I'm sure I've reviewed this place before but I can't find it using the search thingy. Anyhow, I've been to Kettner's before and I still like it. The best thing about the place is it's in the middle of Soho and is a great place to take a lady or your mother (not that your mother is not a lady), especially if she has not heard about it. This is because it costs a lot less than it looks like you spent. Kettner's used to be Oscar Wilde's favourite restaurant until he became a permanent guest of Her Majesty. And it looks much the same, I guess, as it did when he was having a mouthfull here. There's a pianist, and Hogarthian prints and a nice carpet, and someone to fawn and look after your lady's muff. The rooms are elegant as hell, but it is really just a pizza house. It's the jewel in the crown of Pizza Express, and you'll get the usual menu here, but with knobs on and linen napery. There were four of us, post Christmas, and we had a lunch there. Blokes had burgers (Proper ones made of meat) with fries. Lady One had a so-called Soho pizza, with shaved Italian cheese and some fantastic ham and rocket all over it. Lady Two had a terrific looking salad. Afters were great, coffee was hot and strong and prices very good indeed for this sort of thing in the middle of London (though it seemed a bit more pricey to me than in the past). Service was excellent from a delightful young lady of ?French/?Spanish/?Italian extraction. My only complaint is that the gents, which used to boast huge Victorian urinals with 45 degree splashbacks, has been completely modernised. Gone is the polished brass and it's hello to stainless steel. Why? But I'm picking holes. Still a great place. APPROVED, Perry Stalsis 2005
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