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Jamie’s Italian going bust

I also have an issue with the turnaround time. If I am paying higher prices, I want to have a relaxed meal, time after to finish a bottle of wine etc. Trouble is the chain restaurants need turnaround to get another punter at your table and to, invariably try to rush you through. If I am out for dinner somewhere, that is my evening out and I want to be able to stay at my table as long as I need.
 
I would agree to an extent on Miller and Carter, I have found it to be adequate, but not much better. The iceberg wedge is just strange. I think food comes and goes as to what’s “popular”. In Glasgow, where my Fiancé and I would go for a nice dinner, Steak seems to be the “in thing”. For a time it was burger joints. Miller and Carter seems to be enjoying popularity off the back of this, but fashions change quickly. They might have a similar arc to Jamie’s, as they are rapidly expanding from what I can see.
 
Siolag said:
I would agree to an extent on Miller and Carter, I have found it to be adequate, but not much better. The iceberg wedge is just strange. I think food comes and goes as to what’s “popular”. In Glasgow, where my Fiancé and I would go for a nice dinner, Steak seems to be the “in thing”. For a time it was burger joints. Miller and Carter seems to be enjoying popularity off the back of this, but fashions change quickly. They might have a similar arc to Jamie’s, as they are rapidly expanding from what I can see.
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I just don't see what a brand adds to a restaurant like Miller and Carter. Similar to Jamie's Italian.

For me it is an instant turn off to know or think that a restaurant you are in are serving the same menu in dozens of places around the country. You'd much rather think that they have a

Maybe they are relying on business people or visitors to a city choosing to use somewhere they know will be decent rather than 'risking' an independent place. But surely most restaurants are going to benefit from repeat customers from the people who live in that area far more.
 
Saw an interesting article about the whole Jamie Oliver contradiction. On one hand he is all over TV saying how easy it is to cook restaurant food at home or prepare meals quickly and cheaply in 30 minutes and in the other he is saying go and eat at my restaurant and pay a high price for food that I am telling you can be prepared in minutes for little cost
 
The thing about Italian food is that there are dozens of small, family run, Italian restaurants everywhere &, in my experience, they virtually all serve delicious, reasonably priced, food. There are four within a few miles of where I live & they're all brilliant & have happy hour, inexpensive, menus. I'd personally rather eat in a proprietor run restaurant with a bit of character than in an overpriced place bearing the name of someone I don't particularly like.
 
Tashyboy said:
It isnt just Pasta, but it's not a £12 meal either. If they thought they were gonna survive charging £12 for spag Bol, it was always gonna fail.
Mark my words, Miller and Carter charging £85 for steak and McDonald's chips will be the next. Complete and utter Rammel. There spare ribs are dire, ave had better from Aldi.
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Depends on which ingredients you are sourcing. Good quality ingredients are expensive nowadays, yes some people may be fine with a meal made with low cost and generally low quality ingredients as that's what they are after, and fair enough, it's great that people can eat out for a very reasonable price. But that's not the market Jamie's restaurants are going for, they are not there to compete with Wetherspoons.
 
We've only been to one of his. It felt as if we were sitting in a warehouse corridor, all bare metal fixtures and fittings with people rushing about. Not a relaxed comfortable ambience.
The food was ok, but nothing special and did nothing to make us want to return....which we havent and wouldnt.
 
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Hacker Khan said:
Depends on which ingredients you are sourcing. Good quality ingredients are expensive nowadays, yes some people may be fine with a meal made with low cost and generally low quality ingredients as that's what they are after, and fair enough, it's great that people can eat out for a very reasonable price. But that's not the market Jamie's restaurants are going for, they are not there to compete with Wetherspoons.
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But if he is sourcing his ingredients from the same suppliers as Wetherspoons it would appear that perhaps that is exactly who his restaurants should be compared with.
 
Hacker Khan said:
Depends on which ingredients you are sourcing. Good quality ingredients are expensive nowadays, yes some people may be fine with a meal made with low cost and generally low quality ingredients as that's what they are after, and fair enough, it's great that people can eat out for a very reasonable price. But that's not the market Jamie's restaurants are going for, they are not there to compete with Wetherspoons.
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Which is why wetherspoons is still open and Jamie's having a pot noodle tonight. Bottom line for me is this. I have eaten more pasta in Italy than this country. Yet I have never and would never pay £12 for a spag Bol. I have never had a pasta dish in this country in a Chain restaurant that tastes as good as owt as I have had in Italy. Yet £10 plus seems to be the norm for Rammell.
Ironically the best Italian meal I have had for decades in this country Was two weeks ago in Cambridge. Cost Missis T £5 for her beef pasta dish. Me I had beef bolognase in a rice ball covered in breadcrumbs. £4. As good as I had in Monza. The owner was from Bergamo. Supports Atalanta. Nuff said.
 
