Jamie Oliver's restaurants go titsup.com

Strat_a_tat_tat

SouthpawMark said:

 refusing to pay top prices for average food, reheated by someone just out of catering college. 

FTFY

UnclePsychosis

EricTheWeary said:

Never been to any of them, well tried the Italian in Brum once and it was an hour wait for a table so went elsewhere. 
Nice to see quite a few independent Italian and other restaurants in Scotland last week. Even in Edinburgh whereas B'ham city centre is mostly chains. 

Thankfully there are absolutely loads of Italians and descendents of Italians in Scotland so there are a lot of really great Italian restaurants up here. 

shrinkwrap

Same comments from me: first time it was newly opened and very good, second time boring, third time even worse and grumpy service. Carluccios going the same way. It's the stupid "invesment" companies who think they can churn the same crap out everywhere and no one will notice.

Went to an Ivy Cafe not long ago, spent a good deal more but it was well worth it.

Winny_Pooh

I wonder if in the end he had anything to do with the running of it. I would assume not because it would be frankly embarrassing. 

TheMarlin

He put millions of his own cash into it near the end to try to keep it afloat, so he must have had a hand in it. 

RaymondLin

TheMarlin said:

He put millions of his own cash into it near the end to try to keep it afloat, so he must have had a hand in it. 

If he had any witts in him he would have put it in as a secured loan, so when it goes tits up, like now, he is one of the first in line to get it back.

mikeyrob73

Went once to the to the one in Leeds, food was average and the beer (according to the waitress it was Jamie’s take on an Italian beer made with English ingredients) was the most insipid terrible pish water I have ever had the mispleasure of drinking. 

Jez6345789

The so called casual dining market is in free fall at the moment.
rising rents, declining footfall on the high street and loads of investor simply forcing up margin due to loss of volume to service the debt.

food gets cheapened customers vote with feet fairly rapid decline.

When I got out of food and beverage it was just about the time these places started, every man and his dog had a concept dining brand they were looking to find traction and investment for.

sadly it hard to find a good Italian these days they have all become over creamy cheese sauce fried scallop type of joints even the ones run by Italians are crap or totally over blown.

when I go to Italy my supplier takes us to a little back street trattoria for lunch its family run fresh cooked lunch, 2 courses  bread bit of vino 10 euro and you are stuffed. Something we struggle to do well in the U.K. It’s not fine dining but it’s fresh and very tasty.

LastMantra

Deffo some great Italian grub up here in Scotland. 2 places within 5min walk from me lovely food great service and really decent prices.

No excuses for serving bad Italian type food really. A lot of it is pretty simple stuff. Unless you're getting all pretentious and up your own arse about it.

LordOxygen

Shame for all the staff but Jamie's more or less deserves to close imo, over priced average food at best.

Teetonetal

Went to one in Singapore. So boring and bland. 

SouthpawMark

I’ve always found the best Italian restaurants to be those where you feel like you will have to wipe your feet on the way out. Italian food is supposed to be simple, and what is served up by the likes of Jamie Oliver isn’t true Italian. If you served an Italian what we Brits would class as a bolognese sauce, they would likely not be too impressed. 

Lodious

For me, the real problem with these type of places is that the food is no better than a decent ready meal. It's just so expensive for what it is. I've eaten at Jamie's twice with the family and it's close to 100 quid for the 5 of us for totally forgettable food. I'm actually amazed they have lasted as long as they have. 

It's totally possible to succeed as a midrange restaurant in the UK. We have a Zapp Thai in town which serves fresh and tasty food in a nice atmosphere. They get you seated quickly (none of this 'table will be 15 minutes' when the restaurant is empty bollocks), the service is great and part of the appeal is that it's not a meal you linger over, so they can keep the turnover high and the costs low. It's always busy....they must be making a fortune. I've never been there once when I didn't really enjoy it. 

So much of what food is on offer in the UK is just really bad. Frankie and Benny's, Pizza Hut, TGI Fridays...how the hell are they still in business? It's just total shit. 

Dominic

I don't't think an Italian would have any idea what Bolognese Sauce was ..........they might think it was similar to a Northern Italian Ragu but there is no such thing in Italy;likewise no Chinese Restaurant in China would have a clue what "Chow Mein " was .

TheMarlin

Dominic said:

I don't't think an Italian would have any idea what Bolognese Sauce was ..........they might think it was similar to a Northern Italian Ragu but there is no such thing in Italy;likewise no Chinese Restaurant in China would have a clue what "Chow Mein " was .

That’s true. My brother lives in Beijing, comes back once a year to check in with the patents and see the quack. 
The food he most craves when he gets here is....a Chinese curry.  You can’t get them in China, they have no idea what he’s talking about.  Chinese curry and chips. 

We’re a family of gastronoughts.....

munckee

I found fifteen to be a lot better than the Italian although I had some decent meals in there too. My in laws spent £500 on lunch at Ramsey's at claridges and were hugely disappointed - compared to the riverside at  Bray which is a bit cheaper and a truly wow eating experience. 

Moe_Zambeek

I’ve always found Italian restaurants a bit meh, even good ones up here in Scotland, for the most part they serve food you could make just as well yourself for a fraction of what they charge. Pizza being an exception of course, if you want it wood fired.

 I’d agree with the poster above who said you get better pizza in most French campsites than you’d get in a british italian restaurant...

Ive never been to a Jamie’s but been in plenty of chain Italians and can’t say I’ve ever been impressed. Having said that, the ones round here like Toni Macaroni, Zizzi and such seem to be fairly busy and doing decent trade so that sector seems to be doing OK here.

Dominic

Sorry to be disparaging but even the best Italian food in Italy is a fairly limited Lexicon.......having spent considerable time all over Italy and eating in wonderful places I would say that it's very hard to escape the Wheat , Cheese and Tomato combination in one form or another.....be it shaped as Pasta, Pizza, Piadina ..........sure you have the Tartufo of the Piedmont/ North ,the Porchetta of the Mezzogiorno and the Seafood of the South but that's nothing radical.
 What they do very well is use the very best simple ,natural peasant foods in the best possible way but on a world level there is far more complexity in Syrian / Lebanese food or the whole Asian menu. There are natural Fusions such as Morroccan where there has been a distinct French influence on the Arabic/North African menu creating some superb dishes.
 Sicilian food is far more exciting than most Italian as the Southern Sicilian is African infused and I would rather have good Arrancini than a typical Milanese Risotto or Cannolo with Sicilian Ricotta as opposed to a Northern Pannacotta.
 You can't argue with an aged Gorgonzola .........unless it's sat next to a good Roquefort and Reggiano can't beat an aged Manchego.......so France and Spain have them beat on the Cheese Front.
 Expecting to wake up next to a Horses head ....'cosa a binna disrespectin Nonna '

Snap

Been to a few. Everytime - crap food, crap service.

Strat_a_tat_tat

Sorted....
https://www.heinz.co.uk/products/pasta/ranges/meals/beef-ravioli-in-tomato-sauce