Il Porco Elegante, Richmond

I think 'il porco elegante' in Richmond is a perfect place for a romantic evening with your loved one. We had a really wonderful time, lots of candles, fresh flowers on the tables, thats make this restaurant special. We ordered tasting menu and Every course was absolutely delicious and the service impeccable. We will be back.

I'd read a few good reviews of this restaurant, so went at lunchtime.

I was quite dissapointed. We were the only ones in there (always a worry!) but I was impressed with the way that they had decorated the place, quite innovative and a little bit unusual.

There was nothing drastically wrong with the restaurant, but lots of small things which all added up.

For example, the CD player constantly skipped / got stuck throughout the hour and a half we were there (surely it can't be too expensive to get a CD/CD player that actually works? Most annoying it was!)

The waiter didnt really understand what we were ordering - I had to ask for orange juice 4 times and then got Orangina! When we ordered the food he had to refer to the (quite limited) menu to work out what we'd ordered.

The restaurant was freezing cold when we got in there as they had the door constantly open.

The food was Ok but wasn't amazing. I had the tortellini which was quite acceptable but didnt pack a flavour punch and the salad it came with was just a handful of lettuce leaves, undressed.

It was also very expensive for what it was. One of the guys I was dining with had a fairly average bowl of Rigatoni with small meatballs for the princely sum of £18. For Richmond, at lunchtime, at a pretty average restaurant, that's very expensive indeed.

So, all in all it was just 'OK' with a few pretty dissapointing elements. I wouldn't rush back and I wouldn't urge friends to go