Cafe Murano St James

I’ve eaten at some of the best restaurants in London but this place for value and quality was probably the best meal I’ve had in London. The best part was the service. The GM guiseppe was the nicest GM I’ve ever met. The most attentive and kind person who cares about he people and the job!Will be back

Really great lunch here. The staff and the Maitre D’ (who was incredibly attentive) made us feel very welcome. Really interesting menu - we wanted to try everything! There is also a (cheaper) set lunch option. The seafood risotto was beautiful, as was the plaice and the minestrone soup. Lovely selection of Italian wines and excellent selection by the glass. To top it off, we had two wonderful desserts. Will definitely go back.

This has been one the nicest dinners I have ever had in my life!! The food was exceptional, the service was great and lovely, calm setting. I do have to say the Tiramisu will love rent free in my head forever because it was THE nicest dessert ever!! Couldn't recommend this restaurant enough!!

Superb restaurant great decor fun ambiance lovely service clever menu beautifully executed Amazing value considering the high quality Rather noisy but conversation still possible! Great wine list fair prices

Went here for valentine's day. The food was decent overall. I would recommend the beef shin pasta dish as that was really good, the flavours all worked well together. I was disappointed with the amount of lamb in the main course, for £34 I would've expected probably 5 pieces instead of 3, but again it did taste nice. I think if our meal cost £80-£90 I'd go back there, but for the £130 we paid I wouldn't have said it was quite worth it. The interior decor was pretty pristine and you can feel that you're in a fancy establishment as soon as you walk in. We went in just after they opened so it was quite quiet when we got there but by the time we left it was filling up and the atmosphere was becoming livelier. Service was attentive and pleasant, but there was a slight formality and lack of warmth holding me back from giving the service 5 stars.

The chicken milanese remains the best in London. However I have to say I had the Tiramasu for the first time and it was absolutely sensational. Without doubt the best I have ever eaten and by no small margin. Just incredibly good. Bravo!

Beautiful Restaurant reasonably priced and impeccable service they were amazing with our six-year-old daughter. Cannot recommend this place enough. Michele was fantastic! 👏

I visited Cafe Murano on St James Street, a lovely location. The service was mixed; the women working there were nice, but the man was a bit condescending. The place itself looks nice, but the food wasn't to my liking. We tried the two-course pre-theatre menu: the buffalo mozzarella with melon was unremarkable, and the fried friggitelli were just okay. The lamb with potatoes was disappointing—the potatoes weren't good, and the meat wasn't to my taste. Additionally, the value for money was bad. I won't be going back and was surprised by the high Google reviews—quite disappointed.

Solid food and solid service. Good food for the price. We had both entrees of fish at our table and they were very solid.

Giuseppe is an absolute asset at GM taking care of FOH. The service is unrushed and staff are professional. The ambiance is relaxed and welcoming. Be sure to try the Mandorlato after dinner!

An Italian "Eat Pray Love" moment in the center of London. So nice after British Pub food. Lovely service. Brilliant menu, deliciously hand made pastas with a stellar wine list to boot. *wishing we did this: Make a reservation for one of the two window front tables! Much of the ambiance is enhanced with the passerby's of local London street pedestrians, black taxi's shaped like a Churchill top hat, and the quintessential big red bus.

Food was fabulous all the way from starters to dessert! The manager Giuseppe was awesome and very patient with us. We loved our experience here and would definitely return to enjoy this restaurant. You wont be disappointed. Turned out to be our favorite restaurant in London!

A lovely spot for a morning coffee. When the weather is good, the sidewalk tables are a nice place to sit. Service is satisfactory but not particularly warm and welcoming. It was rather annoying to have one server tell me to "sit anywhere" and then after I was seated another server asked me to move to a different table.

As a frequent diner of Cafe Murano I always marvel at their consistency- food quality, service, pricing etc. last night was no different- everything as expected. The reason besides the aforementioned is simple-- this feels like a neighborhood restaurant smack dab in the middle of St James, often crowded with climbing tourists wandering Piccadilly. Priced also like a neighborhood restaurant this makes your evening all the more enjoyable. Very good food, great pricing and a bar with a good selection of spirits both American and Scottish wines from Italy prevalent as well as some France and Spain choices. A menu true to it origin you'll find a good selection of appetizers, first, second and dessert choices. So good we were having a hard time picking -- our waiter was extremely knowledgeable and helped guide us by describing the selections and then asking good questions to help us make some very nice choices. We'll be back on our next visit. Usually we pick new hot spots rather than go back to "favorites" but Cafe Murano is just too good to pass up.

