8 Market Place,
Mayfair,
London,
W1W 8AG
0872 148 3025
The ViewLondon Review
If you've ever been to a Carluccio's – and there are plenty about – you'll know the general idea: fresh, inexpensive Italian food, decent wine, a deli area with pannetonne, antipasti and the like, and a busy, café atmosphere.
Carluccio's in Market Place, behind Oxford Street, is no different, but has a few distinct disadvantages. The wait for tables, even early in the week, can be long; this is a particularly busy branch, due to its location, but seats fewer people than some of the others; in winter it can be very cold, with scarf-muffled diners being not an uncommon sight; and the service, always peremptory, leans at times towards the distinctly rude.
Like its near neighbour behind Selfridges, this Carluccio's has a nice outside seating area, and generates a noisy, distinctly Italian atmosphere. Diners are perhaps a little younger, going on to Market Place afterwards for cocktails, or stopping here after a shopping session in TopShop. It goes without saying that the pasta is deliciously fresh and the dishes simple and authentic, and fans of rustic, unpretentious Italian food will find much to please them (and their pocket) here.
But queuing for half an hour only to find yourself sitting huddled in your coat whilst a staff member points an imperious finger, demanding you move up so another diner can be squeezed in alongside you, is nobody's idea of fun.
Carluccio's has a winning formula which is doubtless generating them a lot of money right across London. But where demand is high, such as at Market Place, they would do well to ensure a "pack 'em in, move 'em out" philosophy doesn’t lose them the loyalty of their target market. This is the West End, and there are, after all, lots of other cheap eats about.