Style over substance chain - needs better chefs! After visiting the Oxford Jamie's Italian restaurant on New Year's Day, with a large group of friends, whose verdict ranged from "really good", to "average" to "over-priced and over-rated", I thought it worth another shot. So - visited Cardiff branch on Sunday 28th February. No queue, lots of staff, waitress okay. No loo paper in the ladies loo's! Terrible oversight!

Menu: waitress told us all of the lamb, chicken and burgers were off. So that left a limited choice. Shared breads: loads of salt crystals on the bloomer type loaf - too much. Waitress poured oil and balsamic into a small beaker - so dipped bread got soaked in loads of oil, minimum balsamic. Starters: crispy calamari starter was overcooked and flaccid. Awful. Genaro's winter salad was half-char-grilled (lukewarm, hard) veg with mushy veg in far too much balsamic. Not nice. Mains: turbo! Penne: tasted horrible. Italian food should be and is so much better than this. Carbonara: okay - nice ham, okay sauce, but the pasta was undercooked! Needed at least another two minutes to get to al dente. Wine was good but pricey. Overall, food was poorly cooked, service was average and really not worth £35 a head. I will not be going again.

Tried Jamies Italian in Cardiff today fo lunch and loved it. Waited only 5 or 10 minutes inside and by the time we ordered our drinks our table was ready. The staff were friendly and helpful, giving us just the right amount of attention and the food was gorgeous. I had creamy cauliflower soup with muscles to start and linguine with truffles as a main. Going half shares on freshly baked Italian bread and not including drinks this cost me £15. I will certainly be going again and would like to bring the rest of the family next time as I'm sure they'll love it.

I decided to visit Jamies on a whim on the night of the 15th Feb after a stressful day at work with colleagues, we feared the wait after hearing rumours that we would sooner get hypothermia than get served food. However, after a very short wait - we were seated quickly and almost immediately treated to an offer of drinks and bread by our lovely waitress. A fine looking brunette i may add!

We had a great seat overlooking the restaurant upstairs and could see all the restaurant and the chef's working below. For main i had Fritto Misto, which was a fine selection of fish! I don't normally risk having fish in restaurants due to bad experiences in the past, however - I thought seeing as Jamie put his name on the door, i'd give it a go. It was well worth the risk as it turns out!! The only downside would be the extra cost of the side dish, of which i picked tomato + mozzerella salad. Nothing against the side! Just didn't expect the additional cost. For once, my colleagues had no complaints with their mains! The wine was lovely and service friendly, will definitely be returning before too long. It was talk of the office the next day.

my first visit to jamies on saturday. was expecting big things and it delivered. we had to wait 45 mins for a table which wasnt grate but when we got in it was worth it. the waitress was very nice and friendly and nothing was to much trouble. i had the sardins to start which were nice but a bit pricy for what i got. my husband had baked mushroms he said they were lovely and very filling. for mains i had the lamb lollypops which were lush very nice only problem was had to spend a bit extra for side orders, i had the funky chips they were scrumpshus, my hubby had chicken and was realy tender. service was really quick and freindly even tho it was very
busy and overall had such a good experience and will definately come back. Go jamie!

If you want to queue for an hour in the cold to get in to a restaurant that serves normal pub food be my guest, if not try any other pub for possible better food.

I was in Cardiff for the weekend on a girls' shopping weekend and the first time we ate in Jamie's, although it was lovely, it proved pretty expensive as my chicken dish came with no vegetables and I ended up paying £6.50 extra for potatoes and beans. My friend ordered Parmesan and a selection of bread for a starter which she found a little disappointing, though her pasta later made up for her disappointment! We went again the following night and were a little more savvy in our choices. Overall, I would recommend it to anyone. There was a very good atmosphere and the staff were very attentive and could make good recommendations. They said they get to taste all the food before it goes on the menu so they can tell diners exactly what to expect.

There was a queue outside. An hour in the cold before you even get in then maybe over an hour inside. I don't think so for pub grub!?!?

fantastic in every way! after reading all these bad reviews i wasn't sure if i wanted to go but decided to give it a try and don't regret it. It's a pity that only those who have a bad experience, have enough energy to write a review otherwise i'm sure 99 percent of reviews would be really good. I loved it!