Serafino, London

The two managers that I met at the Serafino restaurant, Mount Street, London were charming and pleasing, and the restaurant looked appealing enough for the area. I am afraid this is as good as it got.

The first impression of the menu - extremely boring for a classy restaurant in central London. The sort of menu that one would expect from the village pub or the average countryside Italian restaurant (trying to impress but not offering anything special after all).

My starter was buffalo mozzarella with tomato and grilled courgettes. When it arrived the waiter shouted insalata di pomodoro (tomato salad) for which, of course, I did not reply. He got annoyed and stroppy as if I was the one at fault for not knowing what I ordered. One large tomato with three medium small buffalo mozzarella and two slices of grilled courgette. At £10.50 for this dish, I would say that it was a fair price. A good buffalo mozzarella in some shops is around £5. The quality was fair, but most definitely, it was not one of the best mozzarella's that I have eaten. My main dish was a risotto with saffron and courgettes. My word, what an amazing disappointment. Should anyone buy a ready prepared one from the packet in any supermarket, it would have tasted better.First of all it was far too salty, but really, it was just a very basic and normal saffron risotto with a few very thin slices of courgettes on top, in the middle. The most upsetting part of it was the price - £15.95 for something that I can recreate at home, in no time at all and 100 times better, for no more than £1.50.The lunch was shared with 7 guests. Often in good restaurants and where food is prepared and served with appeal, it is our instinct to share, observe, envy the choice of our companions. This was not the case in Serafino, and on this occasion, the chef standards were very low while the management should seriously think about their menu.