To think Jamie's Italian is overpriced for average food

[brexitstolemyfuture]

Unremarkable pizza and a £6 peice of cheesecake that tasted like it was from a supermarket and a bog standard mojito with low end tasting rum cost me about 35 quid

We've looked at it a few times, it does seem very expensive for what it is

Agree that it's overpriced. Prices aren't that much different to the best 'actual' Italian in town. But you have to book there a month in advance, whereas at Jamie's you can walk right in.

I've read several bad reviews, but adult DS and I went for lunch one day in Guildford (first time) - I thought the price for what we consumed was very reasonable and delicious. The only gripe I had was that the toilets were upstairs. We had no problem climbing stairs ourselves, but I did wonder how other customers might manage if they are wheelchair-bound, or struggle on crutches, for instance.

I went to the one in Oxford a few years ago, shortly after it opened and it was lovely.

Fast forward to this year and I tried the one in Leeds and it was awful.

I can't work out if they've become worse over time or if the quality varies from location to location.

Completely agree.

yes i was shocked at how grim it was. i don't think Jamie would be impressed to eat anything our table was served

yes i was shocked at how grim it was. i don't think Jamie would be impressed to eat anything our table was served

I won't go there again. We went for lunch in the Birmingham one for my birthday last October and ordered starters and mains.
The mains came out around four or five minutes after we ordered and before the starters!
We were sat there a little bit when the original waiter brought our starters over and told him we'd just have the mains since they were there now. They then left the starters on the bill and we had to ask for them to take them off!
Hardly the long birthday lunch I had in mind!

It's your bog standard cheapy Italian chain restaurant.

Terrible. I'm usually not a food snob and can tuck in to almost anything but the pasta dishes really weren't much better than what I could rustle up at home from dried pasta and a 5-minute sauce, except they cost £8!

DP and I went to a Carluccio's in Esher several years ago, it was truly awful. Other customers complained too, so it wasn't just us. Couple of years later, went to a Carluccio's in Richmond. Completely different experience, it was lovely.

I think it depends on the branch/franchise, but there should surely be someone overseeing all branches to ensure they meet certain criteria?

whn it first opened with not many rstaurants it was ok

a soon as he branchd out standards went down-last couple of times i wnt for othrs birthdays was prtty crap

I ate at the Piccadilly circus one and found it nice enough, and not too expensive for lunch. I had the vegetarian anitpasti plank and found it quite tasty.

Have never ever ever had a good meal there.

Every time I've been to the one in Bristol, it's been really lovely food. We always go when they have their kids eat free deal on.

Portsmouth, Cardiff and Bath, not so much. Average.

I find them overpriced and inedible. I have eaten in a couple but the one In Oxford was the worst. I only went as the meals had been organised by other folk but I really cannot recommend them.

YANBU. Dreadful food

I agree it's terrible although my only pregnancy craving was for his prawn and lobster tagliatelle fish so I HAD to go at least once a week. DH and I would sit there moaning about what a knobhead JO was and how shit Jamie's Italian was while I shoveled it down as fast as I could

What I really disliked (aside from the food being pretty uninspiring) was you're just whacked between the eyes with styling, styling, styling. You can't move more than 5ft without stumbling over a JO book or product, or value added stuff like jars of stuff and so on. It's trying so hard to be unassuming and cool it ends up being so obvious that they are trying SO hard with the interior that I think they've forgotten about the food!

Clearly if there's disparity between different locations that indicates poor management, training and understanding of how to replicate quality across multiple sites.

That's why I tend to stick wit Wagamamas and Nando's, simply because I've not had a bad one yet regardless of which one I've gone to (although I did have my usual fave dish at a Waga's in Aylesbury and it was quite below par but that's the one and only time).

Agree with QuestionARhino - if that's the case then total shame on JO because how that fits in with authentic, simple yet high quality fresh ingredients, which are the cornerstone of Italian cooking, I do not know. Any Italian mama would be giving someone a resounding slap if they saw 'Italian' food cooked like that I'm quite sure! I often find Italian food when eaten out ends up being best avoided, not because I don't like it, but because it's so often so poorly done. I'd go as far to say that Ask is better than JOs - never been anywhere nicer like a Carluccio's or anything though.

I went to the one in Birmingham back in October and it turned into a bit of a farce. We ordered off the lunchtime set menu and friends complained about the lack of chicken in the club sandwich, so they were given alternative meals. When the bill came we'd been charged full price for everything, including the meals that were replaced. It took 3 attempts for them to get it right.

They advertise heavily that they can cater for dietary requirements but the reality is the waiting staff have to run back and forth to the kitchen many times to work out what can be adapted. With us the amended dish order was taken, then 15 minutes later they informed us the dish ordered couldn't actually be amended, cue lots of running back and forth again.

After all that the food wasn't great and overpriced for what it was. I was amazed by the queues of people waiting to eat there.

Just looked at the menu, looks really basic with littlle choice. There's just nothing appealing about it at all.
Would never choose to go there myself, though I understand sometimes you have to suit other people.

I was desperate to go for ages.

I don't eat chilli.

Seeing as Every. Fucking. Thing contains chilli, I was really disappointed. Some birthday meal that was! Haven't been back since.

Yanbu. Terrible pizza at that. Wont go in another one now.

What do you expect from a restaurant with that gobshite's name on?

I wasn't impressed either. They wouldn't swap the kids' salad (served in a jar, natch) for cooked veg even though there was various other veg on the menu. There were no kids' meals with any veg other than the jarred salad.

I wasn't asking for turkey twizzlers FFS, just any veg. Everywhere else we've ever asked has managed this no problem.