Jamie’s Italian

I was very disappointed. After walking around trying to find something other than pub like food, I was exited to find this. My peer and I walked in, and it took 10 minutes to get us seated. This included the time it took to be acknowledged. Waiters kept walking by, and it wasn’t until we started to seat ourselves did we get acknowledged and taken to a table.
The waiter came around and asked if we wanted something to drink. We asked for water, to give us time to look at the wine menu.
Another 15 minutes goes by, and as we are about to walk out after not even getting water, he comes by. Thankfully he acknowledged the wait, as I was becoming impatient. Knowing that we weren’t off to a good start, we ordered right then.
After another 15 – 20 minutes, another waiter showed up with food that wasn’t ours. We had to convince him it wasn’t ours. This is where it got interesting. The waiter took the plates back to the serving area, where another gentleman came up and started talking to him. I saw them look at an order slip, look back to us, and the other guy shook his head, grabbed the plates, and came back to try to give us the same food! When I clearly stated that the salad I was getting wasn’t the chicken cacciatore I ordered, he finally believed me.
Another 15 minutes, and our food arrived.
It was bland. Cold. And disappointing. Save your money, and find another place. I’m sure you’ll find friendlier staff and better food elsewhere.

I was here a long time ago but decided to post a review as the food here has always been good. I have to advise you not to have too high an expectation when coming here just because it is Jamie Oliver’s restaurant as if you do, you will not like it. This is not a high end dining establishment. It is a cheap to mid range Italian joint. The food here is good portion and reasonably priced on the higher side. The atmosphere and the staff here has always been great and never disappointed me. The menu is extensive. Picture of the food was taken 2 years ago but gives you an idea on what to expect.

I am not a JO disciple per say, but I get that a lot of people like his style of food (we part ways at the pomegranates) and his ethos but when it comes to chain restaurants I’ve only ever found a few that deliver well and that’s usually when it’s a family running a branch. Unfortunately this is not one of them. Yes the décor is very grand and the Assembly Rooms is a stunning building but I’m let down with the food every time I go (yes I go back for the gold card loyalty extras — shallow yes? free bottle of cava — hell yes!). It’s not terrible but I’m always left thinking, I could of kinda done this better at home. (See Jamie, you’ve made a rod for your own back.) Last time was a few weeks ago when my friend’s pasta was stodgy and overcooked and my fish stew was just kinda meh. And please if you do go don’t even think about the mint tea — more like mouldy old sock. So 3 stars for starters, good but antipasto and bread so you’d be hard pushed to go wrong there, free birthday cava (loyalty card) and the service was fair.

Knowing full well that this is a ‘Name’ restaurant only and that Jaime Oliver probably hardly shows up at this place, I still expected something better. Instead I probably just had one of the worst Italian dining experience of my life.
First we had reservations for 7:15pm on a Wednesday night. We didn’t get seated until 8:45pm. Being part of the industry, Busy night/​shorthanded, whatever, I let it slide.
After being seated, the server didn’t come over to take drink or food orders until 15 min later. And did not tell us the specials which we overheard another server tell their table after we were finishing up.
We got pasta for 2 kids, the Meatball Pappardelle, and steak frites with the meat board, calamari, and pork scratchings to start.
The charcuterie and the cheese on the board were delicious (and the only reason I gave them 2 instead of 1 star), calamari were tough and chewy, breading a tad soggy. Pork scratchings were mediocre. We also order a couple of glasses of wine and N/​A drinks for the kids. Wine came in extremely dirty glasses, we asked for cleaner glasses and received them with apologies but still I don’t understand how the first glasses seemed ok to use. The kids drink, berry blast and orange shandy, so tart none of us could drink it.
The steak was like leather, but at least the frites were good. The meatball pappardelle, which the server asked me a total of 4 times if spicy is ok because the dish is spicy, was not spicy at all. AND I didn’t receive pappardelle pasta, I got more like a fusilli. Kids pasta also was double my portion.
All in all terrible experience. Would not dine here again.

