Carluccio’s

If you want authentic fresh Italian food this should be your first choice! Breakfast is served all day! or if your feeling indecisive you can try the trio of pasta’s.
They also have a great deli where they sell all of their products as well as doing a hot counter at lunch if you’ve got to dash.
I love love love Carluccio’s!

Great restaurant! Showed up with a large group of 8 (didn’t realize we needed reservations) and they still seated us promptly! Also, I was excited to see they had a gluten free menu with a decent selection of items… A hard find when it comes to good Italian! :)

Not good Italian, salads didn’t look fresh, everyone’s pasta was overlooked. Very little mozzarella in the «mozzarella salad», not fresh looking rocket and cherry tomatoes.
Pros: staff is good and reimbursed us for the soggy bruschetta. Antipasti platter was impressive.
Cons: low quality food and too much clatter noise from staff tossing utensils and plates behind the bar.

Underwhelming. Starters were just bad (focaccia, garlic bread and pasta crisps). Entrees ok — all had pasta, served al dente, fairly pleasant but not amazing. Spinach balls were over-​fried. Ordered pear and ricotta gelato but this was new and had apparently not arrived yet. Overall food was very average. Ambience was pleasant as was service. Overall we would not rush back.

I really like Carluccio’s a lot. The customer service is excellent and the food is good. I had the ghnocci. My friend said her chicken salad was good too! The fresh apple juice is also tasty!

Great food, great restaurant, great interiors!

Shared the Tasting Trio for Two. Tried the Pasta con Funghi, Gnocci al Goronzola, & Penne Giardiniera. All were delicious!
Great places for dinner & wine with coworkers or friends.

Beautiful grand interiors in this branch of Carluccios. The service was a bit slow, but my friends and I had only come in for coffees at the end of an evening, so we were happy to chat amongst ourselves while we waited for the bill to be brought over to us.

Only giving this place one star because it is not possible to give it zero! Have given this place the benefit of the doubt and returned a few times, will not bother again! Yes they are busy, our server actually said they were ‘always this busy’, but they just cannot cope with the number of covers! There are always several ‘managers’ wandering around doing nothing, the four tables where we were sitting were all badly served, we waited an age for starters (basically toasted bread with differing sides) and when they eventually arrived one was wrong! (Not rocket science guys!!!), and our mains were brought by before the correct starter had managed to get to the table! No proper apology for this, no drinks offered, we ended up eating out starters separately and then waited again for our mains as fresh ones had to be cooked! The tables around us waited for drinks, food and coffees. I like Carluccios as a chain, but avoid this one at all costs, plenty of other places close by that offer good food and an acceptable level of service.

This is literally the reason I make it through my week full, happy, and without an empty wallet. Shortly after I discovered their lunch takeaway café office lunches for myself and all colleagues have been revolutionised. Delicious. Reasonable price. Healthy. Really good looking food. Can’t wait to continue to eat here multiple times a week for the rest of the year.

Three years after the last review, its probably time for an update. Or a confirmation that standards at the Covent Garden Carluccio’s have fallen since the heady days or 4– and 5-​star reviews.
We were going to the ballet and wanted a nice, simple dinner beforehand. We chose Carluccio’s because we thought we could rely on a chain with a strong reputation; we’d both enjoyed good food in other branches and were looking forward to the meal.
We went for the Fixed Price menu as it included items from the main menu that we would have chosen anyway. But it seems the bargain price of the Fixed Menu (£12-£13 for three courses) doesn’t buy you quality. The bruschetta starter who would have thought an Italian restaurant could make a bad bruschetta! was cold and the super tough piece of toast didn’t even have a full topping. Only half the slice was covered with tomato mix, the rest with cheap salad leaves!
We both chose ravioli for the mains. The (apprx) six pieces of stodgy, tasteless pasta had the meanest filling (not truffle or venison, but spinach and ricotta, so I’m not sure why the stinginess). This was served with the most watery, flavourless sauce ever. Sure, it was a butter sauce, which is usually a subtle flavour, but you should never have to drown a sauce with parmesan and pepper just to make it palatable. Even after that, I couldn’t bring myself to eat it.
In all fairness the staff were very responsive, which is why the review has two stars: When the waitress came to check if we were enjoying our meal, I bluntly told her the pasta was horrible. I was going to leave it at that; we didn’t want to bother complaining as we didn’t want to spoil the rest of the evening. But the waitress obviously passed on the comment to her manager, who came over to us. He was very friendly and pleasant, and I stressed we didn’t want to make a complaint and I wasn’t looking to try another dish. (By that point I wasn’t confident anything else would be better, and we really didn’t have the time.) The manager offered to take the price of the meal off our bill.
However, I can confirm that the ice-​cream and tiramisu were fine.
So, nice staff, nice atmosphere, potential for great value if the food makes the grade, but a waste of time and money if it doesn’t.
I sat through a three hour ballet with my tummy rumbling, unpleasantly distracted with the thought of what I could have for supper when I got home :-(

