Jamie's Italian

[PhilD]

Jamie Oliver has just opened his second "authentic italian" in Bath. We went last night and had a mixed experience which we will put down to teething problems during the first week. We are going to give it another go, but it needs to get a lot better even at this price point. Hopefully it does because it has the makings of a cheap place for some simple food.

Generro (Jamie's mentor) was superviseing but the kitchen stumbled a few times. First a very heavily salted truffle pasta with a watery sauce, second a burnt bitter sausage swimming in polenta, and finally a carpaccio of beef made with Bresola rather than raw beef (are the punters scared of raw meat?)

We had soldered on with the pasta rather than send it back, but the sausage did go back, and the manager said the carpaccio title was misleading (although he seemed to think carpaccio means "sliced thinly"). We did let the staff know about the problems and they seemed OK about the complaints. The sausage was replaced without to much fuss - although they did start to tell me it was simply what chargrilled was like. They promised to check the pasta cooking water, so it will be interesting to see if it improves, although I think there was poor cooking as well as the sauce was so thin.

The one thing we will avoid is the wine. We tried four, the cheapest and most expensive) and all were dire. Not much fun to drink and a banging headache (reminiscent of student excess) the next day.

One comment: the Oxford branch opened to universal approval from all the usual critics. Is the Bath branch less good, or is there something wrong with their critical skills?

Anyone else tried the Bath, or the Oxford branch? (Kingston opens next then Brighton).

Edited October 10, 2008 by PhilD (log)