Ok, I have to admit I have a little soft spot for Jamie Oliver… Is it his cute chubby face or that fact he has amazing flare when he cooks delicious food? Either way I’ve been eager to check out his restaurant for some time on Rose Street. The was a little confusion at the start though. I called to book a table one Sunday night, on the off chance they would have a table for us in half an hour? They said: «sure just pop along there is space for you» — not taking my name or booking. Arrived 30 minutes later and there was no room for us. The matradee claimed the person taking the call shouldn’t have promised this and they would be a 20 minute wait. Slight miscommunication between the staff there. Luckily we didn’t need to wait as long and we were seated.
I ordered the crab and risotto balls for starter and salmon salad for mains. The starter was bland and tasteless with barely any crab detected inside! The salmon salad was zesty and contained interesting beetroot and parsnip crisps but left me unfull. The restaurant was busy and mainly full of tourists, likely drawn in by the name. The table service was good and swift. My companions food was also tasteless and lacking flavour. Disappointed really, I think I’ll stick to following Jamie’s recipes on-​line/​TV and trying them at home in future as I usually get much better results.
This restaurant is only surviving on a name and really needs just a little bit more seasoning. Won’t be back again.

Ordenamos el steak frites, buen sabor pero muy poca la cantidad viene con ensalada (mala) y papas a la francesa.
Pedimos un Risoto, no estaba bien cocinado. El manager nos cambio el platillo por otro y no nos cobro ninguno de los dos.
Buen servicio pero la calidad de los platillos deja mucho que desear.

My steak frites had minimal seasoning, kind of bland and seemed like a cheap cut. My significant others duck leg was a bit dry. Overall it didn’t meet our expectations. Service was attentive.

Bliss! Had an amazing meal eating here and service was by a very attentive and sweet waiter.
My pâté was an excellent entrée — loved the smooth robustness and the accompanying bread variety was just perfect. My brother and I went for a seafood theme — he got salmon with excellent beans and i got a seafood soup (bouillabaisse), which was beautifully seasoned and just what i wanted to eat on a cold evening i happily ate it all up.
For dessert, i think my brother chocolate cake was a better choice then my orange polenta cake, which wasnt bad, but somewhat heavy and yeah, not sure if i would order that again.
All in all though, really satisfying meal and so glad we were lucky enough to get a table!

Food was fairly good and fresh tasting. But I must say the spicy duck tasted no better than a semi-​overlooked baked chicken leg. Other dishes at our table such as linguini and prawns got a fairly good review, and some of the other pasta dishes looked pretty good. Overall, for what appears to be a high quality food restaurant walking in didn’t really deliver. If you find other better options for Italian, you may want to skip this restaurant. But at the same time, this wasn’t that bad either… thus the 3-​stars.
Also, it is fairly loud and busy inside, so I don’t recommend if you’re tired and wanting a nice relaxing meal. And the temperature inside seemed overly warm for an early June day, with nearly every table full. We felt like we were a little too toasty while trying to enjoy a meal.
If we were back in Edinburg again anytime soon, I think we’d skip coming back here.

Ce resto est vraiment énorme. On sent tout de suite que le business de Jamie Oliver est très lucratif.
La déco est néanmoins très bien pensée (en tant que végétarienne j’ai moyennement apprécié manger au bar en dessous de gros jambons qui pendent, mais ça né dérangera pas grand monde) et la carte attrayante. Surtout que les prix né sont pas prohibitifs.
J’ai choisi une «superfood salad». C’était bon, mais pas exceptionnel. Ma petite déception tient surtout au fait que l’avocat était censé être rôti, et qu’il est arrivé froid et à peine mûr.
Au niveau du dessert j’ai pris une pavlova que j’ai beaucoup aimée. Ça faisait longtemps que je voulais tester !
Mon copain a pour sa part énormément aimé ses pâtes carbonara (un peu travaillées quand même, pas toutes simples ^^) et son gâteau à base de polenta et fleur d’oranger, très bon et original.
Un dernier point négatif: le serveur qui a été hyper gentil et souriant tout le repas, et qui né nous a même dit au revoir quand il a remarqué que nous né laissions pas de pourboire… Dommage de partir sur une note comme celle-​là !!

