Carluccios Official Site
Heathrow Terminal 5
£12pp, £8.50 set menu
There appears to be two choices to eat at Terminal five.
Italian cafe behind the bag drop and Sofitel which is like a gazillion miles away and tucked inside – inconveniently- a separate building altogether. My flight is in 45 minutes and I don’t want to risk getting lost in the crystal maze that is Heathrow Airport. Folks, you may have noticed that I’m not really here at the moment (Am I ever really there?) because I’m on holiday and I’m blogging on my holiday and my mum keeps telling me to switch off the frigging computer but get this: I am working off her dial-up connection. That’s 56 kbs per second. Do you know how long it takes to load a picture – let alone compose an entire post?
That’s called de-di-ca-tion, I may be in grey italics for most of the week, but the ghost in the machine needs his fix every now and again, except this time, I’m not really there.
So Italian it is. Do ya feel lucky. Well, do ya?
Warning. This is not a review.
I chose the path of least resistance and proceeded to make the most value worthy choice on the menu. It was completely my luck that there was a set memu at carluccios for £8.50 which includes a bread tin, a choice of any pasta from the a la carte and a cup of coffee. Ok ok, I have nothing against chain restaurants, I mean Strada does solid pizzas, I hear nice things about rossopomodoro and who can say Nando’s are doing more harm than good, right?
If you look hard enough, you’ll pretty much find a Carluccio’s round every posh London postcode, granted they do serve some very nice melon sorbets and everything on display by the walls are also for sale.
Kang makes his debut appearance
Ok so here’s the picture to prove it: everything on display is for sale. Carluccios – like some Italian cafes around , Alimentari in Kilburn comes to mind- also doubles as an Italian food shop. While this is a great idea, I was a little miffed about the setup at an Airport, I mean, seriously am I really going to buy some linguine for when I’m visiting my long lost brother from another mother in Rome?
I should not hope – oh and that’s me in the bottom corner with the trusty d40. I really need a haircut and I’m heading back home to see the man who’s seen the top of my head for more than a decade.
He looks like a mean machine but will always offer me vanity fair while he does his work.
Talking over a spicy seafood soup
It seems as if I’m not paying much attention to the food doesn’t it? Well that’s because I’m on holiday and I’d like to think of this as a chat over food. Yes, imagine that’s your bowl of spicy seafood soup which you have ordered. It costs about six quid and you’re looking over to the neighbours’ table – forlorn – and wishing you had gone with the breadsticks wrapped with parma ham instead. The soup is chunky but it needs alot of salt.
A hell lot of salt.
You push the bowl over to me and I criticise it and explain how my brother could have made a better bowl of soup than this, and then we laugh and you advise me to watch it with the insults.
I’ve been reading the time traveller’s wife on the plane peeps.
The pasta arrives and T5 still sucks
I don’t know anybody who doesn’t like a good rant every now and again. I need to say it, I really do: Terminal 5 is a load so wrongly blown that nothing can ever wipe the mess completely clean…. ever. Ok fine that’s too harsh, no it’s not really that’s bad (catch the typo? I blame the badly blown load) : it’s actually a really huge, tech heavy looking building complete with minority report style video billboards. When one looks up in an airport, what does one expect to see? Signs, right? Signs pointing and guiding you to where everything is, so you don’t spend (waste) precious time(life) wandering up and down the building wondering what there is to eat. That’s the whole point of an airport isnt’ it – to make sure people get to where they’re suppose to go on time. Right. So where are the signs?
To Mr T5 project manager, put someone useful as the ’sign’ manager for your next job; despite popular belief, it really is rather important.
The pasta is too dry (it’s so yellow it almost looks uncooked) but one can appreciate the garlic and white wine broth and fresh seafood. It still needs alot of seasoning, thank goodness for grated parmesan and now I’m starting to wish I ordered the parma ham wrapped breadsticks too, but less than when I had the soup.
Calling it a foodie holiday.
A cappuccino at 7pm … well, it’s technically breakfast time where I’m headed. Incidentally, today is exactly seven months since London Eater’s first ever post. I’m so proud of my little pet project and how far it’s come, things have definitely changed, I’ve eaten alot of great stuff, unfortunately didnt avoid some clangers along the way and my ever expanding waistline continues to force my John Handcock at Ted Bakers. Ahh … that’s a disgusting cappuccino but it was a damn good reflection and it’s great to be on holiday.
The Gist of It
Carluccios Official Site
Heathrow Terminal 5
£12pp, £8.50 set menu
Verdict: For £8.50, not too bad actually, but pasta here is hmm, yucky. If you really need to eat here, try the paninis and order the breadsticks with parma ham, melon sorbet for pudding. If you’re in T5 the pub toward the south (I think) side of the building looks more dependable.