Lovely restaurant. Great atmosphere, attentive staff. Loos clean but could do with an update.

BEST DINNER!!!! Omg so sooooo amazing!! Got the cacio e Pepe gnocchi and free focaccia bread and a side of potatoes!

Pleasant ambiance and service. Relaxing place to dine. Food was oily and really salty, neither of which I'm sensitive to. Plating unattractive. Portions large. Wine list weak. Tables too small. Surprised this place has more than one location. It shouldn't have any!

Good location and pleasant staff. The kitchen is way too slow. One hour and seven minutes for the main course to come. When it came, it was too salty.

This is a first rate place to have a delicious meal, well-served by pleasant and energetic waitstaff. You'll enjoy every minute. First, the bread and Sicilian olive oil are great. We had a carafe of the Sangiovese on special - a good wine at a good price. I had the daily special Tagliatelle made with goat meat. Fantastic. My wife, the birthday girl, had a sort of gnocchi dish with extra delicious onions, on the menu as a "sustainable planet" dish that was great. The deserts were great too. Highly recommended. We'd just spent 2-weeks in Queens Grill in a Cunard ship. Nothing there was better than our delicious lunch at Cafe Murano.

This is a great casual place that echoes the original on Queen street nicely. I had lunch there a few weeks ago and shared the burrata and manzo di pozza to start which were both really nice. For a main I had the malfatti which I had never had before. It was good though probably not my favorite pasta. Still, this is a good place to keep in mind, especially for lunch

Fantastic food, as always. Quality ingredients are obviously used in a simple, yet creative manner. Delicious. Lovely room. Great staff. Always a favourite

Cafe Murano is an excellent, efficient restaurant, cooking interesting, tasty dishes in combination with a carefully curated wine list in a friendly - even romantic - atmosphere. Just off Piccadilly, Cafe Murano does have a great reputation for a reason. The restaurant is beautiful, designed with attention to detail. This creates an atmospheric and relaxed environment. It is definitely a place I could recommend for a random dinner as well as for a date. When I arrived, I was welcomed and given a nice table by the window. As walk-in I did not have a reservation, so I could only stay for about an hour. Knowing this, it was easy to get through my delicious dinner before the next booking. The all-Italian line-up of wines by the glass is a nice selection of different regions and grapes. One white wine stood out for me - the Etna Bianco, Tenuta delle Terre Nere, Sicilia from 2014. Last year, I had a very interesting Azores white wine grown on volcanic soil at The Corkscrew Wine Bar in Lisbon. As I really enjoyed that one, I thought it would be exciting to find out how an Italian wine from Etna would taste. Volcanic wine is nothing I have seen on many wine lists, so I just had to seize this opportunity. If like me, you like mineral notes in a wine, the Etna Bianco is something you will enjoy. It is a pretty dry wine, yet the volcanic soil adds a certain depth to it missing in most other white wines. I can imagine that some people would not enjoy the characteristic flavour, but I think it's a great wine. Soon, the complementary bread arrived, complete with a little sea of olive oil on a separate small plate. The bread was not sweet, nice on its own and even better with a bit of olive oil and pepper. I had ordered the truffle arancini starter which was very nice together with the opionated Etna wine. The truffle added a salty sensation to the dish. Strong, but luckily not overpowering the beautiful risotto inside. I was looking for a relatively small and light main, and the pumpkin gnocchi, sage butter, walnuts and gorgonzola was exactly what I wanted. I would almost call this dish a revelation. When I read the menu, I was not sure about the pumpkin gnocchi. However, it turned out that I actually now perhaps prefer it over potato gnocchi! The taste of the gnocchi was kind of neutral and smooth, and I think quite a bit lighter than potato would have been. The walnuts added a lovely texture to the plate and the salty gorgonzola perfectly enhanced the seasoning of the dish. Finally, the sage sauce made it a well-rounded and thoroughly enjoyable experience. Choosing a small main left enough space for a dessert. I went for the chocolate tart with milk sorbet. The chocolate was dark and bitter as it should be with an impressively shiny glaze. The pastry was crispy but still easy to cut through. And the surprisingly light milk sorbet nicely balanced the rich chocolate flavour and helped cleanse the palate. And as if this would not be good enough already, the dessert also went brilliantly with the Etna wine. After three courses, I left Cafe Murano very happy and satisfied that evening. Would I go again? Sure, any time - Cafe Murano really is an excellent restaurant.