I have five — and counting — Jamie books on my kitchen shelf. I love the simplicity of his recipes but also the attention to detail and love for his craft. I also love the magnificent drool-​worthy pictures. Okay, okay, I confess; I have a severe foodie crush on Jamie and I compulsively pour through his recipes on a very regular basis.
Now, that’s out in the open… How was my first visit to Jamie’s Italian? The interior is stunning! But located in the oh-​so-​regal Assembly Rooms, you wouldn’t expect anything less. With ruby red furnishings and elegant hanging chandeliers, the surroundings really are a delight; the restaurant definitely has that wow-​factor. There’s a cocktail bar. There’s hanging meat. There’s little Jamie personalised napkins. It’s a little bit like a modernised Wes Anderson’s Grand Budapest Hotel. Just a little. — I like it!
We were given a warm, friendly welcome and shown to a table as soon as we arrived. The menu is a mix of classic Italian dishes, with traditional pasta and salad dishes, along with some interesting sides and sharing platters. Having just attended the Fit Festival in the Assembly Rooms, it would have been sacrilege to have anything but a salad. So we went for the wholesome Market Superfood Salad which consisted of the following yummy, healthy ingredients: Avocado, shaved fennel, candied beets, Italian sprouting broccoli, creamy cottage cheese, pomegranate, smashed nuts & seeds. Served with a fennel blossom Sicilian harissa, to this delicious combination you can also add grilled chicken or smoked salmon.
Now, there is a time and place for salad. Alas, this was not one one of them. Looking back, I wished I’d went for a good old bowl of carbonara or the signature Jamie’s Italian burger. The salad was really very delicious, as was the bread and dip nibbles we’d ordered alongside. Although in hindsight, Jamie’s is somewhere you should go all out and have a proper Italian feast.
Next time, Jamie, next time…

I’ve recently been watching Jamie a lot on the FoodNetwork, so when my parents were visiting we enjoyed a lovely meal at Jamie’s Italian. We ordered various sides to share and I had the prawn linguine which was good but could have been more flavourful. The fresh pasta was really nice but the sauce and prawns could have had a bit more flavour. The zucchini frittes and posh chips were each delicious and unhealthy. The broccoli part of that featured side dish was very good except it was on a bed of over-​salted spinach (the spinach wasn’t mentioned in the menu and they could have done without it and with more broccoli!). Overall the meal was nice, although it didn’t blow me away, and I signed up for the Gold Club so we got £10 off which was good. The décor is lovely and I really like the location under the Assembly Rooms, except can be a bit loud.

Just ok but nothing special even with it being a birthday and pre theatre venue. Jamie’s chicken served to me was mostly fatty so a wee bit meh as it felt like all I’d eaten was a big portion of salad that came with it. The macaroni tuna dish duly filled up my partner and the burger for another in our party thought it was a very generous portion.
Also great service from our waitress without being in your face, but as it was lunch bites we were having we were seated next to the kitchen. Now that’s great if you like the heat in a working kitchen, but if you like it cooler then you might have to go sit outside for a bit of ventilation as there is no air con that I could feel.
Bottle of Proscueto on arrival as a birthday gift for being a gold member was really thoughtful, but a shame all the same that drinks, polenta chips and nice décor were the highlight of the visit. I would go back again Jamie but not unless things are different on your upstairs level towards George Street?

Awesome cannelloni! Didn’t care too much for crab meat and avocado bruschetta but spinach, pumpkin, & aubergine cannelloni was off the hook! I loved that cannelloni came with 3 different fillings and all of them were delicious! Woot woot!
Every time I tried to walk in and get a table, it was always booked until 10pm so I assumed this place must be good. After 2 failed attempts, I finally decided to reserve a table in advance so that I can experience Jamie Oliver’s food before I leave UK. Located inside the elegant Assembly Rooms, the setting is classy and yet not stuffy. It’s a pretty trendy place, and the price was affordable. In Scotland I didn’t have much positive dining experiences but this was one of the few memorable ones. My only regret is that cannelloni was so filling that I didn’t even have a room for dessert!
I would definitely go back if I’m in Edinburgh!

Keeping an eye on the Unilocal Vouchers deals «Talk”/thread, I jumped into the Amazon local voucher for Jamie’s Italian in Edinburgh!
Small print: it can only be used in July, not August like Glasgow’s Jamie’s Italian.
The service was a bit disappointing: the waitress didn’t know what is the fish of the day, neither what the blade steak was like (size, weight), nor that the starter comes with focaccia bread which the chef missed adding when the meat plank was brought in our table.
The starter — mix of meat and vegetarian choices — nothing was precooked apart from grilled vegetables: selection of salami and ham, cheese, olives and chillies.
The two of us got the feather blade steak which was surprisingly good, being used to the chunky Scottish steaks! The chips were signature polenta, I think they were like smashed potato with semolina, a pleasant change compared to the standard ones, sprinkled with Parmesan cheese.
Finally we had as dessert a hearty size of chocolate brownie with ice cream, while one friend had the Raspberry and chocolate rippled pavlova which was the highlight of the night!
Would I go back? I doubt it!
You fancy checking out what the Jamie Italian looks like? Go for it!

