Il Primo is back
Il Primo has re-opened under new ownership. We'd been there a couple of times under the ancien régime, and while we'd liked it, we never quite understood the rave reviews and the quasi-cult status it enjoyed.

Now it's back in action, somewhat spruced up - furniture is good "modern bistro", cloth napkins, art on the walls. The downstairs tables are high, but upstairs where we were seated was more comfortable and conducive to relaxation.

We went for lunch on the Friday of their first week back, and were sent upstairs where we had one of the window seats, nicely out of the thoroughfare running between most of the other tables, but not so out of the way the waiting staff were in any danger of forgetting us.

Menus were delivered promptly and an impressive list of "specials" recited - this is a restaurant where they take their specials seriously. While we considered what to eat, we were delivered a plate of lovely crusty Italian bread, and a little dish of olives. The olive oil - at the table as standard - was a very good one.

The wine list is less expensive than it used to be, although there are still quite a number of premium wines - 20, between Italian and French - in the €100-€550 bracket. Not being apt to part with so much for wine, especially at lunch time, we each selected wines by the glass: the other half had a pleasant Sauvignon Blanc, and to my embarrassment I can't recall what my glass of very good Italian red wine was, although it wasn't the organic Chianti Rufino I first tried to order as that had not yet arrived.

The other half started with a Parma ham salad - generous amounts of thinly sliced and beautifully textured Parma ham, with baby potato, wilted rocket and garlic "salad". Excellent presentation, good ingredients, and very palatable indeed. I had the special, celeriac soup with ground pinenuts. There's only so much you can do to make such a soup look impressive, and in fact it looked quite dully beige. Fortunately, it tasted much better than it looked, and the pinenuts lifted the flavours nicely. I thought I also detected a hint of coriander and suspect it could have done with just a little more, but that's just pickiness and a coriander fetish.

For our main courses, we stuck firmly to the specials: the other half had baked salmon, which looked good, though I didn't get to eat any; I had the dry-aged rib-eye with garlic butter and rosemary potatoes. This dish was a slight let-down - somewhere between the order and the dish getting back out of the kitchen, medium rare was translated into "well-done". Not being a fan of well-done steak I contemplated sending it back, but mindful of the time decided not to, and notwithstanding my prejudices it was actually still very good.

One of the staff came around to check how our meal was, and I mentioned - purely for her information - that the steak was more "done" than I'd asked for. Consternation! She offered to change it, and I stressed that I was mentioning it only so they'd know: that in fact I was enjoying it, as evidenced by my being two thirds of the way through. Nonetheless, the manager came over - quietly and with no unpleasant fanfare - to apologise, and tell us (over my somewhat pained objection) that we wouldn't be billed for it.

All in all, a good dining experience, though I felt the staff were a little nervous; they handled a minor complaint well, if at greater cost to themselves than necessary. Total bill had the steak been included was €71, but with the reduction was only €45. We will be back. If the excellent service and seemingly genuine desire to ensure diners - even of the office lunch variety - really enjoy their meals, last beyond the early days, and if they maintain the high standard of ingredients and plenty of well thought out specials, then it looks like we'll have another regular restaurant on our Friday lunch circuit.    [24 Nov 2006 10:47:39]

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     ­Dara   

Average at best
My work's Christmas do was held here and the consensus was that it was underwhelming. There were about ten of us and the restaurant had been chosen based on a reputation for really good Italian wines and food. The wine we wanted wasn't available and the recommended alternative was fine but unexceptional. Food was so-so - steaks were overcooked but it had taken so long for them to arrive in the first place that we decided against sending them back (they seemed to be understaffed, and it was full which meant waiting endlessly for everything). Pasta options (which we thought would be good given the reputation the restaurant has) were limited (only a set menu was available) and the option (a cannelloni) looked and tasted like a ready meal. The staff were really pleasant but seemed very hassled. It might just be the time of year but the restaurant didn't really live up to expectations.    [20 Jan 2007 06:32:19]

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     ­Bill Blatchford   

Won't Go Back
Went here a few weeks back in January and thought it was poor. There were very few other diners (which we understood as the evening progressed) and atmosphere was lacking. We'd read a good review in a newspaper but it was almost like we visited a different restaurant. For food we concentrated on pasta and risotto since these seem to be the main selling points of the restaurant, but what we got wasn't at all good - sloppy underseasoned risotto, overcooked and mushy cannelloni with tomato sauce that tasted like it came from a tin. Starters weren't much better and dessert was a write-off. We felt that the evening was really a waste of money given the quality of the food.    [18 Feb 2007 06:47:39]

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     ­Katerina Halpin