Thought food was very fresh and delicious. We started with a mushroom bruschetta (special) and it was amazing. We also had a charcuterie platter to start which was also very good. 2 of us had a basic spaghetti and meatballs and it was very good. You could tell the pasta was very fresh. 2 in our party had the chicken saltbocca. It was a very large piece of chicken. I had a bite of it and it was very tender and juicy. I would definitely go back there!

at the end of a long day of touristy activity we ended up in this area in Covent Garden. We were specifically looking to stop at Tesco to pick up a couple things.
Tesco was shuttered for a remod, so we decided to check into Carluccio’s for dinner.
While I know it’s a local chain it was quite good.
The wait staff was knowledgeable and charming, the food was quite good, the portions were reasonable without being elephantine (see Olive Garden — US).
The wine recommendations were very nice and a good meal was had by all.
We enjoyed dinner enough that we decided to try them for breakfast as well.
Their take on eggs benedict was a hit with everyone.
Again, our waitress was knowledgeable and charming, helpful without hovering.
We were very pleased with both of our visits to Carluccio’s and I expect we will visit them again next time we’re in London.

I always find Carluccio a bit hit and miss. Having been there many times here are my observations. For those who are Gluten free the pasta dishes are fantastic. They’re fresh and taste a whole load better than Gluten free pasta from the supermarket. The normal pasta dishes are pretty good, nothing special though. I think Carluccio wins on its risotto dishes, always delicious. They lose on their steak (always overcooked), and some of their fish dishes. The desserts are always delicious. So there you go, mixed bag!

I love Carluccio’s and it most definitely belongs to one of my favourite Italian chain restaurants.
I must say the food was good, but it is at every Carluccio’s restaurant I go, but I am just not too big of a fan of this particular restaurant. It is quite big and massive and looses its ambiance this way. Don’t get me wrong it’s still Carluccio’s and it’s still great I just prefer the one at Barrett Street just off Oxford Street which has so much more flair and ambiance to it and makes the whole Carluccio’s experience so much nicer.

The most TERRIBLE service and restaurant experience I have ever encounter because of the following things:
1. The waiter did not understand our order and therefore when I was eating my main meal my husband was eating nothing because he had eaten his main meal when I was eating my starter.
2. I had a small fly in my glass.
3. I had to wait about 30 mins for main meal after my starter.
4. By the time I had finished my main meal I was quite angry and could not have the (esspresso) drink as part of the set menu. They over charged me even though I clearly stated that I had wanted the set menu.
5. They forgot one part of the starter so the waiter had to give me the money back in coins.
6. No acknowledgement that the service I got was absolutely appalling.
DON’T EVER GO HERE unless you want a terrible time!

This is definitely one of the nicest branches in this ever growing chain.
However, a recent visit was marred by long waiting times and rather desinterested shop staff. A bit of a disappointment to be completely ignored when the maitre d’ recommends the wine tastine next door.
Oh well, their penne with courgettes and spinach balls is the perfect comfort food to get over this rather slack experience in no time at all.
Perfect spot for a quick dinner before theatre.

A friend who grew up in London suggested this to me today as a great place to get what we Americans like to call «brunch» that odd meal that is a combination of breakfast and lunch. Carluccio’s has a number of locations in London– but this is their flagship location.
Located in Covent Garden just about a block from the Tube Station at Leicester Square, Carluccio’s is located in an old building and uses all three stories with a beautiful worn stone staircase curving up and around to the upper dining area. The place was packed (obviously everyone had the same idea) so it took awhile to get seated. Also– know that this is not a quiet restaurant so know before you go if you are looking for a quiet dining experience you won’t find it here.
Once seated– I had to wait about 25 minutes before I was able to flag someone down to see about placing my order. While apologetic– I watched table after table try to get our server’s attention to no avail.
I wanted to order Eggs Benedict but they had run out of hollandaise sauce (odd since it is made with eggs and lemon juice and some spices which a restaurant surely must have) but I went along with it and ordered scrambled eggs with mushrooms, tomatoes and ham instead.
The food came up promptly although the toast that was described on the menu was actually under the food rather than served on the side. It was all very salty which was also surprising given the movement toward lowered sodium in the UK.
I decided to redeem my visit (and get the salt taste out of my mouth) with a dish of strawberry gelato which was absolutely delicious (what can be wrong with gelato of any flavor, I ask you?)
All in all. .a bit pricey for what you get and I wish the service had been better. But as for that gelato? I’d go back in a second!

Love this place. Good food. Could be a bit cheaper for what they server. Check it out …
Its kewl

This is probably the Carluccios with the most individual interior, compared to the usual design of the other Carluccios dotted around London. It is set in a beautiful building over two floors, with winding stair cases and high ceilings.
The food is consistently good in all the restaurants in the chain, but this is the place to go for the nicest atmosphere.