Nice respite from the touristy offerings just around the corner (truth be told, we're tourists). Felt very much like a neighborhood restaurant. Service was casual/inattentive but the food was quite good and authentic Italian.

Thursday Club @cafemurano White onion and Rosemary arancini. Octopus, cucumber, Romano pepper & balsamic. Jerusalem artichoke, chanterelles and parsley root. Rigatoni Bolognese. Pheasant Ravioli. Vanilla Pana Cotta & raspberries Something great about doing something so simple, like grating cheese at the dinner table itself. It's the little things that make dining kinda special. And yeah it helps when it's cheese. Lots of it. And that's what they did. But to be honest that was the only good thing along with the wine. Everything was just ok. The place wasn't that busy for a Friday (early) night and the standout dish of arancini and pheasant ravioli was good... but everything else was a bit too simple for my taste especially for that price. Ah well, I had really wanted to like as I was craving good italian food.

This place is really good. But also really expensive. REALLY expensive. So what's good? Brilliant service - friendly and personable. Nice atmosphere - happened on it by chance while desperately looking for somewhere to get something to eat while driving around the area, and although it was the only place around it was quite busy inside and people were enjoying themselves Excellent food - we both had pasta dishes which were delicious. I'm pretty sure it was fresh pasta rather than dried, which is hard to get right. What's bad? Well... the price firstly.... Said 2 pasta dishes plus 2 coffees left about £2 change from £50. And the portion sizes for the pasta were pretty small. Had this part of a larger and more traditional Italian 4 course meal with wine we probably would have been looking at more like £100 per head. On a Sunday afternoon. For that money you can get much more food, and while the quality may not approach this place, I don't think it's worth paying 60% more for 10% more quality. I'd visit again though. I really LOVED my pasta dish! :)

Tasteless, Overcooked Dreadful Food...AVOID & SAFE YOUR MONEY. My husband and I often eat at Café Murano in the westend but were disappointed twice now by the horrible meals we experienced at the new Café Murano on Bermonsey Street. Sadly, this new Café Murano is MORE LIKE AN OVERPRICED mid-market chain restaurants, who seem to be catering to a basic tourist type customer in search of Italian food. Our octopus was rubbery. The pasta ragu looked and tasted like canned mincemeat topped with overcooked macaroni. It was as appealing as dishwater water. The monkfish was also overcooked and devoid of any seasons, just plain tasteless. With so many good restaurants in the area, Café Murano should take note and clean up it's act if it doesn't want to go the way of Mr. Jamie Oliver! Don't recommend it.

This place is a disaster for an Italian restaurant. this is what we got for the price next to it. Overcooked tagliatelle pasta £18 Tough pork chops £18 Burnt seabream on overdone broccoli £20 One bottle of roverto £36 All the dishes were horrible, and it was true let down in front of guests and work colleagues Let alone they didn't know how to make espresso martinis and they served us a disgusting cocktail full of burnt coffee which we returned it. Location is nice hence why this place a tourist trap, this restaurant is one of those places that gorden Ramsey must film it on his "Hell's Kitchen tv show" I Don't recommend and will not come back to this place.

Lovely ambience and very friendly, welcoming staff. Cafe Murano was just around the corner from our hotel. It was somewhat late and we didn't want large portions so we were pleased that they offered small /large sizes. I got the Risotto Primavera and it was delish - fresh, flavorful and cooked al dente. My husband ordered the veal tortellini and he loved the flavor, capers and sauce. We also ordered salads which were fresh and well seasoned. Good selection of wines and Spirits. Definitely recommend.

