This stylish, modern mediterranean restaurant is one of my all-time Beijing favourites for atmosphere, excelling in everything from service to decor. Located in the achingly hip boutique hotel The Opposite House, which made its way not only into the glossy, by-invitation-only pages of the Jetsetter.com but also onto the prestigious Condé Nast Traveller Magazine's Hot List 2009, style and class are a given at Sureno. Unfortunately, style and class are not the only important ingredients in a good meal - the food itself must be perfect too - and here, Sureno could do with a little bit of brushing up.

Dark, mahogany-wood tables and purist leather chairs are lit by hand-blown glass lamps overhead, while the entire restaurant is bathed in candlelight. My only complaint would be that because of the lively conversation and music and the unusually long tables inside, it is a little difficult to have a quiet conversation. In this case I recommend the beautiful "sunken garden" outdoor patio as a perfect place to enjoy a good meal and glass of wine by candlelight. The quote on the back wall of the outdoor terrace was a wonderful touch.

"from a little spark may burst a flame" - dante alighieri, italian writer and poet

Since we were still full from a lazy, late brunch at home, G and I skipped the appetisers and tapas, and went straight for the main course.

Our first main course was the ferron vialone nano risotto with porcini mushrooms and tartufo nero (RMB 118). The risotto itself was very good - the rice was neither too raw nor too overcooked and had the perfect consistency, though it was a little on the dry side. The porcini mushrooms and truffle were excellent, though the chef could have been slightly more generous - it felt a little as if we were searching for the truffles rather than just enjoying them!

Sureno has won awards for its pizza, so we decided to try out one of their wood-fired pizzas. We chose the cappricciosa pizza with porchetta ham, grilled artichoke and wild mushrooms (RMB88). All of Sureno's pizzas are made with imported buffalo mozzarella cheese, and the high quality of all the pizza toppings was evident with every bite. The ham and grilled artichokes and especially the grilled mushrooms were all delicious. So delicious, in fact, that I wished there was more of them - the toppings unfortunately were a little sparse. Apart from toppings, though, the second most important component of any pizza is the crust - and here I was a little disappointed. Especially featured in the menu was the fact that the pizza dough is made from 100% pure molino alimonti italian flour from abruzzo so I was expecting wafer-thin, slightly crispy crust, especially as the pizza was made in a wood-fired oven. Instead, the base flopped flimsily upon an attempt to pick it up "like a real Italian", and though the crust was perfectly thin, it was a little doughy for my taste. Luckily the excellence of the toppings were only just able to save this hyped-up pizza from being a total disappointment. The pizza was also accompanied by a funny little quote -

"when the moon hits your eye like a big pizza pie that's amore." jack brooks, song writer, "that's amore"

To accompany our meal we ordered the wood-grilled mediterranean vegetables (RMB28) which, unlike our other orders, were completely flawless. Grilled to the perfect heat and with just the right juicyness and consistency, this humble-sounding dish was a colourful mix of red and yellow peppers, green and yellow zucchini and onions drizzled with high-quality, fragrant olive oil. Sometimes simplicity really is the best.

Since I was in a sparkly mood that evening, I selected the Valdobbiadene Bisol Prosecco to drink. It was light, sparkling and just what I was in the mood for, though it did not exactly match our food selection for the night. Bisol prosecco has been produced by the Bisol family estate in the town Valdobbiadene in the province of Treviso in northeastern Italy since 1542.

Overall, service and atmosphere were top-notch. Our waitress was extremely accomodating when we asked to change seating three times when we first arrived. Despite the food being so-so, the beautiful decor and lively atmosphere made Sureno a thoroughly enjoyable dining experience.

Perfect for: romantic dinner for two, business dinner, or a classy evening with wine-loving friends

Order recommendations: Pizza for the delicious toppings. The grilled tuna fish , 250 gr. big mama wagyu tenderloin, and bruschetta with seared goose liver spanish organic orange blossom horley and pickled lemon, also sound enticing.

Honourable mentions: excellent service and Beijing's best atmosphere (at least on the night we were there), great quotes in menu and on wall of garden patio. Two of Beijing's best bars and clubs are located right in the Opposite House -Mesh and Punk

Not-so-honourable mentions: very few of the most important ingredients (toppings on pizza and truffle in risotto), floppy, doughy pizza base.

Went for the Sunday Lunch. It was bad, bad, bad bad! Nowhere near worth 296 rmb! The tapas were 1 out of 5 stars, with the only good one being the rice filled melted cheese meatballs, the mint yogurt soup was also 1 out of 5 and not satisfying, the main dish of suckling pig was not at all like traditional Segovia suckling pig and needed a sauce or baste, the crab risotta was good but not out of the ordinary, 3 out of 5 stars, the cheese platter was small and average and the dessert platter had a nutella like cake but was also average if not sub par. On top of that they charges us an extra 200 rmb for 3 sodas, 1 beer and an extra basket of bread which they did not even bother to tell us was not complimentary! This brunch is not worth it at all, and the service was clumsy with them forgetting to refill our champagne, breaking glasses and forgetting utensils and salt and pepper! The manager was rude and curt and wore ghetto jeans and sneakers with a suit jacket!

I used to trust City Weekend's and Beijinger's reviews and voting of of places, but after this I will never trust it again. Sureno is not worthy of 5 stars and should only be given 3 max. This is why they should make it out of 10 stars to give a more adequate vote. 3 out of 5 makes it sound good when it is only average,e 5 out of 10 is better. yes this is better than middle america chili's or tgif, but not worthy of gourmet status!

Hello, yesterday night I went for dinner at Sureno, I was expecting something very good because all the awards this restaurant has plus the many magazine reviews, service was OK but not very good, they were too busy, wine was good and they have a very good selection, but the food quality was really bad, seems like there is no hygiene in the kitchen at all, food seems to be very dirty, actually we ordered one Pizza and it seems like they made it last week and just reheated, definitely I don't know how is possible this restaurant has so many awards, may be they pey for them....

this is a very stylish restaurant located in the basement of a boutique hotel on the north of 3.3 in sanlitun. the service is quite good, with the waiters speaking english and chinese interchangeably depending on the customer's ability.

the business lunch consists of a 2 or 3 course meal. 2 course is 108 and 3 course 138. on face value, given the good quality food it's probably worth it. but there are a few gripes.

1) the servings are really really small. for example, if you order the duck, then 5 slivers 3mm thick are put on a large plate with 1 wedge of potato, 1 wedge of orange and drizzled with gravy. the taste is quite good for a sampler, but leaves you with the feeling that you've just forked out 100rmb for 10rmb of duck. the oxtail soup with ravioli is the same. if you thought the W 'Wine and dine restaurant' was cheap giving only 4 pieces vegetarian ravioli on a plate, then this place is even cheaper. at least in wine and dine the 4 pieces of ravioli are larger than average. in this restaurant, they only give you 3 pieces of ravioli and they measure 2cm x 2cm.
2) service tax. now i'm sorry, i know this place has english speaking waiters, but does that mean they should lump an extra 15% loading on top of it? No... it's certainly not worth 15%. if you want good service then you go to maison bouloud where they give you silver service.

ok... so is there any saving grace? well.. the desert is fabulous... chocolate tart with vanilla bean icecream... mmm... delicious!

overall... based on taste.. yep.. they are doing good. based on portion size... you will be bitterly disappointed. based on service, you'd think they are ok. based on value for money.. you'd think you were cheated.

so... think about it before you go... a 3 course lunch for 138+20.7 = 158.7rmb. Don't be fooled if you want a full stomach.

PS: if you do go, fill up on the complimentary foccacia bread they give.