Shari Solo

Review of Ristorante Il Pagliaccio **

Lovely staff and tasting menu was a long and varie...

Lovely staff and tasting menu was a long and varied tour de force. I found the sommelier a bit pushy. In a 2 star that is unacceptable. All the food was decent with moments of inspiration but a number of courses had one thing in them that either rocked the balance or were just average, with others being a little dull such as the dim sum and a rather uninspiring clear soup which the chef decided to add 70EUR of truffles to with lacklustre effect. It was not the best dish to add the ingredient to. We were cold throughout the meal. Sadly the venue was an overly bright venue and very cold even though the staff tried their best to turn up the heating. It was nothing cosy nor romantic. All sounds a bit picky? Yes sure- I paid 400Eur for two with only one bottle of wine. I have in London visited many restaurants with zero stars and left having a better experience. Inconsistency is unacceptable at this level. My advice to the restaurant is to look at refining the courses further and build more narrative in the dishes, improve the interior and plating to create more drama and look for weaknesses in the entire tasting menu and omit them.