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Tags: carluccios
I’ve only been to Carluccio’s twice and both times the pasta was bland and uninspiring. I mean really, how hard is it to make tasty pasta?
Next time head for the Sofitel. It’s a wonderfully peaceful hotel and Brasserie Roux was pretty good
Yikes! Good luck with the photo loading – never mind the rest!! Have a nice visit
I cannot agree with you more – the food in Carluccio is bland and I wonder why it is still so full all the time. I’d recommend the Plane Food (Gordon Ramsey) at Heathrow T5 if you have more time.
Anyway, have a nice trip!
Word on the street suggests Carluccios are buggered (in an RBS style).
Fun rant to read, Kang.
In defense of T5, I am a big fan of the number of nice, clean loos everywhere. (Such an American comment, I know).
Also, while proper restaurants are few on the ground (I do point out Plane Food, as Toast Lover did), I try to minimize the amount of time I’m at the airport, so generally don’t arrive long enough before a flight to have a meal.
The food court isn’t bad, though. I’ve grabbed many an Itsu/Pret/EAT snack there.
Overall, I’ll take T5′s quiet, high-ceilinged sleekness any day over the noise and endless corridors of T4.
As for Carluccio’s – those of us trapped in Canary Wharf during the day appreciate their pastas for a decent, inexpensive “sit down” lunch. They’re buttery as all hell, but usually reliable.
Can I please add poor service to your list of complaints about Carluccio’s at T5? Guys this is airport, people have planes to catch, so don’t leave me hanging when I’ve asked you not once but twice for the bill. They sure came running when we went to walk out…
Been there a couple of times. I find their ‘winter promotions’ quite good value. It’s not exactly a place that you’ll go for fine dining but if you’re not looking to spend much beyond £10, it’s definitely worth considering.
@Toast Lover, will try Plane Food during my next flight out of Heathrow.
Cheers,
C K
I have been to Carluccios near barbican once. my friend and I had salad with some clam and a basket of bread. the place was very crowded and my friend told me that its a quite popular place (franchise, I guess)..but well, salad was no better than expected, even though the bread basket was okayable…
I am still interested in this place as it was much more crowded than the quality of food. ..whats the secret behind?
I would suggest that anyone who puts parmesan on a seafood pasta should not be reviewing a restuarant in the first place!
I find Carluccios is one of the few chains where you can be sure they will not serve overcooked pasta with sauces full of sugar and salt. Well priced too.
DonVin – Let’s get one thing straight: The seafood pasta came sprinkled with grated parmesan by the restaurant, not by me. Secondly this review is not definitive, it is merely a record of my experience at the restuarant, some people may like Carluccios, some may not, to each his own. Thirdly, if you don’t appreciate my reviews, please don’t read them, nobody is forcing you to do so.
That is odd as I had the same dish at lunch today, no parmesan in sight and was not offered any, as should be the case.
Fair enough on the other two points you make.
DonVin – Was it at the same branch at Terminal 5 at Heathrow? Maybe the T5 staff prefer to have their pasta sprinkled with parmesan? In anycase, my dish came sprinkled with parmesan cheese on top, as I have pointed out in my review. Furthermore I also pointed out that I thought the seafood it was served with was fresh and only that the pasta was a little undercooked. Not quite al dente. If somehow what I said had offended you then I apologise. Please understand that I am merely offering my opinion on my meal. Both what I felt were the plusses and negatives.
Thank you for agreeing on the two other points.
Kang – no, Market Place, West End. Sorry, i did not mean to imply you were being dishonest! Just that I was surprised at this inconsistency.
DonVin – No worries mate, well, Carluccios is a chain restaurant afterall, I think some inconsistency is to be expected. In fact, I’ve been to three carluccios in the past years, this one, the one at south kensington and another one in kings road, and at all three, the food does not taste the same. South Ken is the better of the lot. Same holds true for other chain restaurants in London too, and Strada comes to mind. The Earls court one is good, the high st ken one is not bad but the one in embankment is atrocious.
Also I hear the same inconsistencies with Wahaca in Westfield and Covent Garden. Each restaurant is manned by different teams of people, they may be trained to the same standards, but they are unlike fastfood restaurants which have recipes that can be prescribed and be replicated more consistently. Afterall, these are still proper restaurants and each restaurant – I think – have the flexiblity to do things slightly different and cook slightly differently , and are also subject to the skill of the chef, teamwork in the kitchen, experience in the kitchen…etc.
I do like carluccio’s melon sorbets though.