Hoxton, Italian Restaurant Guide

The food of Emilia-Romagna is the inspiration for this Italian duo in Shoreditch and Fitzrovia. They major in pasta, with sliced meats, cheeses and wines from the region as back-up, and all reports say the food is of a good standard.

“Sit at the kitchen counter and watch small plates of mostly Italian influence being expertly prepared for the best take on this consistently good venue” (which has no more than 30-35 seats in total). Jon Lawson will celebrate his tenth year here in 2026 and has maintained impressive standards of seasonal Italian-inspired small plates all the while. It helps that the venue has “a nice casual-and-hip but also romantic vibe too”.

“Barmy and OTT”: Paris-based Big Mamma Group’s original London venue brings a “great fun” cod-Italian vibe to Shoreditch (“think a full-mirrored ceiling” plus foliage and Capri-comes-to- Commercial Street knick-knacks) – “teens (and older types) love it”. If the food is only “so-so”, that hardly matters – the pizza and pasta go down well, while “the desserts look like something Marie Antoinette would order”.

This quartet of modern pasta joints offer “high-quality ingredients” and staff who “make you feel very welcome”. But the cooking divides opinion sharply, with some reporters praising “good, unpretentious” cooking “at a fair price” and others complaining of “tiny, overpriced helpings – avoid!”. A more nuanced judgement: “good but could be so much better – menu had some great options but everything seemed overpowered with butter/oil”.

Game for a laugh? ‘Bottomless’ (hence the name) lasagna for £20 a head is the inspo’ for owner (aka ‘Chief Béchamel Officer’) Joe Worthington’s Shoreditch-fringe newcomer, just south of Hoxton Square. It opened too late for survey feedback, but the general buzz is that for a fun cheap eat you need look no further; with the Standard’s David Ellis declaring it an “absolute hoot… a riot of a good-time” in an “American-Italian trattoria where the shtick plays within a hair’s breadth of parody” (“better than Big Mamma, just about, and not nearly so pleased with itself!”).