Favorite/Best Italian Restaurants in London

[Jamsie]

Vasco & Piero's pavillion, Poland street, soho - is excellent

[Laibach]

Fiore is superb and has received very high praise on these pages in the last couple of months.

[origamicrane]

yum yum

Mimmo D'ishcia, Elizabeth Street. A lovely place and it really doesn't get more italian then this place.

Osteria Basilico, in Notting Hill I thought was excellent too and very reasonable.

Cecconi's haven't been yet but my friends swears by it.

Carluccio's in neal street is better then the cafe's but not much much better.

but they have a more insteresting menu thent he cafe's

[circeplum]

neal st carluccio's is wildly overpriced. and underpowered...

recently, i've really liked latium in berner's st. really good cooking at surprisingly reasonable prices. ditto camerino in percy st. both properly italian.

for different reasons - buzz, glamour, but good food too - i also really liked marco pierre white's new luciano in st james.

sardo: si. sardo canale: no.

don't under any circumstances be tempted by the tourist-fleecing bollocks and ludicrous attitude of cipriani.

[silverbrow]

Locanda Locatelli.

I third Sardo but controversially, disagree and think that Sardo Canale is good. It had some issues at first, but those now seem to be sorted.

[Nicolai]

If you want to really eat: Olivo

If you want to pose: Cecconi

If you want to be insulted in an expensive way: Locanda Locatelli

If you want to be insulted in an cheap way: Carluccio

and if you want to be degustazione'd: Tentazioni

[Scott]

Donna Margherita in Lavander Hill, Clapham Junction

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I was very underwhelmed, perhaps it was an off night?

[Andy Lynes]

If you want to be insulted in an expensive way: Locanda Locatelli

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My bill was a bit shocking but I can't say that I felt in anyway insulted at Locatelli. How did you find the restaurnt insulting?

[Niall]

and if you want to be degustazione'd: Tentazioni

I like Tentazioni. The food is good. If you book at their website you can get a complimentary glass of wine, and if you join their club you can get 10% off the cost of food at dinner. http://www.tentazioni.co.uk

I used to go to Giardinettos when it was at Charlotte St, but I've heard that the prices have doubled and quantities halved since it moved to Mayfair.

Refettorio is good for the price; especially when theres a 25 or 33% off deal on toptable. I think the current deal is 25% off all food.

[battleofthebulge]

If you fancy a walk by the river, followed by Mama's cooking, I thoroughly recommend A Cena in Richmond. Just across Richmond Bridge on the way to Marble Hill.

Square Meal review and more info http://www.squaremeal.co.uk/restaurants/lo...p?Rest_ID=82260

Sarah

[silverbrow]

I forgot Mosaico as well - felt expensive, can't remember if it was

[magnolia]

My beau is one of those La Mamma types, never likes anyone's Italian cooking except his mother's (and his own) but he does like:

Locatelli

Il Giardinetto (expensive) - and true, portions have decreased and prices have increased since their move;

Il Camerino (less expensive)

Rosmarino

The latter two have interesting and decently priced wine lists. The former two have good wine lists but no bargains and nothing out of the ordinary (though Giardinetto had Occhio di Pernice either by the glass, or by the bottle nearly at cost if I recall correctly - there was something particularly surprising about their dessert wines, anyway)

He hasn't been, but I like Assaggi (expensive); Passione; and Tentazione too but not as much as the above.

I'd be very curious to know what the ICE people think of Carluccio's, because I - as a non-Italian -don't even think of these restaurants as Italian; to me they're a step up from a deli or sandwich shop, pleasant go-to's for decent coffee, soup and bread or something but not much else, sadly.

The problem with pricing at Italian restaurants in London - and almost everywhere outside Italy, for that matter - is that most non-Italians consider pasta a main course.

That's why Americans and Brits, at least, tend to get all hot and bothered when they go to a restaurant in Italy and find that they're expected to order a starter, a pasta, a main and so on, they just think they're being ripped off by the restaurant but in fact that is how Italians eat.

Likewise, because pasta is about the cheapest thing on earth, restaurants outside Italy jack the price up knowing that most people will order it as their main. Fresh pasta is also much better than dried, but quite labour intensive and the irony is that outside Italy, only the really high-end places will make their own.

Edited January 14, 2006 by magnolia (log)

[jdtofbna]

I will be making my annual visit to England next month and plan to take a friend to dinner in London. He's a neighbor's son who will be spending the semester studying in London, and he loves Italian food. Now, you probably realize that a young man who grew up in Nashville, Tennessee with parents from New Jersey may have a different idea of what makes a good Italian meal from the average British foodie. So, my question is, what would be your recommendation for a good central London Italian restaurant that would have an interesting menu but also offer dishes he might recognize? A friend of mine has recommended Latium.

