Fifteen
our review
We all know, or should, that Fifteen is a charitable organisation that employs people, who might otherwise have very different life prospects, and sends all its profits to charity. This is very admirable. Does it mean we can’t review it as we would any other restaurant? I think not.
Impressions were initially good, upstairs the Trattoria part was buzzy and plates of simple, honest grub were being whizzed about. But ouch, £10 for a glass of white wine retailing at £12.75 a bottle in Berry Bros is a bit cheeky chappie innit Jamie? Maybe the visitors to JamieWorld, who all asked for a copy of the menu as a souvenir as they left and the New Labour Londoners who clearly felt that this was a guilt-free way of reminiscing about holidays in Italy didn’t object, but I did.
Downstairs in ‘fine dining’ was a mural of toe-curling naffness consisting of the word Fifteen painted by spraycans. This sort of homage to street art (street filth actually) went out of fashion many, many years ago. The tables were small and of course didn’t have tablecloths; just smear stains on the formica from indifferent wiping with a damp cloth. In the open kitchen far too many people appeared to be doing far too little. There was none of the snap and crackle of a top end kitchen and it was immediately worrying. If the chef was the bloke with the pen behind his ear leaning against a pillar chatting, he appeared to be doing least of all and never approached the pass to carry out last minute tuning of dishes. This could have been confidence, if so it was sorely misplaced
The dinner menu was £60 and advertised as a six course tasting menu. That was not quite accurate as a tasting menu doesn’t normally offer a choice of dishes, as was done here, and it wasn’t really six courses anyway as in most restaurants nibbles and amuse bouches don’t normally count as courses. Nor does the coffee, actually Jamie. The waiter tried hard, too hard, to sell us up to having wines for each course but we held our ground
The focaccia, olives and salumi nibbles were fine, but then it’s hard to make a mess of something that simple. The Devonshire crab was fresh and tasty, so top marks to the supplier, but the chilli advertised was invisible to the eye and tongue, the lemon aioli tasted of neither lemon nor garlic and the dressed fennel seemed pretty naked. On the other side a salad of speck, melon, pea shoots and ‘cracked’ pepper was no better than the sort of starter fashionable in the 70’s. The speck was fine but the melon lacked sweetness, there were no pea shoots I could see and the ‘cracked’ pepper was nothing but a very fine dust. Hopeless in every way. Oh and they brought us the wrong dish initially.
Seafood risotto was better. The rice properly al dente, the crab bisque well flavoured. The clams were few and far between though and there was grit in the mussels. I also object to being told to ‘enjoy, yeah?’ by the waitress but perhaps I am in the minority on that one. Pasta, pompously referred to as ‘fatte in casa’ was okay with its Welsh lamb ragu, but the words Spag Boll kept floating to the top of my mind.
And so to mains, a shoulder of ‘Pete Gott’s ‘ pork had billowing, fluffy fat but not a great deal of meat to absorb the flavours and the potato ‘al forno’ was undercooked and dull. Once again many of the advertised ingredients seemed either minimal or missing entirely. Loin of Welsh lamb was cooked rare as requested but was surprisingly one of the least flavoured pieces of lamb I’ve eaten for a long time. The surrounding borlotti beans were good and the cavolo nero which the menu said was ‘first of the season’, but whose season? was its usual assertive self. Desserts were nothing special.
The whole lot with five glasses of wine, a bottle of water and service came to a ridiculous £180 for two. I would have preferred to have paid the correct price, in my estimation about £75, and put the rest in the charity box as I hurried out. I may have caught a bad night, but somehow I think complacency and cockiness have settled into Fifteen. Jamie needs to make a surprise visit and soon.
N.H. - September 2007
your comments review this restaurant and win a bottle of champagne
I have been to Fifteen twice this year and thoroughly enjoyed both visits. The first was to the restuarant with the tasting menu. I thought the food was amazing, and the waitor really helpful, and actually took the time to give information relating to the ingredients. The desert i had (chocolate torte with cherries) was simly the best desert i have ever eaten.
In terms of wines, i think there are a good selection, from £20 a bottle for the house wine right up the scale. We opted for one at the lower end of the price bracket and thought it really good.
The second visit last week was to the trattoria. A completely different experience, far more relaxed (as was to be expected), and prices reasonable for a restuarant in London. Again staff were helpfull, cheerful and attentive. Food was really good also, although i did find the choice of desert quite tame -i really had my eyes on some of the deserts that were served in the restuarant, but had to make do with the brownie... not very exciting, but nice none the less.
I would definately come again... maybe next time to try the brunch!
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Fran
Overall rating 
Food 8 | Service 8 | Atmosphere 9 | Value for money 7
Tuesday, October 07, 2008
Total waste of time - better off going to your local Curry Shop!
After spending £170 for a very ordinary meal for 2, I felt extremely disappointed. Never again!
The Restaurant gives you a feeling of claustrophobia; you're basically 30cm from the table next to you. It was a totally rubbish evening.
If you do decide to go there, you will feel like you have been taken advantage of.
The only positive thing was the staff. They were very hospitable.
