Fiume By Sartoria, Exclusive Hire

My wife brought us here to celebrate my birthday yesterday. I already had the chance to dine here and I got contrasting feeling about it, but I was happy to give it a second chance as I really love the surroundings. Unfortunately, all my feelings were confirmed yesterday. There is a lot to like about Fiume: the location is lovely, the ingredients are good and fresh and there is definitely some standards here (the Parma ham seemed freshly cut, the bufala tasted fresh and milky, the fried zucchini was ok, my cacio and Pepe was tasty but groomy and dry but my wife seafood linguine was good and the babà with limoncello was also flavoury); the service is nice and friendly. The interiors are good looking and clean even though very much British and very little Italian. Also, having a glass of wine which doesn’t taste like coming from a bottle opened one month ago, in London, is something to truly appreciate. Overall, good vibes. The main problem of this place is not in the standards, but in his formula: the food is a very limited menu of basic Italian grandma cuisine level served at the price of a fine dining experience. This wouldn’t be bad per se, but for the price tag, there is nothing special in it, no ambition in the food offer, there is nothing in the menu which you could not experience if you get invited for dinner any Italian friend’s home with average cuisine knowledge and no culinary education whatsoever. We paid £75 each for a 3 course meal; the starter was a very small platter of 2 (counted) slices of Parma ham and a little mozzarella, a small pasta plate, a dessert, a spritz and a 125 ml glass of wine. Is that enough? “In London, yes”, I would hear from everyone. But is that enough to leave you happy and satisfied? Some little things elevate this place from many other restaurants in the surroundings. But anything good this place has built up in our evening crushed badly when they served a birthday platter with literally no cake on it. Despite I appreciated the gesture, I honestly couldn’t understand if this was a joke or not. I will allow the picture to speak for itself, and I hope everyone who sees it, including the owner, will be as embarrassed as I was. Fiume suits a specific target: it’s a place that knows to be located in a surrounding where value for money is not interrogated, in a city which seems under the spell of being ok with decreasing quality and reducing portions for rising prices. How can people keep being happy about it is still a mistery to me. In such a contest, you need to do very little above the others to stand, and people will be happy to overpay for it, and that’s exactly where Fiume sits. Did we have a good time? Yes. How was the food? Okay. Would I recommend it? No. This formula can get you contented only until you travel and experience way better at 1/10 of the price. For the surroundings, you can enjoy them with a lovely walk for free. You don’t get charged for walking and breathing yet. Otherwise, if this is not a problem, Fiume is the right place for you. Every restaurant has a signature dish that you will remember. Mine was a nice marble platter, empty.