[Harters]

London isn't my part of the UK so more local folk may have better ideas - but I rate this place highly. The 400 mile round trip is the second furthest I've travelled simply to eat dinner.

http://www.passione.co.uk/

[nikkib]

Not sure if it qualifies as central london - but he may well enjoy Fifteen... jamie is, i think quite big in the states and it has quite a "young" feel to it.

[jdtofbna]

jamie is, i think quite big in the states and it has quite a "young" feel to it.

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Those both look like great suggestions--thanks! I had forgotten that Fifteen includes the Trattoria. You're right, Jamie's hugely popular here, I watch him on the Food Network all the time.

[Romaney O'Malley]

Do some homework on fifteen before you decide to go there. If you read the reviews and still decide to go then at least it will be an informed decision. I haven't been myself so will leave it at that but for those prices why don't you take him for lunch at Locanda Locatelli? all the times I have been it's been superb and he won't forget the experience. The food is amazing and he won't be intimidated it's very accessible - cooking and ingredients are spot on.

[Siharris28]

I will be making my annual visit to England next month and plan to take a friend to dinner in London.  He's a neighbor's son who will be spending the semester studying in London, and he loves Italian food.  Now, you probably realize that a young man who grew up in Nashville, Tennessee with parents from New Jersey may have a different idea of what makes a good Italian meal from the average British foodie.    So, my question is, what would be your recommendation for a good central London Italian restaurant that would have an interesting menu but also offer dishes he might recognize?  A friend of mine has recommended Latium.

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Think Latium and Locatelli are both excellent. The latter is more expensive but a bit more refined.

[Time]

Zafferano also, maybe.

[salutistagolosa]

A friend of mine has recommended Latium.

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If I understand your implication well, your best bet would be a place like Spaghetti house! But if things are not as bad, then for me it must be Latium, Latium all the way!

I find Zafferano is higly overrated: nice room, but the food is really unimaginative (and incidentally, you would never find it in a michelin star in Italy).

I think Latium is the best Italian in London. Then you may also want to try Semplice and Locanda Locatelli (while I would stay well clear of Refettorio, sampled just a couple of days ago). Locatelli is definitely more traditional that either Semplice of Latium, although to an Italian it feels slightly "passé".Via Condotti is also ok, but probably somehwat below these, at least for me.

[Matthew Grant]

Why does nobody mention The River Cafe when talking about Italian food, it may be expensive but it has, IMO, some of the best ingredients in London, simple food well done, surely what Italian food is about.

[Gary Marshall]

i agree , but it's not somewhere you can drop in easily is it ? (except if you are known i assume)

[rjs1]

Why does nobody mention The River Cafe when talking about Italian food, it may be expensive but it has, IMO, some of the best ingredients in London, simple food well done, surely what Italian food is about.

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There's a thread on this somewhere, but why not try Theo Randall at the InterContinental? At lunch it's far cheaper than the River Cafe and (given that Randall was head chef there for a lifetime, probably just as good). Prices head into the stratosphere in the evenings, though.

Otherwise, agree with the recommendations for Latium.

[Gareth]

Let me add my vote to the Locatelli camp. Have eaten here regularly since it opened and it has always delivered.

I was a bit disappointed by Theo Randell’s. It opened to rave reviews which focused on its simplicity and directness of ingredients and flavour. I don’t disagree but for me it was just a bit too Spartan on the plate and at the price. My wood-fired pigeon with baby girolles was lovely – and that’s exactly what I got: a plate of pigeon and mushrooms. For £26 or thereabouts. Which left me thinking “Well, that was nice pigeon and mushrooms.” But otherwise struggled to fire up my interest and excitement. Until the bill arrived.

In contrast, Locatelli keeps the simple simple (e.g. in the pasta dishes, such as tagiatelli with kid ragu) but also seems to be able to add a riff of refinement, variation or technique without betraying the essentials of the dish. It’s one of those restaurants that feels special without being stiff and, most importantly, it’s one of those restaurants where I just really look forward to opening the menu.

Only eaten once at Latium and found it underwhelming but to be fair I was there on business and it was a fairly tense negotiation, so the food didn’t get my full attention (as opposed to excellent cocktails at the Sanderson – just opposite – afterwards).

Passione. Ate at a couple of times. I liked the food. And I suspect that, had I stumbled upon it by a harbour on the Amalfi coast then I would have spent the next year enthusing and urging all my friends to take 100 mile detours on their summer holidays just to visit. However, something about it being sited off the Tottenham Court Road and charging very London prices means that I’ve never quite connected with the place.

Can’t speak for River Café and Fifteen is unspeakable .

Gareth

[jdtofbna]

If I understand your implication well, your best bet would be a place like Spaghetti house! 

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Yeah, had lunch at the Spaghetti House in Covent Garden last year...the choice of my kind hosts, not me! That's why I've turned to y'all for some recommendations and advice and you've given me some good ones---thanks.

Jana