To think Jamie's Italian failed due to being shit rather than brexit

[Ll81]

www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-5377965/Jamie-Olivers-Italian-restaurant-empire-racks-debts.html#article-5377965

Brexit is going to cause lots of problems for many years to come, but it's just a cheap shot blaming brexit. I've eaten in his Italian places twice and it was pretty shit food and bad value. Brexit or not I'm sure it wouldn't make much difference to his buisness this quickly.

I've been twice, thought it was hugely overpriced. Went on mat leave once to my local one, so midweek, the place was virtually empty and the service was still awful. It's one of the ones slated for closure and JO has been in the news claiming he only opened it because of his local loyalty. Nothing to do with the fact that it is a reasonably affluent area that comfortably supports a large number of mid range chain restaurants including quite a few that have opened since Jamie's.

We went once, it was beyond dire.

DH and I used to go to the Jamie's at Canary Wharf and thought it was wonderful.... we always used to take international guests there for a meal as it was reliably good food in a buzzy atmosphere.
Haven't been there for about 3 or 4 years though so may now not be what I remember?

A PP mentioned Carluccios as an example of another restaurant chain that has traded on it's celebrity chef name for far too long... I couldn't agree more! Bland, overpriced food and disinterested service imo.

Glad it’s not just us that got poor service! We waited an inordinately long time for drinks (20 minutes), for someone to come and take our food order (another 20 minutes), the actual food (another 20 minutes) and I had a 3 year old with me and his patience was wearing thin!!
It wasn’t even that busy. Very expensive for what you get as well.

Jools?

Ha that's what I was thinking, I wonder if she's one of the very very few posative comments here.

It was foolish to attach his name so such poor food with such high prices. I just wonder why, ego? Money?

I went the other day and had a salad that was a main meal.. for £18.50. Thought it would be huge. Was literally a side salad with salmon on top. Couldn't believe it

I'll stick to the lovely Italian/Albanian place down the road from me. 3 courses for £6.95 and always gorgeous food and fantastic service. Plus less than £14 for a decent bottle of wine.

This reminds me of the mushrooms on toast starter I had in the Cardiff branch- absolutely freezing cold. When I complained they said it wasn’t meant to be hot, I knew that but I’m pretty sure Jamie Oliver wouldn’t eat soggy mushrooms straight out of the fridge, they were grim. In fairness I had a couple of nice meals in Brighton and London branches years ago. A couple of mediocre ones in a row put me off though, I quite like Ask Italian if I need to go to a chain place.

I'm new to this story...... Did that Mockney idiot blame the failure of his shitty restaurants on Brexit?

What a bellend that man is......

He’s not even Italian !
I thought it was pretty arrogant for a cockney to start a chain of ITALIAN restaurants.

Never nice to see a business fail, thought.

I like J.0. He's got a social conscience and has done a lot of good work. The Fifteen project and improving school dinners.

I had a good meal at the Canary Wharf branch about 7 years ago, but have to admit when I went again last year it was disappointing. I agree with pp about the chilli. One fleck at the back of my throat sets off a coughing fit, streaming eyes and nose, which left me with v little choice for a main. And it wasn't good value at all.

Not sure why people like Pizza Express. The acoustics are terrible, so many hard surfaces. We all end up shouting to be heard above the din.

The Bristol one is shit and surrounded by multiple better places. I got sent away once because it was 'full', most of the place was empty.

Jamie presents himself as one of the good guys, so if the reports of staff and small suppliers being owed money, He should reimburse them out of his own pocket

If what the papers have said is true his personal fortune won’t be affected by the huge debt he’s in. It will be left to the people he owes money to to shoulder it.

We went to one once and it was okay. It was hard to see what it's USP was though so I'm not surprised they have failed.

Im in Oz, so I don't see how he can blame Brexit for the JO's here losing money! I went to the one in Perth not long after it opened, it was constantly booked out and everyone wanted to go! It was pretty expensive but the food was great and the atmosphere in the restaurant was terrific. Fast forward a little while and all of a sudden I was hearing it wasn't so good, then my friends were saying avoid at all costs, the food is rubbish. its now a lot cheaper than it used to be, but it always looks empty and I never hear of anyone going there any more. So its hardly Brexit's fault, we're on the other side of the world ffs!

I’m going to go against the grain as I’ve been to the Greenwich one about ten times over the years and always thought it was ok! I’m a veggie too. I think it is what it is, cheapish (for London where even pub food is about £16 plus for a main these days) and cheerful. With young kids it’s useful to go in the greenwich one as it’s quite roomy and buggy (there’s a ‘parking’ area for them) and space isn’t an issue. Always packed and not easy to get a table at weekends but that’s the same for everywhere in that part of town on a weekend due to the visitors/tourists.

I've been once - because I saw an advert for their "Italian nachos" (basically fried ravioli) that made them sound amazing. It wasn't so great as all that but OK. The thing that made me totally disillusioned was this time last year researching a place to book for a Mothering Sunday meal out and the only vegetarian option on their restricted set menu* was the salad. So obviously any mums being taken out for a treat on Mothering Sunday who happen to be veggie must be on a diet/not that hungry.

*(gotta have a limited menu on special days like mothering sunday and valentines day to make sure that as many people as possible have a depressing and mediocre experience - that is universal to all restaurants obviously)

Bloody hell it must be expensive if people are saying that it's expensive compared to pizza express and all the other Italian chains, which are overpriced compared to the average independent Italian restaurant.

I've often thought of going but won't bother now.

I really like Jamie’s Italian. Actually really decent food at a decent price. Way better than carluchios which is the same price point and always disappointing.

Hated Jamie's Italian, waiters were rude, food was overpriced and rubbish. We also had to do the waiting, staring at empty tables until someone suddenly decided we could be seated. Wish we didn't bother.

I've since found Carluccio's who's food/waiters/cost is so much better. Seems Jamie tried to copy his friend without paying attention to what works but sticking his name on it and hoping for the best.

Completely agree over priced and tiny portions. First time I went I complained and got a free meal though.
Food was nice but not wow like it should be for the price. I had a small salad last time to save money my lord it was tiny.
Decor is quite cool though.

Bella Italia is lovely though, we’ve three local independents I keep meaning to try though.

I think fifteen is still going strong. I went there for lunch that was nice.

Never been simply due to the reviews! So it dont surprise me

It doesn’t surprise me restaurants in general are struggling though, they got a lot more expensive about a year ago and we’ve certainly stopped going as much. It’s now a rare treat we go out of our way for. Instead of thinking ‘well it’s only a few quid more to eat out than cook it’

But that might just be us

Totally agree. Ate there once, and the spaghetti Bolognese was fatty and grim. Had a really bad stomach afterwards.