We hadn't booked and the restaurant was very busy but they were quite happy to give us two seats at the bar, which I loved. The food is superb! We had the tuna carpaccio and the burrata. Both so fresh and beautiful. Then we ordered the Rabbit Risotto, amazing! As well as the Lamb pappardelle again lovely dish! My favorite was the risotto but everything we ordered was fantastic!

Michelin-starred Murano's little sibling, Café Murano has become the latest hot spot in the trendy Green Park area. The menu draws inspiration from North Italy with Chef Angela Hartnett looking to draw in regulars as well as destination diners. The atmosphere is cosy with warm lighting and woods although a bit of light background music would have been a great addition. The staff are friendly but seemed a tad lost at times with parts of our order being forgotten twice and the wine only arriving at the end of the meal. My picks on the starters would be the Vitello Tonnato - thinly sliced cold veal with a type of pesto - and the giant roasted prawns, and the truffle arancini. The veal was succulent and flavorful and the prawns sweet with just the right amount of crunch. The arancini came in a group of four small bite-sized balls, but the aromatic truffle was a delight. Our mains again ran through most of the menu with the favourite being the Hogget special and my pick (based on the waiter's suggestion) of the Pork Collar. The special was truly that with juicy tender meat served with a celeriac puree and plenty of jus. The meat was a bit gamier than your typical young lamb, largely due to the older animal, and this gave it a bold flavor that was very moreish. My Pork Collar, however, was deceptively dry and seemed to stick in my throat. Perhaps it was left on the grill for a little too long but it was the only time in recent history I've left a meal half finished. The other dishes seemed to all be well executed so I'll chalk it up to an off-dish and hope that was the case. The cocktail list was small but inclusive. My Italian take on an espresso martini was a bit fruitier than normal which gave it a fuller body and slightly sweeter taste. The gin martini was strong but also on the sweeter side which made it quite appealing after a sip or two. The service, however, was a bit of a disaster. It started with the starters as only 5 dishes showed up when we had ordered 9 - and one of the 5 was the Ribollita we didn't want. Still, stiff upper lip and all that we figured the rest would show up shortly only to be informed that the kitchen didn't have the order as presumably the first waitress had forgotten about them. We re-ordered and they arrived quickly after that but I'd expect the order process to be one of the fail-proof processes in a restaurant with this pedigree. This continued with our second waiter who, although a lovely guy, didn't include our sides orders in the main meal. He remembered once the food had arrived but we ended up cancelling them rather than wait to eat our mains. However, kudos to them for catering to the fact it was a twin birthday party and bringing out the cake we had stashed earlier with a full range of candles. They even took it away and brought it out in slices after we had sang and embarrassed my cousins. It doesn't completely forgive the earlier issues, but I appreciate the personal care and attention. It's a pricey place, though, with dinner plus a round of cocktails and 2 bottles of wine shared between 8 came to just shy of £50pp. For the area, I suppose that's not too extreme but I'd rather head to Hawksmoor Air Street for a steak at those prices. So, maybe if I'm restricted to the area but then again if I'm going to splurge there I'd try to go for Nobu.

It's called 'Cafe Murano', but don't let this deceive you - it's not a cafe. It's a restaurant. But it's not just a restaurant. It's an upmarket, quality (Northern) Italian restaurant, of the kind you don't see often in London's streets. The menu changes on a daily basis, so what you may have on one day may not be on the menu on another day. The theory behind the restaurant is that it's a place you can drop in and eat at every day, though methinks you'd need pretty deep pockets for that sort of luxury. I went for the warm octopus as a starter, not having sampled it before, and it was very delicious. Not slimy, and not chewy - just right. And very flavoursome, without being overbearing against the chickpea and pesto. For main, my dinner date and I opted for the Steak for Two (800g). The waiter informed us that the chef will only cook it Medium-Rare (fine by us), and it came out a half-hour later, already carved on a large dish. And, oh my goodness.. I've had a lot of steak in my lifetime. Which, as a bloke with Hindu heritage, isn't probably something I should have. But I like my food, and I like a good steak. But this wasn't a good steak. This was the hands-down, without even a close competitor, the best steak I've ever had. It was perfect. It was tender, melt in your mouth perfection. If I wasn't too busy devouring this magnificent beast, I'd have marched into the kitchen and proposed to the chef (Gender wouldn't have mattered). I feel as though every other steak in any other kitchen has been pre-ruined for me, as it'll have too much to match up to. The let down point was the desserts, which really weren't very great - the selection wasn't fantastic, but I opted for the Vin Santo, which I wouldn't go for again. But that, by this stage, was a moot point. Nothing could bring me down after a steak like that. Seriously.

