Marylebone, Italian Restaurant Guide

“Wonderful pasta prepared on site” is the highlight at Tuscany-born chef Giancarlo Caldesi and wife Katie’s long-running Marylebone headquarters (they also have a country venue in Bray and a cookery school). Fans reckon it’s “always a treat to dine here – it’s traditional Italian with attentive and authentic service”.

This “honest Italian” near Wigmore Hall is “one of the few places in London where you can eat cuisine of the Veneto region”; “the dishes are simply prepared with high-quality ingredients,” and there’s a good wine list to match. It’s not wildly fashionable, but “always provides an enjoyable meal served by professional staff in a relaxed ambience”.

Carrying the name of Richard Caring’s famous Harry’s Bar in Mayfair (which is still members only), this sub-brand spin-off near Selfridges aims to encapsulate classic La Dolce Vita-style glamour. All of the limited feedback acknowledges decent Italian cooking, but is riddled with quibbles feeding back to the level of expense (“good food but the tables are packed too tightly and we’ll give it miss in future, as it did not have the right ambience for the price…”; “food was mediocre at the ridiculous price…”).

2022 Review: Open in Autumn 2021 – a smart and traditional flagship for the San Carlo group on the prominent former St Christopher’s Place site of Carluccio’s. It’s big, with 220 seats and a 50-cover al fresco terrace. Managing director Carlo Distefano describes it as the group’s “most exciting project in years”.

Few restaurants can boast the heritage of this Mayfair two-year-old: the first ever spin-off from a Milanese original of over 120 years’ standing. It’s still a case of promise unfulfilled, though, with reports that are very up and down, despite a general acknowledgement of “friendly service and a pleasant interior” (the latter very classical in style). “Eye-watering prices” are key to the ambivalence felt by diners, despite some dishes that are “clearly wonderful” – if you give it a go, perhaps try the set lunch, which is “exceptional value by comparison to other options here”.

“Lovely to see Giorgio parading the floor and in the kitchen making sure everything is correct”, say fans of his well-known, sophisticated and moodily “romantic” Italian, off Portman Square (run, with wife Plaxy, since 2002), for whom a visit is still “always a delight” with triumphant modern Italian cooking that’s among London’s best. Its ratings took a knock this year, though, from a number of former fans who said “it’s not what it was” (“sorry, but we’ve had two or three disappointing meals here now”).

This “lovely neighbourhood Italian” in Fitzrovia opened in April 2021 as a spin-off from a successful Brighton duo, and has made a “great transition to London” on an eye-catching corner site (formerly Bonnie Gull, RIP). The food is “delicious”, although “portions are lady-sized rather than man-sized”. The business was founded ten years ago when Italian-Australian lawyer David Toscano bought an old Fiat van to participate in a Brighton street-food festival.

Hot on the heels of Jacuzzi comes this new venture from the Big Mamma Group; they promised a more intimate, pared-back interior, but when the standard is Ave Maria, who knows what restraint will look like - the menu will list a "10-tiered chocolate fudge cake", for example. Opened May 2023.

“The quality and consistency of the dishes is first-class and service excellent” at the original location of this Italian duo (‘La Brasseria Milanese’), which opened in Marylebone in May 2018. A second all-day offshoot opened in Notting Hill in autumn 2021. It’s inspired little commentary as yet, but Tom Parker Bowles in The Daily Mail praised its “handsome” styling and a menu of “old-fashioned crowd pleasers and greatest hits”.

“Beautiful fresh pasta, served from the heart by knowledgeable Italians” is the attractive offer at this small group, spun out of a famous veteran Soho deli (est. 1944) in the past five years under private equity outfit White Rabbit. The “food is good and good value, though limited and very focused on the pasta”. There are now branches in King’s Cross, the City’s Bloomberg Arcade and most recently Marylebone; the farthest-flung is in Tokyo, while Clapham Old Town has been long promised.

The first London opening from the US Tao group, which owns Hakkasan, is a branch of its nightclubby high-end Italian brand, Lavo, in Marylebone High Street's new BoTree hotel, opening October 2023. Expect resident DJs and maximalist food, including signature wagyu meatballs and 20-layer chocolate cake.

Hot on the heels of a debut in LA, this US Italian restaurant concept is set to launch on this 190-cover site in Mayfair in late 2022, which will incorporate a ground floor bar, first floor dining room and terrace, and cigar lounge. It will offer an Italian/Mediterranean menu including pizza and pasta. More branches are planned both in the capital and back home in the US of A.