Bloomsbury, Italian Restaurant Guide

The “superb neighbourhood café we’d all love to have around the corner” – this upgraded greasy spoon “in a dead area of Bloomsbury” provides “particularly tasty, modern French fare” realised with a “delicious and light” touch by co-founder Anna Tobias, former head chef at Rochelle Canteen.

“You could be in Italy” at this “authentic” old-school trattoria that has provided four decades of its “great atmosphere” in Bloomsbury – “it’s like being at home but with no washing up”. “Everyone looks like they are enjoying themselves” – as Boris Johnson did in his days as Mayor of London, when he shared chips and house red here with his squeeze-du-jour, Jennifer Arcuri.

“Massive, Instagram-tastic and buzzy” – Paris-based Big Mamma Group’s Sicilian trattoria in Fitzrovia is “great for a night out with the kids”. “If only as much thought had been put into the food as the decor!” – although to be fair, the simple and generous Italian dishes are served at a quality and price that most find very acceptable.

“Awesome, thin and crispy pizza” has built quite a following for this “fast, simple, really cheap and really cheerful” Goodge Street spot – where, “unless strip lighting, functional metal tables and chairs are your thing, the ambience is forgettable”. Celebrating its quarter-centenary this year as ‘The People’s Pizzeria’, it now has a branch in Camden and ‘click & collect’ kitchens in Wood Green, Colindale and Croydon.

“Very friendly” and “authentic” – this “family-run traditional Italian trattoria” is a “dependable and good-value” option in Covent Garden, “with outside tables in decent weather”. The food is “good but not exceptional”. Top Menu Tip – “try the calves’ liver and tiramisu”.

2021 Review: “Neapolitan influences are evident in the choice of ingredients, and the wood-burning oven makes for good, chewy, charred crusts, unlike most high-street pizzas” – so say fans of this global chain, whose HQ is indeed in Naples. Not everyone is impressed, though, and ratings are dragged down by those who feel it’s merely an “everyday” choice: “OK for a bog-standard group, but not great”.

“A relatively limited menu allows for a focus on quality” and authenticity at this duo showcasing the food of Emilia-Romagna: both the original “small and intimate” branch in Shoreditch; and the one “formerly known as ‘In Parma by Food Roots’ in Fitzrovia (since early 2023 now rebranded in line with its sister restaurant)”. “Staff are very accommodating” and offer “Italian meats and cheeses and Bolognese/Emilian standbys, like Tagliatelle al Ragu (definitely not SpagBol!)”. “Go back frequently as it’s great value too”.

The timing of its debut, during Covid 19, couldn’t have been harder for this Covent Garden three-year-old, and it has yet to attract a huge volume of feedback or a settled view from diners. One fan says “you get a twist on Italian cooking, and boy do they get it right” in a “superb, light and airy space that’s ideal for a business meal”. To a critic it’s “bizarre eating in what feels like, and actually is, a hotel lobby, with some dishes very clumsily seasoned”.

“A good find for a pre-theatre meal” – this “efficient and friendly” Covent Garden dining room is quite stylish for somewhere inside a modern chain hotel, and serves an offbeat mix of Peruvian and Italian dishes: “a great selection”, with “lots of small-plate choices and interesting combinations” – “just enough to choose easily and all delicious”.

A “reliable Soho favourite”, where results from its blackboard menu are “always solidly good and can be excellent” – the same can be said of its handwritten ‘little black book’ of wines. “Small, relaxed and friendly”, it “can become pretty noisy, but that’s part of the fun”.

“A very sophisticated Italian restaurant” in Covent Garden that combines “gorgeous” cooking and “excellent wines” with “superb” service and an “elegant” interior. Just one catch, and you can probably guess what it is… it’s no bargain (“the crab ravioli at £31 had only 6 ravioli on the plate…”). Top Top – “good value for the pre-theatre menu”.

2023 Review: “The beef ragu is an absolute delight” – just one highlight among this “amazing fresh pasta” and other “beautiful” dishes at this “lovely neighbourhood spot in the backstreets of King’s Cross”: a simple corner café that’s “a decent-value find in the area”.

“A nice pit-stop for pasta lovers” – this expanding chain is now up to its fifth restaurant spin-off from the original Soho deli (with the June 2023 opening of a new 80-seater, overlooking Clapham Common), and fans say it provides an “attractive”, “buzzing” setting for “simple dishes, well cooked”. A meal is “unlikely to live long in the memory though”, and there’s a growing fear that “as they have expanded the quality has dropped”. Top Tip – at the W1 original (est. 1944 originally as a deli) “sitting upstairs or by the bar is lovely, the windowless basement is not particularly comfortable”.

With siblings in the 2nd and 16th arrondissements of Paris, this October 2023 newcomer aims to import its brand of ‘offbeat Parisian chic and sunny Italian generosity’ to Soho (on an intriguing cut-through between Greek Street and Charing Cross Road). It’s a large spot – with 100 covers and a 50-seater terrace – where the focus will be on pasta and pizza.

Cafe by day, wine bar by night, all "inspired by the cafés found along the winding streets of Puglia’s picturesque city, Lecce".