Worst service in London. Waited 45 mins for service. Ended up leaving. You need a management change!!

I'm a big fan of this place. I came here for lunch during the workday and really enjoyed it. It's right below my office so very convenient. I'm not sure what it's like on weekends, but It felt very corporate-y and seemed like a much frequented lunch spot for business meetings. The food was excellent. We started with the truffle arancini which was heavenly. For my main, I had the white broccoli, broad bean and mint fettuccine which was also very good. We sat at the bar and the service was great. Would absolutely recommend this place for some classic Northern Italian cuisine

Angela Hartnett has a talent for creating special venues. I had had great meals and overall experiences in Merchants Tavern and Murano before eating here. And Cafe Murano is now one of my go to mid to high price range restaurants in central London. My girlfriend and I started the evening with some great cocktails. Starters of octopus & chickpea stew and courgette and ricotta bruschetta were both exceptionally good and augured well for what was to come. The main courses that followed were fantastic: Lobster Spaghetti & Beef Tagliata. Have been back several times since and was delighted to see them expand to a Covent Garden location this Summer.

I've been wanting to try out this place for a while since it opened in November 2013. Opened by Angela Hartnett, and sister restaurant to Micheline-starred Murano, Cafe Murano offers simple, rustic, Northern Italian food in a more relaxed setting. It is centrally located, close to Green Park station, and just far away enough from the busy touristy areas. We had an early reservation at 5.30pm on a Saturday, as the other times were already fully booked. The place had a warm and welcoming feel to it, and we were shown to our table in a quiet corner at the back of the room. We ordered a carafe of Merlot and were started off with some tasty focaccia which was served with a really good olive oil dip. Being one of the first diners of the evening has its perks, as all our dishes were served promptly and simultaneously. We had ordered a few dishes from the a la carte menu to share. The warm octopus with chickpeas and pesto was one of my favourites - tender and full of flavour. The gnocchi was also very good, as was the risotto which was very creamy. They also do a set menu, which is quite limited in terms of choices. Overall, a pleasant meal. Full post with photos are on the blog: http://dancing-in-high-heels.blogspot.co.uk/2014/03/cafe-murano-33-st-jamess-street-london.html

Simply some very posh and delicious Italian food served just a quick walk away from Piccadilly Circus in Westminster.

Waking around Piccadilly and we were starving! Found this and were very happy about our choice. Menu is confusing and we felt bad asking our waiter so many times what it meant. Portions are really small so get the bigger option if you are hungry. The gnocchi was the best I ever had!

Very average - not sure what all the hype Is about. Asparagus starter was tasteless but the octopus was delicious. Had the lobster linguine for a main and wasn't at all impressed. Would go back.

The concept of Cafe Murano is pretty much Murano but in a much more casual and simpler manner, diners can have a quick lunch by the bar or just a single item off the menu instead of a full on meal which is ideal for people with little time but demanding high quality food at the same time. Wild boar fettuccine had a lovely richness and earthiness from the boar meat, the fettuccine was silky and smooth while the Parmesan cheese gave the whole dish a lovely aroma. Even better was the prawn, tomato, garlic and chili linguini, simple ingredients but with a perfect balance of sweet, sour and spicy taste, everything linked up together wonderfully, it was simplicity at its best....

Great lunch spot. Our group of four opted for three chicken Milanese (I know, boring) and it was a good choice if you're hungry: large portion of bird that was cooked perfectly (not dried out like many other restaurants' offerings of this dish) with the right amount of breading. Good accompaniment of salad. Sides were also very good. Our one fish person pronounced his choice as perfection. Cocktails were varied and flawlessly done. Big wine list but we stuck to Angela's house white. Service was very good on a busy weekday during the festive season, although the server did confuse the wine order and failed on the bread replenishment. Will definitely return.

