampling the street food, so had the seasonal vegetables tacos. These were three palm sized soft corn tortillas topped with vegetables. The seasonal vegetables were the autumn ones which included winter greens, butternut squash, red onions, garlic, mushrooms and ancho chilli. The vegetables were chopped up into bite size pieces and were tasty. The kick of the chilli came through even though it was not supposed to be a spicy dish!

To accompany the tacos, the green rice was a good choice. This was rice with onion, coriander and garlic. The rice was not served that hot, it was more like lukewarm.

To have something different to drink, the Horchata almond and rice milk took my fancy. This dairy free milk was served cold with cinnamon. It was too sweet for my liking. I’m not sure if sugar was added to it. If it was, then it would have tasted a lot better without it.

Now onto the staff and the service. The food was served fairly quickly and we were told that the dishes were likely to be served at different times, depending on when the kitchen made each one. We were fine with that aspect of it.

What really got to us was that the waitress was really annoying and very abrupt. She kept coming over constantly and asking if we needed anything or wanted to order additional items. This is acceptable the once or the twice, but we found it very rude of her to keep doing it. It meant that we could not have a conversation among ourselves without being interrupted.

Also, we felt that we were not allowed to take our time to enjoy the food and drink. We were given the impression that the staff wanted us to order, eat up our food and leave. Wahaca did get really busy while we were there and there were so many people all gathered and queuing around the seating area. It all did not make for a good dining experience.

At the end, the waitress just cleared up our table and told us that she was bringing us the bill. Even if there was a queue of people waiting for tables, we should have been allowed to take our time to enjoy the food and the company of friends. We were paying customers who had come out for a dinner get together. It is a shame that we had such a bad experience with the staff. They need to learn some basic manners and about good customer service.

Wahaca, 66 Chandos Place, Covent Garden, London, WC2N 4HG

Our Rating:

Sway is quite a trendy looking place from the outside and we were welcomed by the friendly smiling staff as soon as we entered. The restaurant area is on the same floor as the bar but is separated by a small divide. Take a look at the fresh fish fridge as you walk to your table!

The deep red tones and wooden tables sets the atmosphere. The open kitchen area is situated at the back of the restaurant. As for the music, it was fairly up to date with current chart songs playing. It was a little loud for a restaurant but I guess that is what you get for having the restaurant and bar sharing the same place!

The fish and chips was a good portion served with tartare sauce and mushy peas. It would have been nice for more mushy peas! The chips were not greasy and there were a lot of them! It was quirky that the fish and chips were served wrapped in paper with a slice of lemon on top!

The char-grilled chicken breast was tender and the dish was nicely presented. It went well with the additional sauteed potatoes, wild mushrooms and rocket leaves.

For dessert, we had the chocolate and hazelnut roulade. This was overly sweet. It was an amalgamation of ice cream with a biscuit layer. It was served with some chocolate sauce but it really didn’t need any more sweetness. Sway would have been better to replace the sauce with some plain vanilla ice cream!

The service was ok but not fantastic. The staff could have been more attentive. We had told them at the start of the meal that we needed to leave the restaurant by a certain time. Even though this had been mentioned, we were waiting a long time for our dessert. It got to the point where I had to go and approach one of the staff to ask if the dessert could be served soon.

Sway is a nice enough place to go for dinner, drinks or some snacks but I think that there are other eateries in the vicinity that could be a better option!

Sway, 61-65 Great Queen Street, London, WC2B 5BZ

Our Rating:

This Neapolitan restaurant is situated on the premises where the former sushi eatery Gili Gulu used to be! Rossopomodoro’s  menu is quite extensive ranging from the usual pizzas, pastas, salads to fried pizzas, grills and a selection of starters.

We were quite impressed with the quality of the food the first time we ate at Rossopomodoro. We had the A Tiella to start with. These are mixed fritters of fried breaded mozzarella, rice balls, potato dumplings and fried dough balls with tomato and cheese. It was a very filling starter even though we shared it between the two of us! 

