Jamie's Italian opened tonight here in Bath. It's the new Italian concept from celebrity chef Jamie Oliver and Bath is meant to be the flagship of the new chain. We decided to head on over and see how it measured up.
Various photos are on my Flickr page.
Probably this chain will give Carluccio's a run for its money -- they are the closest competitor in terms of concept -- quality Italian food, rustic setting, affordably priced.
For now, however, Jamie's Italian needs a bit of work. There are long waits (they take no reservations) and the bar area is small -- the pasta maker, working nearby, gets lots of room. It wasn't too bad, though -- we put our name on the list, headed around the corner, had mojitos and headed back. Within a few minutes we were brought to our table.
We were seated near the kitchen; tables in this area offered only stools. With my aching right shoulder feeling every one of its 44 years, I would have liked a chair with a back (tables elsewhere in the restaurant did have proper chairs). We also could see no obvious place to hang our jackets -- eventually we settled for piling them onto an empty stool. This is Britain, and people wear coats. Provision must be made. This seems like an oversight.
Noise levels are high, but this is not a bad thing when you have kids -- ambient noise disguises kid noise. We left them at home this time, but probably next time we'll bring them. Ventilation needs some work; smoke from the open kitchen drifted out and clung to our clothes which needed a good airing afterwards. Service was friendly and patient.
Our starters were delicious -- marinated vegetables for J and sausage papardelle for me. The papardelle was very good -- lovely long curly ribbons of fresh-made pasta, cooked nicely al dente under a light red wine sauce with breadcrumbs and crumbled sausage. The marinated vegetables were fresh and still retained some of their firmness.
Unforunately this was the best part of the meal. The mains badly disappointed. My main, "Jamie's Flash Steak," was room temperature at best. The meat was tough and gristly. J's main, the chargrilled Catherine Wheel sausage on a bed of polenta, was awful. The presentation, overly artsy, resembled more a curled-up turd than a delectable sausage. More importantly, it was not so much chargrilled as burnt. It tasted burnt. It was very unpleasant and J could not finish it.
To be fair, this was opening night -- and no one should judge a restaurant by its opening night. Arguably no one should even go to a restaurant on its opening night. We did, so we've got to cut them a lot of slack. And to their credit, when our waitress asked what we thought of our mains and we told her, the manager soon came over, asked what had been wrong, and comped us for both. That's the right thing to do, and we appreciated it.
Jamie's Italian is open for breakfast, lunch and dinner. It's got 200 seats, so other than a modest wait there should be no problem getting a seat -- or a stool. Things should improve as they settle into a routine. There's no reason to bring the curtain down on opening night, and we will be back.