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Volkan Bekiroglu - View all reviews by this user
Overall rating 
Food 3 | Service 6 | Atmosphere 2 | Value for money 0
Tuesday, September 30, 2008
My wife and I had the tasting menu yesterday evening and one has to admit that it was a complete waste of money. The menu was 60 pounds each (which compares to some michelin starred restaurants) but with glasses of (bad) house wine at 11 pounds and 14 pounds for a glass of champagne, we ended up paying 200 pounds. I do not mind paying 200 pounds for a good culinary experience but food at fifteen is just ok, nothing to die for. Our main courses were very oily and not very well cooked. If you add to that very poor and slow service, i think you are better off making a 100 pounds donation to the charity of your choice and 100 pounds on a meal elsewhere!
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Gibert Santer
Overall rating
Food 5 | Service 2 | Atmosphere 2 | Value for money 1
Tuesday, September 16, 2008
Arrived without reservation at the trattoria (upstairs) for lunch recently and enjoyed the visit. I wasn't sure what to expect as i knew little about the place. It's smaller than i'd assumed and it's a relaxed, informal place upstairs (and they cater for young children both in seating and children's food pricing, at least at lunchtime). The marketing means the diners are a mix of locals, bridge and tunnel crowd and the odd tourist.
The shared platter starter is good, the sea trout was perfectly cooked and excellent . I agree with the other reviewer about aioli being a little tame but perhaps the intention is not to compete with the fish in this case? Also the chocolate brownie (a rich, non floury affair) is now topped with a chocolate sauce so perhaps they got the message on that one. I tasted the red pepper/caprino risotto which had a good depth of flavour, although a fellow diner thought the cheese overloaded the pepper. I forget the opinion on the lamb shank but i remember it being a decent size portion. The one mystery was parmesan sprinkled on the green salad - pleasant, but unexpected.
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Kevin W - View all reviews by this user
Overall rating
Food 9 | Service 9 | Atmosphere 8 | Value for money 7
Monday, August 25, 2008
lunch here was most disappointing. the food reminded me of going to a painful dinner party , you know the type - when the host uses a jamie oliver recipe book but cocks it up slightly. we even smiled and looked grateful as if we were on such an occasion.
the fact that this is a charity seems like a perfect excuse to serve up third rate food at first rate prices. a right stich up.
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pete hutchison
Overall rating
Food 2 | Service 2 | Atmosphere 4 | Value for money 2
Tuesday, June 03, 2008
I agree with the ‘ok’ comments – definitely a way to describe my experience of the Trattoria recently. No major complaints but lots of minor ones – no offer to taste the wine, no offer of wine refills, chicken with chickpeas which were bland and needed heavy seasoning just to taste of something, watery spinach, chewy lamb, and not a thank you or goodbye (or our change for that matter) on leaving the restaurant. All just a bit disappointing.
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pumpkin - View all reviews by this user
Overall rating 
Food 5 | Service 5 | Atmosphere 7 | Value for money 5
Wednesday, May 07, 2008
Pretentious. Why do they need TWO contact numbers and credit card details "in case you cancel"? What has happened to restaurants in the past few years? Mincing celebrity chefs that overhype and under-deliver. No substance, no delivery, just hot air, which is fine if you're an anorexic model type.
Restaurateurs act as though they are doing us a huge favour by letting us eat there, forgetting that we are the ones that are doing them a favour by eating there.
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Typhoid Tom
Overall rating 
Food 0 | Service 0 | Atmosphere 0 | Value for money 0
Tuesday, April 29, 2008
I went to this restaurant a few weeks ago with my friends because we knew this restaurant is really famous and that's why we just wanted to try.
My first impression of this restaurant was it was a little busy & crowded but the staff were attentive. The restaurant was smaller than i thought but it was cosy and lively. what i most like about this restaurant was the decor. lt was not too minimalist and not too cramped. it was just enough to enjoy the food. the Food was served a bit late(at that time i was starving !) and the portion was normal but especially the portion of rizotto was tiny but really tasty and exquisite.
I know some restaurants worse than their fame but this was right.
All kinds of cake that we ordered was also fantastic. except chocolate browny that was a bit stodge and dry.
if i go this restaurant , i would older scotish steak that was my firend's one !
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angella
Overall rating
Food 8 | Service 7 | Atmosphere 10 | Value for money 8
Wednesday, April 23, 2008
I am really surprised and puzzled by the negative reviews on here. My husband took me to the downstairs restaurant as a birthday treat and we both had a really outstanding meal - quite honestly the best food we have ever tasted!
We went for the tasting menu and the tasting wine selection too, as it was a special occasion. The wines were really very good and complemented the food perfectly - an excellent Pinot Noir was a highlight. A caramelised pear and prosciutto salad was one of my favourite dishes, and a standout for my other half was the pot-roast pork. I found the staff to be pleasant and the service prompt.
Yes, it is expensive. As a rule we would rarely spend £200 on a meal and wine for two. But for a special occasion, we felt it was well worth it.
Highly recommended...try it.
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Overall rating 
Food 10 | Service 8 | Atmosphere 7 | Value for money 9
Wednesday, April 02, 2008
We went to Fifteen with £100 in gift vouchers but still had to part with another £140 for three people to eat in the basement dining room while drinking one of the more modestly priced bottles of wine.
I have no particular complaints about what was put in front of us but would have been happier spending just the £140 for a meal of this standard. If I'm tempted back it will be to try the upstairs trattoria, which was busy and interesting as we arrived and departed.
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kentishwanderer
Overall rating 
Food 7 | Service 9 | Atmosphere 7 | Value for money 5
Wednesday, March 26, 2008
