Leading into the main dining room at Carbone - one of two BIG rooms.
What can you tell us about Carbone?
If you've managed to somehow avoid all news of Carbone, here are the basics. The restaurant, named after chef Mario Carbone, first launched in New York in 2013, billed as an upmarket New York Italian. It quickly became a huge hit, spawning a restaurant group that now has around 50 restaurants worldwide. Several of those are Carbones, much like this London version, where the menu and aesthetic is designed to ape the New York original.
Where is it?
It's in the building that used to be the American Embassy on Grosvenor Square in Mayfair (you'll find the entrance on the northeastern corner). While it's in the same building as the Chancery Rosewood, they've been at pains to clarify that it's a completely standalone restaurant and not part of the hotel. If you're not heading there by taxi, which we imagine a large amount of the clientele are, your closest station would be Bond Street.
When you head downstairs to Carbone, the bar is the first thing you'll see.
So what's it like inside?
First of all, it's largely subterranean. While there are some seats upstairs and there will eventually be a big terrace (likely to be open in spring next year), most of Carbone takes up a huge space underground. Head down the mural-lined staircase and you'll first come across the bar, and then turn into the massive dining room. That's split into two large rooms and a small private dining room.
That room seats 200+ and was absolutely packed to the brim when we dined (several weeks after its launch), and we saw some tables turned twice while we were there (we had an admittedly long dinner, mind). This place is doing very, very well. It's also notable for having quite a few large tables, suitable for six-eight diners. If there are a group of you celebrating a special occasion, Carbone is well set up for that (assuming you can get a booking, of course).
One of many tables for groups throughout the room.
And is there a dress code?
There is... of sorts. They encourage you to "dress for the occasion", while shorts, open-toed shoes and tank tops are verboten. Generally, when we visited, the diners stuck to this rule - it's a very dressy place. Women did tend to dress up for the occasion more than the men, which is frankly par for the course in London these days (I'll include myself in that latter scruffy bracket), but it really is a place where it's worth putting in the effort. You will not look out of place in something short or strapless, or a smart suit and tie. There are so few places where it's worth getting dressed up for, so it really does make a pleasant change, frankly.
Lighting is relatively dim/dark (our camera coped quite well with it, so it's darker than it might seem from these photos), but not oppressively so. We did see more than a few people get their phone's torch to look at the menu, though.
The captain in charge on the night.
And what's this we hear about "captains"?
That's the term they use for the main waiter who's in charge of your table. While that name may seem a little... American from a Londoner's point of view, it's not something that's really emphasised when you're in the room. Essentially, they are there to judge the mood of your table and see whether you want a more engaged service, or just want to order and be left alone. We were more than happy with the former, and found that the recommendations about how much/little to order were very much on the money. It's rare to be told "that might be a bit much" when ordering, but that advice comes in very handy here.
And before we even think about food, there are snacks to start?
Yes, almost immediately after sitting down, you'll get three bowls/baskets of bread, charcuterie and crudites. We'll be honest and say that we didn't really threaten those crudites, but demolished the bread and charcuterie. It's at this point that you start to think that you might want to pace yourselves a bit.
Here's what you get just for sitting down. Think of it as a reward for securing a booking.
So what's on the main menu?
Fairly recently, London's seen another high-profile New York Italian in London in the shape of The Dover (which we love), and while the overall concept here is similar, the delivery is quite different, given the size of the operation. Portions are very large and theatricality is a big part of the evening. That's summed up in the menu itself, which is massive:
Yes, we know making the menu this big is a bit of a statement, but at least it means the font is big!
Broadly speaking, it all splits down into off-menu seafood cocktails (dependent on the catch), starters, salads, pasta ("macaroni" here), plus seafood and meat mains. So it's not too distant from a traditional Italian menu. We're in high-end Mayfair price-wise, particularly when you get to the mains.