Being a Jamie Oliver fan back from his Naked Chef show days, I was excited to finally be able to eat at one of his restaurants. Sadly, this experience turned out to be one of the worst dining experiences of my life!
They give you a pager that you can’t leave the restaurant with, which is understandable given that the pager range may be limited. However, when I asked if we could put our name down and come back in about an hour to pick up our pager (which a lot of restaurants do, especially Cheesecake Factory given their popularity), considering the wait time we were quoted was 1.5 to 2 hours, we were told no, that we had to wait in the small bar area that had no seating area and was already overcrowded.
While standing and waiting in the small bar area we decided we would seat ourselves at the bar in the middle of the restaurant. There were six open stools and we sat in four of the empty stools. Where we sat there was only a bar menu. We thought that we could at least order some appetizers at this bar, however, a waitress quickly chased us out of that area and said that we couldn’t sit there because they were planning to seat people for dinner there. What a joke! The whole 2+ hours we were there, they never sat anyone there!
When we were finally seated after what felt like an eternity, we were seated in the back of the restaurant by the kitchen. Waiters butts were right there. It felt like it was over 100 degrees Fahrenheit. It was so hot and uncomfortable sitting in that area that I had to go outside to cool down. All you felt sitting in this section right by the open kitchen was just heat radiating at you from the ovens, it was as if I was sitting in an oven while trying to eat my meal. After moving our table, the food arrived.
Now I realize we weren’t in Italy; however, you’d think eating at a restaurant that has a well-​known chef as its owner who has cooking shows and criticizes what people eat in America, that you’d be able to get a decent meal. Not the case at Jamie Oliver’s where the pasta was horrible and there was no complimentary bread. Jamie should take a page from Carrabba’s (an Italian chain restaurant in America) for how to serve quality Italian food. You’d think Jamie Oliver could actually serve decent food at his namesake restaurant considering he’s a chef and has a cooking show, where he appears to know what he’s doing, but clearly not! Overall, just a miserable dining experience on so many different levels.

Always a great meal and I feel like I’m eating healthier alternatives. Fresh! I’ve been to many of the Jamie’s locations throughout the UK and the Edinburgh location at the Assembly Rooms is definitely a favorite! Service is great. Tonight I had the crab arancini as an appetizer and the ricotta gnudi for my main. Yummy as always! Never been disappointed!

J’y ai passé une soirée étonnante !
Ca faisait trois mois environ qu’on avait réservé dans ce resto, et pour cause, il est pris d’assaut par tous les habitants de Perth et les touristes comme moi, en raison de la réputation du Chef: Jamie Oliver.
Le lieu est immense (comparé à nos petits restos français). Ambiance industrielle, bistro. J’ai bien accroché.
On nous guide jusqu’à notre table (nous précisant qu’on a notre table pour deux heures… Et pas plus ! Venant de France, où on a l’habitude de prendre notre temps, j’ai trouvé ça un peu étrange, mais je crois que sur place ça n’a choqué personne !)
Les tables sont assez rapprochées, et le bruit vraiment omniprésent !
Côté cuisine, ça vaut le coup, j’ai pris un antipasti: tartines de sardines fraîches: parfaites pour une entrée, super bien assaisonnées, vinaigrées. Le plat, des spaghettis aux fruits de mers cuits en papillote, intéressant ! La sauce était parfaite, aux tomates fraîches. Le seule reproche? Pas assez copieux à mon sens. En dessert, nous avons partagé une tarte au citron meringuée EXCEPTIONNELLE ! Admirablement bien équilibrée entre citron et sucre, la meringue était incroyablement haute et légère. Un vrai régal, à né pas louper si vous passez chez Jamie’s !
Les 4 étoiles reviennent donc principalement à la qualité des produits travaillés, et au cadre, dommage que le marketing s’invite à votre table: on peut acheter les couverts, les serviettes et livres de cuisine du Chef …

Round Two at Jamie’s. Still unimpressed.
Service: Very good, very friendly.
Atmosphere: Nice. Not sure why they sat us in the bar when we made a reservation, but OK.
Food: Meh. Finally got my clam linguine, yet… it was disappointing. None of that deep clam flavor you want in a good vongole dish. Instead a WAY too salty, soupy garlic mess. Clams were good, but the overuse of garlic just overpowered the entire dish. This is not my grandma’s clam white sauce. Boy wanted italian sausage, but they were out. Backup choice was turkey. Came out in two large, breaded cutlets that just looked bland, dry and boring. Boy’s verdict? They were bland, dry and boring.
Jamie, you are really letting us down here, buddy. The boy loves you. You have standards to maintain. We decided we arent coming back for quite a while to give this place time to sort some stuff out. Sadly, it seems they are resting on the laurels of Jamie’s name at the sacrifice of food quality.