Murano is a very nice and classy place where my friend and I dropped in to get dinner. Because we didn't reserve a table we were asked if we wanted to eat at the bar which we accepted. We both ordered the rabbit risotto and I have never tasted anything like this. It was simply perfect. We were both amazed that something this simple could be so good, it actually melted in my mouth. It was one of the best food experiences of my life.

Before I sat down for dinner here, I had no idea that there was a lot of buzz behind this restaurant - in fact, I didn't even know who Angela Hartnett was. So there weren't any high expectations on my part, but this restaurant scored low in my books for a number of things that went wrong. Lets start with the pros: - special dish of the night, Hogget, was delicious. The meat was a bit gamey (as its supposed to be) but tender - nice atmosphere - prices aren't exactly cheap but it doesn't break the bank if you want to have a nice meal Cons: - where was the service...?! Not that we need to be coddled 24/7, but we hardly saw our server that night. We had to flag him down to order a few things, but he didn't come around to ask if he can take our order - we had a large party, and ordered 1 of all the appies on the menu. Only 5 came, and the rest were forgotten. No, not that it tasted bad - they were literally forgotten about. They tried to clear our dishes 20 minutes later, and we reminded them we still had dishes. - We were never informed of the special of the day, until our orders were being taken around the table, and when I wanted the Hogget Ragu, the waiter said "Speaking of Hogget, we have a different special..". So there were a number of people who changed their order based on this - the pork neck had flavour, yet was tender and dry at the same time. I didn't quite get it until I sampled a bite from the bf's dish. Was a bit disappointed. - We ordered 1 of each side dish (should be pretty simple). They were all forgotten about, again. By the time it was almost ready to come out, everyone was done eating, so we cancelled it - We ordered 2 bottles of wine, both which arrived pretty much at the end of the meal. I think others were trying to slow down their eating to wait for the wine. The meal slid in under £50 for a main, and shared in some (pretty small) appies / few bites of tiramisu, a cocktail and glass of wine. I'm really trying to remember details of the food, I don't think anything was wrong with it, but the scattered service made me forget about anything good about that night. The quality of food was overall good, hampered by the poor service and dinner experience, I'm (begrudgingly) rounding this up to 3 stars. Perhaps they had a bad night.. ??

Most of the food was good, but not life changing, until we came to the veal lasagna. Wow!! Will come back just for that. Desserts were really good as well.

We really wanted to like Murano. We really like Angela Hartnett, but there's something lacking here. It is the second tier to Murano down the road and so it does feel like an after thought. The staff don't seem particularly fired up to be there and the food just kind of lacked...well it lacked love. It's still a nice dining room, and the food isn't bad, but I don't think it gets the same attention as her flagship.

As usual for Angela Hartnett, the food was delicious. Unfortunately, a member of staff had a very bad cold. Why oh why do people go to work when they are clearly very ill? In an eating establishment it's even worse! Puts you off the food. Shame.

I took a friend here for a birthday celebration, and was so delighted that I did. The atmosphere is elegant and the service polite and attentive. The truffle arancini are to die for. They remembered I had mentioned a birthday when I booked, and at the end of the meal, they brought out a dessert with Happy Birthday written in chocolate. A wonderful, thoughtful touch. Eager to return.

We ate at your restaurant on 10-8-15. Meal was perfect. I had Gnocchi, and my wife had Rigatoni Bolognese. We ordered small plates. This was just the right amount. Italian meat platter for appetizer, and cannoli for desert. We savored every bite.

This place opened in November and is the sister restaurant to Murano. It was amazing. the pasta's are fresh and sauces fabulous. we splurged a bit and ordered starters, split a pasta course and then each had our main. The food was amazing, the modern feel of the place perfect; they have a nice bar and we'd go back in a heartbeat. There are not that many upscale, casual italian restaurants in London. You get 'red checkered table cloths' or over the top, or super traditional with columns and roman or venetian vibes with over garlic'd food. The chef owners do an amazing job - Hogge with pasta, chick pea and octopus salad with pesto, pork shoulder on braised veges, carbonara that's traditionally made, no creme. Everything from the service on down was perfect. Reservation on time etc. We can't wait to go back.