So the place we wanted to patronise decided to close for Easter, and our friends had been to the backup place a couple of weeks earlier, and a bit of research on tripadvisor revealed a host of positive review for http://see-you-there.co.uk/ . It was agreed that although this was the blind leading the blind, we would give it a go.
The place is a completely unpretentious small shop frontage in Lytton Road in New Barnet, and is surrounded by two Indians, a Greek and a Pizza place. It was possible to park in the road on a holiday Saturday night but might be tricky otherwise. The flags outside gave us the target to aim for. It is a narrow restaurant slice with about 10 or 12 tables, and is a bit minimalist inside. It has an amusing enamel price list from an old Italian Brothel over the tiny bar, but otherwise the appearance is unremarkable and unmemorable.
The web site makes it clear that the food is not old fashioned Italian, and the prices are a bit above average for the area and the wine list is definitely a bit on the expensive side once you get past the house wine which for red is a Nero D'Avolo.
On the Saturday between Good Friday and Easter Sunday (which was also included Passover this year), the place was very quiet with a maximum of 3 tables full. Other reviews have remarked that the place seems quiet, and its location down a side street means that it is unlikely to attract passing trade unless you knew that there were other restaurants in the street. It has been there at least since Spring 2011, but you need a minimum number of covers to keep a show on the road. There are other factors which are not helping, but see on.
When you arrive, a glass of Bellini greets you which is a nice touch, and there was a chef's taster, which may have been fried polenta and other stuff: the chef likes polenta.
Another nice taste. Our waiter was young fresh ruddy faced man, who admitted that he was new to the job (we attract them). There were no other waiting staff that night, but the maitre de/owner was in evidence.
For starter, I chose a sort of bruschetta of chicken liver pate on fried bread.
What you cannot tell from this picture is that the portion size was quite small. My wife's platter of cold meat was huge. This bruschetta was very interesting to taste, in that the bread, which I had expected to be crispy was in fact quite soft, and reminded me of eggy fried bread/french toast. The taste was very unusual
The menu, which can be found on the web site, and changes a lot, is quite short. I chose the Cervo con Polenta (Venison stew served with polenta and Parmesan cheese)
The pictures says it all, and it was not quite what I expected. It was supposed to be served with vegetable of the day, but this never appeared, and the spinach I ordered, and came later, came on a pretentious ceramic spoon. The servings are small. The polenta could have been hotter ( a 7 on the CHOF scale), but the meat and spinach were hot enough scoring 8's. The taste was very unusual. We were offered a complementary limoncello after the meal, another nice touch but costing the business little.
Service was a bit slapdash, and things came as a stream rather than altogether, and considering that there were only about 6 other people in the restaurant, it was below expectations. I enjoyed my food here, but my wife thought it was all a bit amateurish. The pricing is well above average, and a bottle of mid-price wine was £27. A meal for four with only one desert and one bottle of wine and 12.5% service added on was £145. I thought that although the food was very good, the overall impression left one with a 'but could have done better' impression. If we needed to take someone to a place with unusual food, this would be it, but it is a bit pricey for a side street in Barnet. There are several other Italian restaurants in the area, so it is a buyers' market. As far as hotness of food was concerned, I thought they could have done better. Clearly the expectation of hot food is mine alone.
