Machiavelli

The restaurant is nice, the staff is friendly, the food is maybe a bit expensive for the quantity and/​or quality according to your taste.
Its a good place to have a good time, but don’t expect too much :)

I decided to give Machiavelli another go for breakfast. We had nothing to eat and were very hungry!
We came at 10am, and they are supposed to serve breakfast as from 9am. When we walked in, we were told that the kitchen wasn’t ready. An hour after opening, seriously people? We weren’t in a hurry so sat down and waited for the order to be taken.
We ordered 2 orange juices and one full italian and one poached eggs on toast. It took 30 minutes for the food to arrive. A bit long considering we were the first ones there and the restaurant was empty.
The Full italian was good but the «toast» was extremely hard, like old bread that’s been heated up. The mushrooms were too salty and the bacon was slightly undercooked. The sausage was tasty but nothing you wouldn’t find in a supermarket.
Now, the poached eggs. I had two eggs on two pieces of «toast». Again the toast was more like old bread that has hardened and has been heated up. I am French and I always do that with old bread if I can’t be bothered to go buy more so I am pretty sure that was what they did. The poached eggs were just served on toast with a pinch of chive but no butter no nothing which is actually good for the diet, but there was no salt either.
Overall, not great, honestly nothing impressive and for the price. I could have had 2 course dinner for two for that price. I mean seriously people, this is just eggs, old bread, mushroooms and oranges. Here is the detail of the bill:
2 Orange Juice — 6.50
1 full Italian — 9.50
1 Poached Eggs — 6
Service charge (what service) — 2.75
Now, 2 little eggs on old bread is 6 pounds. I know this is London but I could find cheaper anywhere, especially considering the fact that the bread was old. And 6.50 for two normal size glasses of orange juice. Don’t even get me started on the full italian.
This place is a joke. The food is not amazing, and it is seriously over priced and badly organised! Would not recommend it to anyone.

Came for brunch today. Nice atmosphere but echo the other comments on uncomfortable chairs! I don’t think brunch is their specialty — extremely salty and sad looking bacon and underwhelming drippy eggs. Tried the pancakes as well — those were better but nothing special. I would try them for lunch as that appears to be what they are good at.

I stopped here to have some lunch and I was pleased to eat a very authentic looking seafood salad – tenticles and all. With the price of most restaurants in London, I found this place to be a great deal.
The restaurant features a salad bar that’s well priced (four pounds as I recall). The server was pleasant and attentive. And if you ask him, he’ll happily give you the WEP password so that you can check your email and Facebook.
The downstairs dining area had lots of business types eating their lunches. It was very well decorated, but a bit warm down there.
Only drawback was these funny looking bench seats with no back. I found myself slumping quite a bit.

Lovely rooms! The layout and design of Machiavelli is both homelike and fresh which makes it a nice place to sit and enjoy your time is comfort.
Now I found the menu was limited, which usually means what little a restaurant does they do well. This sadly might not have been the case here. Having ordered some starters I found the size and flavours were a good combination, although took a minimum of 30 minutes to reach us.
The main courses were a bit pathetic as the ravioli main consisted of 5 (yes you read that– 5), cold, half empty, under seasoned, and VERY undercooked pieces that should have had some sauce added.
The majority of the pork belly was very tough fat/​skin which proved to leave the diner red faced as they desperately tried to cut the meal with the butter knife given to him. Although having tasted the corner of actual meaty bit I found the pork very tasty, if lacking edible amounts.
I would not recommend Machiavelli if you are hungry as the portions are pretty poor or in a hurry due to the slow staff, but should you need a nice location to meet up for a glass of wine and a catch up than go here.

This is the type of place that is all about the atmosphere, where you feel proud to waltz in and head for what you want (preferably with a friend who would be too intimidated to enter otherwise).
The takeaway salads, at £4, are yummy and last me more than one meal as a side dish. And the restaurant downstairs is cutesy, a good place to spend a long lunch — although the one time I went the service was a bit confused. I prefer the deli upstairs.

The décor and layout of this place is beautiful, it’s a pleasure to sit in.
It’s not an extensive menu but there’s still a decent amount of choice. I don’t generally like to eat pasta out because I eat it so much at home but the pasta al forno (which changes daily) was very good, as was the porcini ravioli. Tagliolini, which changes daily, was less interesting but I didn’t try enough of it to really assess.
Service was generally good, a bit slow at times and there seemed to be some kind of misunderstanding between the wait staff about whether we had a reservation or not, which one of them rather unprofessionally brought up in front of us. On the whole though they were really nice and patient.
I didn’t think the portions were that small although I did think it was a shade too expensive — pasta for £13 is too much, even if it is delicious. But this is Covent Garden so it’s not that surprising.
The chocolate covered gelato balls were my only real disappointment — should have realised these were basically the tiniest and most expensive choc ices in the world! Should have gone for something from their giant and delicious sounding cake selection…

Came here today for take out breakfast. I thought i would try it as it looked so good from the outside and I’m a big coffee-​lover. Deli coffee is good, right? WRONG! coffee was weak, lukewarm and tasteless (despite an extra shot). The porridge took so long that i had finished my coffee a few minutes before it arrived. i give this place 2 stars rather than 1 because actually the porridge was pretty good; lovely and cinnamon-​y. still i’m not in a hurry to go back.

Agree with most people here. The service was very good, so they seem to have worked that out. But as for the food, whilst delicious, the portions are seriously small and overpriced. If you’re a city suit with cash to spunk, don’t think twice, but of you’re a normal person, it’s just too expensive to really recommend. Drop the main course prices from £13 to £8, up the portion size a little and they might just have me back. Otherwise, I’ll wait until I’ve won the lottery, thanksverymuch.

good bang for buck. macarons half the price of laduree :) not as good of course. the filling wasn’t good.

The one star I award this place is for the décor. The rest leaves too much room for improvement.
The portions are minuscule and that’s fine but £8.50 for a few slices of steak in a deli is too much.
The Grilled Vegetables with Pesto (£4) was missing pesto as the kitchen have «run out» of the basic sauce at midday… well, M&S is just round the corner… or just make your own…
Then there was the bread that never arrived and three requests for a bill.
Pretty, perhaps, would I go back? — No.