I wandered in here and did a double take — was I in the right place? Is this still in Edinburgh and if so why doesn’t the rest of Edinburgh look like this? (Why doesn’t my kitchen look like this) — Yes I am impressed with the interior from the mezzanine to the indoor market feel of the chartecurie Island ‘bar’ in the middle. Once seated we were promptly helped by a waiter-​in-​training. He was nervous but incredibly friendly and helpful. (possibly the watchful eyes of his mentor played part in this but it felt very genuine).
I was here with Anita A. (she reviewed this earlier) My experience was slightly different than hers. I too noticed the big shapy chandeliers and I think they fit. As mentioned the service is high standard, as we had a trainee waiter we’ll overlook some of the mistakes that he made.
My Rabbit Taglioni was delicious, well cooked and well seasoned.
Anita’s slow cooked lamb ravioli (a special) was al dente, however the pasta (all daily home made and fresh btw) was a big thick on the edges thus in our opinion deserved some longer cooking time. This was mentioned and promptly the dish was returned to the kitchen and chef made a new dish with 12 min cooked ravioli instead of 8. When delivered back to the table, they ensured that every care was taken to make this dish perfect… but he forgot to supply Anita with some fresh cutlery as they took the former set away to the kitchen, thus she had to nick from the table behind her.
These extra 4 minutes made not much difference to the thickness of the ravioli edges, nor was it notably softer. Anita left these on her plate. The sauce and filling were delicious though.
The limoncello jello dessert was meh. It didn’t feel there was much effort was put in to this. The FroYo was good though.
In all this place is very good, but somehow it needs a bit more work. I expected more from this. Shame because I do not want a place like this to get a bad reputation and it has a lot of initial WOW factors but when it come to the delivery there are niggles. I don’t like niggly bits, they annoy me and create bad aftertaste, both in the food and in the overall feeling.
Anita and I will try it again for a dinner.

Visited this place at lunch time with Rayan D. I wasn’t sure how popular this place is and whether we should book a table or not (since it’s ‘only’ lunch time) and we decided to chance it. A table was indeed available when we arrived.
Upon entering the restaurant, I saw big chandeliers and red walls — for some reason I had expected a more modern look but at least it made an effect on me :)
In the downstairs dining area there is a big italian bar ‘island’ with large parma hams hanging from above. Like Karen D. noted, probably not the best place to be seated if you are a vegetarian (I’m not though) and we had a table close by.
The waiter appeared very quickly and took our drinks order and explained the daily specials. I chose the slow cooked lamb ravioli with a sauce of sundried tomatoes and peas — it sounded wonderful. When my dish arrived, it looked and tasted lovely — the only issue was that the pasta was a bit undercooked. I guess the ravioli edges were thicker and thus needed more cooking time.
I explained this to the waiter who promised to rectify the situation. Meanwhile I tried Rayan’s wild rabbit taglioni which was delicious, such lovely flavours!
After a while, a new dish was brought for me. I tried the ravioli. Still tasted great — but sadly still a bit undercooked. The centre of the ravioli was fine though, so I ate the food.
Rayan had a dessert of limoncello jelly and ice cream with fruit salad. I had a spoonful or 2 to try and it didn’t blow my socks off. The fruit salad especially was not great, stringy sections of blood orange. Nice ice cream.
The service was absolutely spot on in this place, very attentive and friendly waiters so I was really pleased with that. They had kindly taken the dessert off the bill as I had an issue with the main course.
All in all I would like to try this place once more, perhaps for dinner next time.

I’ve only ever visited Jamie’s Italian in Edinburgh for drinks. I wasn’t wowed by the house white so its probably better to spend a bit more.
The location in the Assembly Rooms is lovely, with gorgeous chandeliers and italian meats hanging from the bar area. The shared platters look fab and if I return it will be to sample this.

This was my first trip to Jamie’s and it was a work Christmas lunch for 30 people.
Nice surroundings and décor. I liked the rustic feel and was pleased with the meal. Only two niggles, firstly the waitress never did bring the glass of water or bread basket that I asked for and secondly the pre-​ordered lunch menu didn’t list any information about veggie deserts, it took a phone call to the restaurant beforehand to establish that the pudding I had ordered of panetoni ice cream wasn’t veggie.
That aside the meal was great. I loved the anti pasti sharing platters to start, I loved the quality and care that chose the olives from a specific region and the tomatoes from the foothills of mount Vesuvius.
I would come back here again for sure, maybe after the Christmas rush for a more attentive waitress.
Nice touch to have a shop to purchase the goodies that the restaurant use.