Jamie Oliver - Jamie's Italian etc

[decisionsindecisions]

AIBU to not be at all surprised about the collapse of his restaurant chains?

I feel incredibly sorry for the people who worked there but the food was, for the most part, inedible. His food on his tv shows always looks fantastic but unfortunately this did not seem to translate into his restaurants, particularly Jamie's Italian.

Obviously he was just the "brand" to get people through the door but if the food is shite then the business was sure to fail.

Bella Italia is shit as well now and pretty expensive. I used Tesco vouchers when dc were younger and it was decent value, bloody awful now though.

I only went to Jamie's Italian once, so only tried one of each course off the menu, but in terms of food quality vs value for money, it stands out as the worst restaurant I have been to.

Jamie’s Italian opened the door for the success of Wahaca, Dishoom, Refinery, etc.

How do you figure that exactly

I much preferred Bella Italia. okay, not the most authentic Italian food but it was edible, not swimming in grease and salt, and you could actually have a conversation in the restaurant as it wasn’t the industrial-chic styling where noise bounces around and echos off every surface!

I was impressed at how noisy a half empty restaurant could be!

I also feel sorry for the people that are losing their jobs. We ate once at one of his restaurants and it was absolutely dire. The fact it was stone cold was the best part of it, the wait staff weren't interested when they asked if we enjoyed our meal and we said it could have been better (most of it was left on the plate). We didn't give it a second chance.

It’s a shame that he has blamed the demise of the restaurants on Brexit and rise in minimum wage. Happy to make millions himself but not happy to make sure staff are well paid.

My brother worked with him once and said he was extremely rude to and talked down to everybody. Nobody seemed to like being around him as he was so arrogant. He only worked with him once and refused to do it again.

He’s a complete tosser who deserves to fail 🤷🏼‍♀️

Expensive for mediocre food. His recipes aren't great either, cook it on fifteen minutes, only use five ingredients.... Ok but they taste like you've spent fifteen minutes on them and sometimes you need more than five ingredients to add depth of flavour. I do like his wife's range for Mothercare though

Once went to a Jamie's Italian. They said a 45 minute wait for a table, we said fine we'll wait in the pub opposite. They said we had to stay in their bar (which had nowhere to sit) or they wouldn't hold the table for us.

Whenever we went, except the very first time, they 'kept us at the bar' before going to the table - except the restaurant was half empty. Just stalling to get us through another round of drinks.

I think the food was ok. The portions always on the smaller side, and sides - well, just cheeky that you could rarely order a whole meal.

The prices on top of that took some swallowing, given that nothing else was outstanding. Compare it San Carlo, and it was a pure rip off.

We went to the one in Islington many years ago, and it was terrible. We had to wait half an hour for our table (which was empty) then waited even longer for our food. It was well over £120 for 2 of us, and I can't say I thought it was anything inspiring.

I find with all the Italian chains (Zizzi, Prezzo, Bella Italia, Ask etc) that the sauces are all pre-cooked as are the pastas. And there is no excuse for that. We've got an amazing Independent near us where the pasta is hand made on site, as are the sauces and for £15 you can get the best bowl of linguine with chilli, prawns and lime that there is. We actively avoid most chain restaurants these days.

He won't be the one out on his arse, though, the staff will be. He's tucked up in his £10m property spreading more wankery excuses for cooking.

I went to the JI in Birmingham and the food and service was good. However one opened near our office in London and several people came back saying how poor it was.

Went once. It was worse meal we ever had and left a review on trip advisor before they linked it to fb. Never go to another one. Sorry about the staff

Also not surprised, if the one at Gatwick was anything to go by. Very average and overpriced but that's airport restaurants for you. Awful shame for all of the staff though, hopefully they will have good transferable skills to help them get another job but still a rotten experience to go through, and leaves a lot of restaurant staff on the market at the same time.

@Cariadne wahaca opened in 2007, Jamie's Italian in 2008. I also think there are no similarities to the restaurants at all, I've always found the food at wahaca quick, delicious and seasonal, the cocktails excellent and great customer service. The less said about JI the better

Last year, when it was heading for bankruptcy, he cited Brexit and the increase in Minimum wage as major reasons. Maybe if he paid a little more than minimum wage then the experience in his restaurants would have encouraged repeat business. The fact is was overpriced and the same quality as a supermarket microwave meal didn’t help.

Feel sorry for all those losing jobs and the local suppliers who may not be paid.

The Manchester Jamie is in one of the cities most gorgeous buildings- the old Midland Bank - a beautiful Lutyens deco edifice. I've been a couple of times just because the interior is so lush.

Food was ok for mid range Italian but not special enough to venture into town when there are so many Zizzis and Prezzos and Piccolinos with easier access and parking

Went to one of his restaurant's in London, food was nothing special bit overpriced, sorry for staff being made redundant, won't worry about him he'll be more than okay

Went once to the one in Edinburgh. They brought me the wrong appetiser. We’d waited ages for it so I decided to not wait any longer and just ate it. Overpriced mediocre food,

Not surprised. Went to the Birmingham one and was shocked by how bad the food was, poorly cooked, poor presentation, small portion, served cold, overpriced for quality and one of my group waited so long for his meal that we finished before he was served. Never again!

Sorry for the people who have lost their jobs though.

Much prefer Pizza Express they have an excellent vegan menu.

I can’t see how he can blame anyone but himself, walk around central London in any given day & the good restaurants have queues out the door - in a place where there are nearly as many restaurants as there are people! Never seen a queue outside Jamie’s though.

To be honest I haven't been for a while but I used to quite like it. The children's menu was much more varied than most restaurants of that type. My children used to really enjoy going there. I'm sad they're going. Pizza Express is the one that has gone massively downhill recently. The last time I went there I vowed I would never go back. The menu has been skimmed right back, taking away loads of my favourites and the food was massively overpriced and barely edible.

I also feel incredibly sorry for the frontline staff losing their jobs. As for JO, I’ve never forgiven the twat for introducing disgusting sweeteners to every fucking soft drink in the country! I’m an adult and perfectly capable of deciding whether I want to buy a sugary version of my favourite drink

Millions of people work in minimum wage jobs in the service sector in the UK. Come the impending recession I think quite a few of them will be out of jobs soon. They’ll be even fewer jobs in the next couple of decades as “professional” jobs are automated.