Restaurant Review - Jamie's Italian, Threadneedle Street

Restaurant name: Jamie's Italian

Location: Threadneedle Street, London

Description: Jamie Oliver's Italian restaurant chain - which is somewhere between casual and fine dining.

Reason for visit: Lunch with work colleagues to welcome a new team member

 

 

I ate: crab arancini - crispy rice balls stuffed with crab, served with a saffron aioli, £5.95; chargrilled pork chop, with caramelised butter gremolata, pistachio and sage puree, apple and fennel salad £16.95, with a side order of posh chips (with truffle oil and parmesan), £3.75
My companions ate: to start, squid with agrodolce peppers, £7.50 and limoncello-cured cod loin, £7.50. They both then had the rib-eye steak, £22.95, with posh chips and funky chips (with garlic and parsley). £3.75.
The food was: My starter was delicious but the pork was fairly dry and needed something zingy or at least less subtle in the flavour as it tasted quite plain. The chips were OK but not the nicest I've had. My friends enjoyed their meals and said the steak was excellent.
The atmosphere/service was: Good - this is a City restaurant where some people are on their lunchbreak so don't have a lot of time, and others are having business lunches (on expenses), so the service is good as you would expect.

Price range/value for money: Fairly expensive though the ingredients are good quality.
Would I recommend it? Probably, though I wouldn't order the pork chop.