Carlotta restaurant review, Marylebone Village
At Carlotta, I experienced the rarest of London phenomena: restaurant regret. Not the sort induced by a rogue oyster, but the slow-burn humiliation of realising somewhere excellent has been hiding in plain sight since Spring 2023 while you’ve been swanning past it.
I’ve clocked those jaunty red pavement chairs and tables more times than I care to admit. Admired the glossy Carlotta signage. Obscured windows means you can’t peer in for a vibe check. It somehow never felt inviting and I wasn’t even certain it served lunch. Reader, it does. And at 2pm on a weekday, it was still humming like a well-fed cat. A proper long-lunch address.
Carlotta Exterior. Image credit Jerome Galland
Marylebone is a neighbourhood full of enticing restaurants, (as well as some of London’s most unique independent shops). I was curious to explore where Carlotta is positioned in what seems a very complete offering in this area.
Carlotta is one of several Italian restaurants from the Paris-based Big Mamma group’s Italian restaurants, of which there now six here in London. The group has a knack of creating spaces that feel like they have always been there. Each has its own vibrant, whimsical identity and design, from Avo Maria, a bold retro Florentine-palazzo inspired interior to Gloria, a colourful Capri and 70s inspired interior with marble floors and vibrant striped upholstery. Turns out the unique décor of Carlotta makes this restaurant my favourite of the lot.
Carlotta Ground Floor. Image credit Jerome Galland
Carlotta is like walking into back in time. The ante room to the restaurant is a snug space mostly occupied by a bar of the neighbourhood Italian kind. Marble-topped, snug, faintly conspiratorial. The sort of place you’d duck into for an espresso that turns into a Negroni that turns into mild oversharing. A vintage changeable letter board hangs on the wall like a relic from a better decade.
Push through a burgundy velvet curtained opening to enter the opulent, retro dining room with an American-Italian vibe. A nod to the Italians who packed up their bags, recipes and heritage and took them across the pond to create a wealth of new Italian cultures. At this point my imagination got away from me. I half expected tohear Jennifer Coolidge’s purring voice chattering to a bunch of mob wives nestled into one of the restaurants rich brown curving leather banquettes while their husband’s play poker downstairs. But I digress…
Carlotta Dining Room. Image Credit Jerome Galland
We entered a long skylit dining 70s style dining room with a Art Deco touches, walls lined with ruched and draped champagne-gold fabric lit from below for a warm dramatic glow, golden palm tree standing lamps, floor length mirrors and soft mood lighting, boxing memorabilia and eye catching, stylish, vintage Italian wedding photos of the team’s family. Family lore framed as décor. The room is a feast for the eyes.
The menu is full of classics; we began with the The Big Shrimp Cocktail arriving like it’s late to Studio 54. Prawns with a light tempura batter teeter on the rim of a glass coupe alternating with crudité of cucumber and carrot sticks for dipping into the Marie Rose sauce at the centre a reassuringly retro dish, in the best possible way. The Insalata Trevigiana al Gorgonzola is a platter covered in whole bitter endive leaves crisp as new banknotes, tangled with confit lemon and glossed in a faintly bossy and lusciously creamy balsamic, gorgonzola and parmesan dressing. The dish is given a delightful crunch with the generous amounts of toasted walnuts. It’s sharp, salty, sweet and nutty all at once. My kind of salad.
The Big Shrimp Cocktail and the Insalata Trevigiana al Gorgonzola. Image credit MTotoe/FLO London
For “Primi” we shared the Lobster Spaghettoni. Thick ropes of house-made pasta are stand out and cooked to a chewy al dente texture then glossed in a decadent bisque The lobster is generous and good value at £42, not those apologetic shreds that require a search party, but sweet, firm chunks that taste unmistakably of the sea. The size is generous and easily shared as a starter.
Lobster Spaghettoni. Image credit MTotoe/ FLO London
We continued the seafood theme of our meal with a main of Sole Meuniere: a whole Cornish lemon sole arriving bronzed and glistening in its oval copper pan, like it’s been on a very successful holiday. The caper butter sauce is delicate but decisive, nutty, saline, just sharp enough to cut through the richness of the butter. The fish is deboned at the table, teasing the diner’s anticipation. The flesh flakes obediently and is delicate and faintly sweet. The Cod Riviera offers sunnier climes. A perfectly cooked pan-fried fillet, reclining on spinach with a concentrated datterini tomato sauce, sweet and bright; Taggiasche olives bring that briny Mediterranean murmurto the dish.
Sole Meuniere and the Cod Riviera. Image credit MTotoe/ FLO London
If we are to pick holes at what was otherwise a delectable meal, the crispy potatoes were not in fact crispy. A dangerous misstep in a nation that treats roast potatoes as near sacred. Though not worth breaking anyone’s kneecaps over. All was forgiven with the arrival of the moreish garlicky spinach, only just wilted, leaving a nice bite to this very tasty side dish.
We finished with the must order Pistachio Wedding Cake. It arrives in a transparent mould, which is lifted dramatically at the table. The creamy pistachio mascarpone bursts over the coffee-soaked spongy base. A crushed pistachios soil added crunch and colour. It’s utterly indulgent, and a spectacular way to end the meal.
Pistachio Wedding Cake. Image credit MTotoe/ FLO London
Carlotta is not here for restraint. It is for escape and pure nostalgic pleasure. It’s other worldly, unique, fun and the menu is full of perfectly executed Italian comfort dishes with not a pizza in sight. In a postcode teeming with options, that’s no small feat.
Location: 77-78 Marylebone High Street, London W1U 5JX Website: bigmammagroup.com Instagram: @bigmamma.uk
Review by Natascha Milsom
