Ottolenghi Reviews 39

We had an amazing experience yesterday at Ottolenghi Bicester Village. The food was fabulous, and our waiter couldn’t have been more hospitable or helpful. A definite 5/5 experience.

I love the Deli on Pavillion Road, all the staff are so lovely, the food is divine and they do the best hot chocolate in town!

When we walked in , very polite staff. They welcomed us in and took us to the table . We ordered our food and drinks came in less than 3 minutes . Our food came in less than 10 minutes. It was my nephew’s birthday yesterday and Oskaras gave us a free slice of cake which was amazing . Toilets very clean . Would recommend to come . Thank you very much Oskaras who gave us all the foods , drinks and the cake you was amazing !

As we walked in we were greeted by Irini. She was very friendly, polite and accommodating, A great front of house. The food was excellent. Absolutely will be returning.

This is an awful customer experience due to poor communication when orders are incomplete. The packaging & delivery is poor - with no support from customer service, no consistent email correspondence and a clear disregard for the customer. Not what I would expect from this brand. Poor quality asdurance from a Top Chef who is making a lot of money at the expense of others.

Shop not busy on a Saturday lunchtime in December in Hampstead. Felt rushed to order. Bought a small piece of salmon for £10. It was dry and without flavour. Obviously poor quality too. 3 cookies for £10. Over salted and sweet. Definitely overpriced and relying on name. Better food to take away in Greggs

what a shame!
Yotam is one of my go to chefs for recipes. I have always thought of him as being a man of principal. Unfortunately this is not reflected in his online shop administration staff. I ordered a Christmas hamper and was definitely not offered any choice of delivery date. I have now received a hamper, which was a present for my granddaughter, containing foods best before the end of November. My complaint resulted in me being called a liar and the suggestion that I give the £120 hamper to someone as an early Christmas present. Merry Christmas, Ottolenghi!

Overpriced and quality is better elsewhere

I had lunch with 2 visitors from Australia on Sunday 8 June in the Spitalfields branch. I have been there a few times over the years and each time I go, the prices increase and the quality of the food decreases but my visitors were keen to go there. I suggest that you don’t order the green bean salad or the broccoli salad - both were tasteless so we didn’t eat them. Minor comment but important - the knives are very blunt and not suitable for cutting some of the food so we had to ask for steak knives. We complained (sweetly) to two of the staff about the green bean salad and the broccoli salad. They listened, made some vague excuses and said they’d pass our comments to the kitchen. Given the fact that all 3 in our group didn’t eat those salads, we thought the least the restaurant could have done was offer us a free dessert but no discount or complimentary drink or dessert was offered. The food and drinks are overpriced and I doubt I will be returning as it was very disappointing.

Ottolenghi Isslington. 2.06.25

Lazy lunch for 5, 21/2 hrs of Fab food, Fab service and a very laid back but professional atmosphere.

All members of the party (two just arrived from Oz) said how much they enjoyed the experience.

Unlike some other reviews, the portion size was more than adequate, the service attentive yet not invasive. Help with the menu, advice re some of the items, all in all a positive experience, we will be back.

My second order from the Ottolenghi website, and as before I’m quite happy with my goods. I bought some cookies for my partner who has a very sweet tooth: tahini and sesame seed, passion fruit, and pistachio and white chocolate. Delicious and so wonderfully light and crumbly! However I would like to see bakery items of this quality packaged more suitably than nasty single-use plastic bags/container. It really isn’t appropriate these days, high profile companies and well-known chefs etc should be taking the lead in actively choosing more sustainable and environmentally friendly packaging. It’s difficult to understand a complaint which will make the effort to use recycled/recycleable padding in the shipping boxes yet still use cheap plastic for the good themselves. PLEASE take this on board as the constructive feedback it is intended as. Those of us who live very rurally don’t have access to plastic recycling facilities. I have removed one star solely for this issue. As for the ordering/delivery experience, absolutely cannot fault this at all, ordered Monday (Bank Holiday), arrived Wednesday afternoon, fully traceable straight from my Apple Pay app. The tote bag I ordered is extremely good quality, a very decent size, heavy duty and well-made. I’m looking forward to my next order.

Twice I've been to he Hampstead Branch and both times the staff have been appalling.
This time the scone my Husband chose was not good and the portion of cream was non-existent
Never again.

Very disappointed.Was looking forward to Mother’s Day lunch at Ottolenghi in Richmond .The menu was very limited.Only cold chicken which was very dry, salmon or a vegetarian option with very basic salads.All four of us were very disappointed as previously looking at the menu it did mention other dishes like a lamb dish .All the dishes were cold !!
So in all honesty it was not the best choice for a Mothers day lunch
The bill was just short of £200 with one bottle of wine and 2 beers.
I know that they are new but this is the makings of a renowned chef who I have followed and whose recipes I have cooked at home.I have been told that my Ottolenghi recipes have been amazing .
How have they got this so wrong .