Tashyboy said:
Which is why wetherspoons is still open and Jamie's having a pot noodle tonight. Bottom line for me is this. I have eaten more pasta in Italy than this country. Yet I have never and would never pay £12 for a spag Bol. I have never had a pasta dish in this country in a Chain restaurant that tastes as good as owt as I have had in Italy. Yet £10 plus seems to be the norm for Rammell.
Ironically the best Italian meal I have had for decades in this country Was two weeks ago in Cambridge. Cost Missis T £5 for her beef pasta dish. Me I had beef bolognase in a rice ball covered in breadcrumbs. £4. As good as I had in Monza. The owner was from Bergamo. Supports Atalanta. Nuff said.
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That rice ball is an Arancini, I was listening to the radio today and they mentioned Bergamo as somewhere worth a visit and the food is amazing
 
robinthehood said:
That rice ball is an Arancini, I was listening to the radio today and they mentioned Bergamo as somewhere worth a visit and the food is amazing
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👍 It's the third time I have had one, first was in Monza. It was hot and gorgeous. Second in a market in Como. I asked for it " Fredo" which is Cold. I got me cold and Caldo/ Hot mixed up. Bloke heated it up and well let's just say there was a party in my mouth and everyone was invited.
The other week we were in Cambridge and found an Italian bistro place. The food was simply stunnig. Yet cheap as chips. Had a natter with the owner who heard me talking Rammel Italian, all was going well til I said " Forza Inter" .
Didn't go down well initially with an Atalanta fan. We had a right good natter and laugh after.
I think it is Italian outcast/ forum member on here who lives in Bergamo. He can give you the lowdown on Bergamo.Been to Bergamo alto ( up the hill ) a few times. Very nice. Some Italian friends took us up there on the way back to Bergamo airport. Found a lovely restaurant. For starters/ anti pasti they had a posh Pasta. We had minestrone soup. They looked at us like we had two heads. It was gorgeous. They told us minestrone is food for peasants. In essence it is leftovers made into a soup, anything goes into it. It is simple food. Most Italian food is simple food. Yet ave seen Jamie's dishes when he is in Italy and he adds stuff left right and centre. It over complicates simple dishes, and adds to the cost.
 
I would rather eat at a good country pub with an reputation for good food (like the Duke of Edinburgh near my golf club) or a family owned restaurant that are customer focused, don't have thousands of dishes on the menu or try and be too fancy with the food. All of these chains are serving the same food from Bristol to Newcastle and there is no difference in decor, ambience or service in any.
 
MetalMickie said:
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But if he is sourcing his ingredients from the same suppliers as Wetherspoons it would appear that perhaps that is exactly who his restaurants should be compared with.
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He won't be sourcing the same ingredients as Wetherspoons. Not sure you can compare Jamies to Wetherspoons.

I'm not sure what Jamie's brought to the restaurant trade really. With so many competitors and so many chains to compete with it was going to have to be really good or different for it to keep going. Gino's will be next, really don't what that brings either. There's only so many chain's that can stay relevant at one time, I really don't see chain's like Bella Italia, Gino's, Prezzo being around in a few years time. Miller and Carter used to be a bit of a place to go but you see them all over now, seems to have branched out and in too many places - it's not the special place it used to be. And it's expensive.
 
HomerJSimpson said:
I would rather eat at a good country pub with an reputation for good food (like the Duke of Edinburgh near my golf club) or a family owned restaurant that are customer focused, don't have thousands of dishes on the menu or try and be too fancy with the food. All of these chains are serving the same food from Bristol to Newcastle and there is no difference in decor, ambience or service in any.
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Oddly enough Homer, last week I took ma and Pa to the Plough pub in Farnsfield. A PP recommended it saying it was " homely food". I had steak and kidney pie as did mum. It was gorgeous. Missis T had haddock and chips. Waitress came to table a minute after meal was served and asked if everything was OK. I said no the wife's is too small. She said " what the fish". I said "no the plate", the haddock was massive. Sourced from Grimsby. Am having that again tonight. Taking parents again. However mum Tash said "we have got to have a table where we can see what's going off in the pub"😳 Nosey sod.
 
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