Afternoon Tea at Caffe Concerto - Shaftsbury Av

We came in the evening for pre theatre cake, coffee and wine. Great service by a friendly and professional male waiter, the slices of Black Forest and strawberry gateaux were fresh, light and tasty. Would definitely recommend.

If I had to sum up our experience in one word, it would be cold. Cold staff and cold coffee, with cakes that were bland, tasteless and overpriced. One waiter was nice but the rest of the staff were unfriendly and didn’t seem to care. More style than substance in this place.

Came here for lunch after a late morning theatre visit with my young son. The décor is very elegant and does remind you of cafés in Italy. Lots of variety on the menu portions were generous. The staff seemed pleasant, but do not count on them for menu advice etc: I asked our waiter about penne and he did not know what it was! Yes, the bill was pricey, but given it was right in the middle of the London tourist trap we were not surprised comes with the territory.

Sadly, a terrible pre-theatre spaghetti carbonara. The pancetta had tough inedible rind and it was unerseasoned. No waiter checked in with us during the meal so no chance to comment until the end. To be fair, the manager has been great, taking it off the bill and bringing free coffees and unsolicited macarons, which are excellent. Maybe just worth avoiding the carbonara?

Very disappointing considering that it was a special birthday celebration for my husband's 85th birthday. The establishment encourages you to send feedback, so here we go. The menu is overpriced and has sky rocketed since we last used this restaurant, albeit in the centre of London. The prices have even gone up in comparison to those shown on line. Not a good experience for so little at £51.55. My husband ordered Rigatoni Siciliana and could not eat it because of the excess of chilli which should not be in this recipe and was a very messy combination. I tried to eat it but had to return it and was given another one supposedly without too much chilli. They are charging a whopping £5.95 for apple juice and £4.25 for cranberry juice which I saw being poured from a carton. Outragious. The staff were attentive and I gave an individual tip. Of course their cakes are to die for, but again they have gone up considerably in price.