The Padulese pizza was good with the fresh cherry tomatoes and two cheeses: Provola and ricotta. Although this pizza had no tomato sauce, it did not lack in flavour.

As for hot drinks, they only do coffees and no hot chocolate. The service was good and friendly. There is a very warm feeling to this restaurant, which is helped with the earthy tones of the decor and all the wooden furniture. Nice touches are the fairy lights and the hamper wrapped baskets dotted around the dining area.

Now onto the second time we came to Rossopomodoro. There was a larger number of us in our party so we had a two course set menu to choose from. The A Tiella starter was very greasy and not as satisfying as the first time that we had eaten it. The A Partenopea bruschetta was a better fresher choice with the tasty tomatoes.

The Cafuncella pizzas were a huge disappointment with many of the guests unable to finish them due to the saltiness of the cheese. We thought that this would have been a good pizza with its toppings of potato wedges and pancetta.

The Fru Fru, the three seasons oval pizza, was a lot better with its ricotta and salami, mozzarella and mushrooms, tomato sauce and mozzarella. The pizza base was also really tasty.

The best dishes that were had were the pasta ones. The quality of the pasta and the fresh vegetables and cheese worked really well together.

No complaints on the dessert front! The Nero Magna, hot chocolate souffle, was a great chocolate treat with its creamy chocolate centre and buffalo ice cream. A nice alternative and very moreish choice was the Calde Calde warm doughnuts with Nutella.

There was a bit of a language barrier that we came across with a couple of the staff.  A few times they really did not understand what we were asking for. As this party was a planned one, we would have expected one of the managers to be on the upper level overseeing the whole occasion and to have made sure that all was going to plan. Although saying that, most of the food was brought out together and only a couple of the guests were waiting slightly longer for their food.

We would return to this Rossopomodoro as we had no complaints when there was just a small number of us dining here. Some of the above points were taken up with the manager of the branch and hopefully they will have implemented some improvements.

Rossopomodoro, 50-52 Monmouth St, London, WC2H 9EP

Our Rating:

A great pizzeria tucked away from the busy streets of Covent Garden. This restaurant is quite small although it does have some tables downstairs. We were lucky to be seated upstairs!

The decor is pretty cool; nice artwork on the wall and strings of lights near the back of the restaurant. The staff were really friendly and the service was good.

Freshly baked pizzas with generous toppings is what we experienced. The food was tasty and it was nice that the atmosphere was fairly relaxed.

Sapori, 43 Drury Lane, London, WC2B 5RT

Our Rating:

This is a pizza restaurant with a difference; it has the biggest range of pizzas that I have seen on a menu. They have pizzas named after places around the world and the names reflect the ingredients used on the pizza!

The Byron Bay pizza had great flavours with its toppings of mixed mushrooms, garlic and rosemary roasted potatoes, basil pesto, mozzarella, caramelized onion jam and smoked paprika.

Other pizzas that have been sampled were of equal tastiness! Imagine having a Thai green curry influenced pizza (Koi Samui) or a tandoori chicken one (Bombay). May sound a bit extreme but trust me, it works!  

The smoothies were quite good. If you like something a little sharp, then go for the Tutti Frutti Smoothie (melon, kiwi, raspberry, peach and apple juices). For something sweet, then there’s the Chocolate Brownie shake (chocolate brownie, chocolate ice cream and milk).

To top off the meal, the chocolate brownie with Madagascan ice cream was yummy! If you still feel like more pizza, then there is a dessert pizza on the menu!

Fire and Stone have good meal offers if you book online. The flaw with that is that you only have 2 hours at the table.  

Here is a great modern pizza restaurant in the heart of London which has the largest wood-fired oven in the Northern hemisphere! 

Fire and Stone, 31/32 Maiden Lane, Covent Garden, London, WC2E 7JS

Our Rating: