Ristorante Olivelli, London

12.16.2014

When it comes to late night eating, there doesn't seems to be many options to choose from. After waiting for a friend forever who was participating at the 6th London Chess Classic, it was drawing to around 11pm on a Friday night. Standing at Bond Street tube station, trying to locate a place that was still serving food. Patty and Bun was already out of the box, last order has ended. We headed to Meatliqour but my friend Andrew dimmed the place to be too loud of music. So we wandered around and came across this small Italian restaurant on St. Christopher's Place just behind Oxford Street, which was still open and serving food.

St. Christopher's Place is always packed full of tourists which I generally find a little off-putting, it was late at night and we had no other choice. Olivelli is a small Italian restaurant, the tables are packed closely,  ambience and décor very non Italian. The waiters seemed more intent on gossiping with each other than serving us properly.

Basket of Garlic Bread

Spaghetti Pesctore

Risotto Frutti Di Mare

Food came fairly quick with the garlic bread coming piping hot and mildly flavoured. Spaghetii Pesctore (calamari, clams, garlic, mussels, king prawn, chillies, vine tomatoes and a dash of pomodoro) was mediocre and lukewarm, For sure, I can cook better pasta than this and taste more authentic. Pasta is cooked from dried pasta, everything was overcooked and feels like it was reheated and lacking flavour. Andrew had the Risotto Fruitti Di Mare (Mixed shellfish risotto simmered in fish stock - calamari, clams, mussels, king prawn, chillies, garlic and pomodoro) and he asked for the rice to be soft which the waiter didn't understand at first. Personally I think risotto needs to be al denta but Chinese prefers it soft. The risotto looked very unappealing and probably on par with the pasta dish.

The moment I stepped into this small Italian restaurant, I had a feeling it was going to be dreadful and definitely not authentic. Service was poor, despite the waiters talking loudly they were still attentive probably due to the fact there was only few tables left before closing. Food is appalling, not authentic and cheap ingredients was used. It's expensive for the small amount of food that was ordered including a can of aranciata and a slapped of 12.5% service charge. You can find better unless you are trapped of time. Go to nearby Carluccio's or Côte Restaurants.

Score Rating: 1/5
Price: £20-30/head (£40 for 2 people)

Olivelli on Urbanspoon

http://ristoranteolivelli.co.uk/

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