Because we were dining a little later than some reviewers, we avoided those dishes that came in for a bit of an early drubbing. So while the veal parmesan and marsala are seen as Carbone classics, the reception to those in London hasn't been warm, so we swerved those. In addition to what we show below, we also had the chilli tuna calabrese. That was perfectly fine, but we think there are more rewarding dishes to highlight.
First off, you'll definitely want to order the Caesar salad, which is prepared tableside:
Caesar salad prep in action.
The resulting Caesar salad (£31) is very good. Plus, you can have the anchovies on the side, if anyone at the table doesn't fancy them. Like us. Those giant croutons are great.
Next, there is one particular off-menu item to consider. It's not really a secret, given that your captain will actually tell you about it after listing the seafood cocktail specials. But it is a must-order:
Mario's meatballs - beef, sausage and veal meatballs, with marinara sauce. We really liked these.
As for the pasta macaroni section, the spicy vodka rigatoni (£29) is possibly their most famous dish. If you're a Carbone newbie, you'll want to order that too:
This is actually half a portion of the rigatoni as they'll split it up for you. It's lightly spicy only, but that works in its favour here.
As for the rest, that's up to you and your appetite, but here's what we had:
Ribeye Diana (450g, £89) - When you head into steak and main territory, the prices do start to skyrocket. The sauce is good, the steak is fine, but we've definitely had better-aged steak in town.
Not forgetting sides, this is a must-have - the extremely garlicky potatoes Louie (£15), delivered to your table baked into the tray and broken up tableside.
But you'll want to leave some room for dessert?
100%. With portions being so large, you'll need to pace yourselves. Or alternatively, take something home if you're unable to finish it. Being an American restaurant, they're really on-it as far as doggy bags go, and we had quite a lot of the potatoes above for lunch the next day.
But as far as dessert is concerned, you'll first get to take a look at what's on offer:
Clockwise, there's lemon cheesecake, strawberry pannacotta, carrot cake, chocolate coconut layer cake and stracciatella tiramisu (all £18 and the latter exclusive to London)
We had the lemon cheesecake, which was fine, but we would strongly steer you to the following:
The carrot cake, which we just absolutely loved. Strongly recommended, particularly for the candied walnuts. Just a very, very good piece of cake.
What about drinks?
With a bit of clever steering, you can make your way through a dinner at Carbone without doing untold damage to your wallet, but that gets a little harder when you get to the wine list. Cocktails are all £19, which is pretty standard for Mayfair, but the wine list is notably punchy. The entry-level bottle is around £75 and when you scan the menu, you'll really notice just how many of them go into triple figures. If your budget does stretch to that, you'll find plenty to shell out on here, in a mainly French and Italian list. The most budget-busting wine on here comes in at £4900 for a bottle of Le Mensil, if you're so inclined.
Either way, make sure to order a martini, as they have a section devoted to them. Chillness was a bit variable, but they're still well-made.
In the foreground a Vesper and in the back, their Dirty Martini. A 6 rating on our new chill scale for the Vesper, but a strong 7.5 for the Dirty Martini.
Overall thoughts
Tackling the food first, we did enjoy everything we highlighted above. Is it the very best of Italian food in London? Not really, but you won't come to Carbone for the food alone. You'll come because it's a proper scene and quite unlike anything else in London. Everyone here is going out out, and dressing for the occasion. In our mind, that really helps to balance out the whole experience.
There has been a fair bit of sniffy commentary about the restaurant since it opened, but if you embrace the all-outness of it all, we think you'll enjoy yourselves. And by god, it's a place for people watching, even if we annoyingly didn't see any celebs (that we recognised). It brings a sense of fun back to high-end dining in London, so if you fancy splashing out for a special occasion here, we think you'll have a great time.
More about Carbone London
Where is it? 30 Grosvenor Square, London W1K 6AN
How to book: Book online, up to a month ahead. And note that they also have a waitlist.
Find out more: Visit their website or follow them on Instagram @carbonerestaurants.
Hot Dinners ate as guests of Carbone. Prices are correct at the time of writing.
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