Absolutely terrible customer service from a company owned by a public figure I not only respected, but whose restaurants and recipes I used to love. The lack of ability to speak to a customer service advisor is frustrating and disappointing. I am missing a delivery from an order placed in 28 October 2024 and cannot get response from any of their “contact us” numbers or emails. Can’t call them, can’t message on any social media, and no replies from the email addresses. At this point, I doubt it will turn up, or that I will receive a response from them. Unfortunately I will think twice before supporting this chef or his products again.

The delivery date has been missed for an online purchase placed in October (plenty of time for a birthday at the end of December)
Delivery was being prepared 4th December for 11th Dec. It didn’t arrive. No update on the order. Now the tracking reference from the website has expired.
It is impossible to speak to anyone on the phone as “all our lines are busy”. You’re then automatically cut of with no option to be on hold in a queue.
No replies to email enquiries.
This company are not set up to be an online business and I would not recommend using them.

The food is lovely but seasonal Hamper & Gift set buyers beware! They do not have a proper fulfillment and shipping operation set up to handle these orders.

I ordered 3 identically priced but different gift sets to be delivered to me, so I could present them in person. One arrived gift boxed but unlabeled so I had no way of knowing which it was. The other two sets were just a bunch of products, mummified in bubble wrap and tape so the labels were illegible, and jumbled together in a single cardboard box, again unlabeled. I had to unwrap everything to figure out what was what, deduce what must be in the gift box, then find 2 old boxes, separate and repackage the items for each “kit”, and wrap the boxes in my own wrapping.

Customer service deems this my fault -“there was no gift message so how were we to know it was a gift”. All three items were described as ‘sets’ and chosen from a web page labeled ‘hampers and gifts’.

I continue to get random ‘delayed delivery notices’ for a phantom package because they apparently changed their shipping provider weeks before Christmas. Can see others have had similar issues in previous years…it’s obviously not core enough to their business. My advice: buy their lovely products in a shop, but don’t order a gift online.

Went to Ottolenghi in Bicester Village Outlet shops. Really disappointing. Should have identified something was up when we entered as there were so few diners present.
Ordered starters and pasts mains to share together with two glasses of sauvignon blanc. Well.... the wine was cloudy, but we both sipped it.... it was clearly corked - a horrible vinegary taste. How could the bartender not have known just by the.look.of it. A quick smell would have instantly told him. After convincing the server that all was not well, we received an alternative.... that was only a little better, but at least drinkable..... we both left at least half of the glass each.

The loos are odd.... upstairs.and unisex cubicles. But you cannot tell whether each one is occupied unless you try the door handle...I'm sure someone inside must panic if someone on the outside keeps rattling the handle!

Needless to say I dont think we'll be back.

A regular visitor to Ottolinghi as it is within walking distance. Up to now I have balked as prices have increased, portions have reduced but on the plus side staff have always been friendly and efficient. I was there for lunch today after a break of a couple of months. The lunch was served on a smaller plate ? Smaller portions and the cheapest bottle of white wine is now £40. I had a tasty piece of chicken and 2 salads and my friend had 3 salads with her chicken. We rather reluctantly ordered a bottle of wine. I won’t go into details but they made a mess of our order but eventually got it right. When the bill came it was £120+ and I honestly felt this was very poor value for money, a rip off. We had commented how quiet the restaurant was and I wonder if other regulars have also said
Enough is enough.

It was my dear friend’s birthday and she opted to have dinner at the Spitalfields restaurant. To say the food was poor…is an understatement. I ordered their moussaka, which tasted like onions, stewed in chopped tomatoes, The grilled aubergine was revolting -cold and crunchy. We were served a random dish of something that looked & tasted like Lidl's finest cream cheese…garnished with fresh herbs. The service was pestering -not allowing people the opportunity to relax and chat. Every 2 minutes someone was fussing
over us. All in all, it was a poor experience. The food was grim and over priced and the service pushy to the point of annoying.

A very dear Danish friend was in London recently. She wasn’t keen to go to “my favourite restaurant” until I told her it was Ottolenghi then she soon agreed to go. Apparently it was one of her lifetime ambitions to go to an Ottolenghi eatery. I treated her to lunch on her day of departure in 29 July (bill no’23876). Fantastic food, amazing service from our very diligent waitress Maria. Also, lots of delicious goodies to take away. Ottolenghi in Islington has a cool, vibrant ambience with a great relaxation vibe. Five star experience - again (!) - and superb value for money. Thanks again Team Ottolenghi!