Restaurant review: Grappolo (Holborn)

My trip to Grappolo was the first time I bought anything off LivingSocial, and it was a good initiation into seeing the difference between what was being sold to you on paper (or screen), and the actual reality.

Located near London’s financial centre, Grappolo is a suitable upmarket-looking place, with attractive waiters and waitresses and an elegant ambiance. The deal I got online was £29 for a three course meal for me and a friend, as well as a bottle of wine to share between us. We both ordered different things, so I got to have a trial of six dishes in total. And overall, my impression is positive: five of the six things we ordered tasted great (the only thing that didn't was Theo's cheesecake dessert), and whilst, presentation-wise, they definitely peaked at the starters, the dishes looked perfectly presentable, if not Michelin-star level.



My personal highlight was the main course, which was the none-too-sophisticated but nonetheless delicious meatballs + cheesy mash blend. Theo had something which sounds much nicer in Italian, but simply put, was chicken and chips. The chicken tasted fine, but the chips themselves had a "bung the McCain's oven chips quickly in the oven and hope no one notices" touch about them that was never going to fool me (I spent half my teenage life in fish and chip shops, c'mon now). As mentioned, looks-wise, the starters were by far the best. We both had salads; mine was with prawn and the quantity and texture of it both looked and tasted brilliant.

Grappolo got a bit slack with the desserts. My tiramisu was perfectly edible, and such is my sweet tooth that I'll usually speak well of anything sugary, but looks-wise, it had, as with Theo's chips, a hurried look about it. Theo's cheesecake looked even worse, the red blob in the middle did nothing to appease his appetite and that was the only thing we left unfinished.

However, I'm nothing if not practical, and I know that for £29 for two people, including a bottle of wine that succeeded in getting us very drunk, you can't really ask for the stars, so for what I paid for the deal, I was very satisfied. Without the deal, you'd be paying £16.50 per person for a three-course meal, and I don't know how much the wine would be, but it'd probably bring you to over £40. Had I gone that route, I think I'd be a little less generous with my review, but such are the slim margins of a couple of quid~~~

Grade with the price I paid with my LivingSocial deal: A-
Grade had we eaten there without a voucher: B