Weybridge, Italian Restaurant Guide

“Very good food” – but “no pizzas!”, the menu is more ambitious – has been served for more than 20 years at this “friendly local Italian” near Richmond Bridge in St Margaret’s – the last five under owner Tom Rowlandson, who trained with Skye Gyngell at Petersham Nurseries and has pushed standards ever higher.

“My favourite restaurant of all time!” say fans of this Richmond stalwart – “a unique and authentic Italian experience”. Patron Riccardo Grigolo hosts a no-choice, multi-course Venetian wedding feast over three or four hours, that makes you “feel like you are a guest in an Italian home” and with “an outstanding quality of food, ambience and staff”. Arrive hungry!

Tipped as a “top venue for a pre-theatre meal (Richmond Theatre and Orange Tree nearby)”, this longstanding Italian restaurant near the station combines “well-cooked food, kindly service” and a “very good wine list, at reasonable prices”.

This “good, reliable Italian local” in Wimbledon Village majors in home-made pasta and thin-crust pizza, while “other items like calves’ liver are lovely”. “The midweek offers are not as good as they used to be”, however, while “the menu rarely changes”.

“Serious, and seriously delicious food, served in a simple space that helps to focus attention on what matters” has made Andreas Riva’s Barnes veteran a “staple of Italian food lovers”, oft-cited by top food writers like Nigella Lawson as their favourite destination. It’s boosted by “exceptionally long-serving, loyal staff” who provide regulars in particular with service they acclaim as “delightful, efficient, warm and friendly”. A typical account of a meal might run as follows: “Specials of puntarelle, gnocchi and suckling pig, and the calves’ liver and red onions from the menu, together with a dessert of tiramisu, were all faultless. Wines by the glass – a Pinot Bianco and a Tuscan Sangiovese – matched beautifully and were modestly priced”. As often is the case here though, there is a contrarian viewpoint and it gained ground this year: “We hadn’t been impressed with Riva when we had eaten there many years ago, but thought we’d try it again, after reading several very positive reviews. Our recent visit, however, confirmed our earlier verdict. The menu choice was uninspiring, service indifferent and the venue was run-down and in need of attention. Prices were high and the elderly man who seemed to be in charge ignored diners and sat at a table doing paperwork. We definitely won’t be returning!”

It’s the large leafy courtyard out front that catches the eye at the Bianchi Bandinelli family’s slightly quirky venue. Drawing on five centuries of tradition from an estate near Siena, the aim to import a slice of Tuscan living to London would not seem out of place in, say, Chelsea, but seems a little offbeat on this rather trafficky stretch of the Chiswick High Road (although having the famous Metropolis recording studios next door doubtless helps provide custom). Fans say it’s a “special” place – “quite expensive, but some of the best Italian around”.

“Things have gone crazy, price-wise, but it’s still magic” – that’s the perennial and worsening trade-off at Ruth Rogers’ world-famous, Thames-side icon, tucked away between the Thames and a Hammersmith backstreet. Started in 1987 in the canteen of her late-hubbie’s architectural practice (in partnership with Rose Gray), it’s still faithful to its mission of “brilliant, simple, honest Italian food, from top-quality ingredients, superbly executed”. And while “the food is uncomplicated in the sense that it is not fussy, there is nevertheless a sure-footed sophistication in its preparation”. So far, so good, and pretty much everyone agrees that if money were no object a visit here (especially outside by the river in summer) is “just perfect”. But verdicts on the ever-fraught juggle here between price, quality and value are increasingly going haywire. To its most loyal habitués (often arriving by chauffered car from posher postcodes): “is it expensive, yes, but worth it? Absolutely. I’ve never had a disappointing meal and have been going since 1990”. To those who ‘know the price of milk’ however, it’s “monumentally overpriced” and increasingly risks “spiralling to the clip-joint level” (“It’s actually beyond a joke now, financially. Gone beyond very expensive into ‘you don’t actually want normal people here at all, do you?’ territory”). “It would also help if they could get their staff organised”. The “casual” service from posh public school girls on their ‘gap y’ar’ has always been of the love-it-or-hate-it variety, but can plain jar at such a premium price.

“Thin and crispy pizza with coarse semolina in the base” is the main focus at this smart Notting Hill pub conversion, where “the tapas-style starters and excellent pizzas are rather more interesting than the main-course choices”. The Oak W12 near Ravenscourt Park and the Bird in Hand at Brook Green operate on similar lines.

Near Parsons Green, this small and family-owned Italian, in an updated traditional style, delivers just what you’d want from a high-quality local restaurant: “better-than-average food is cooked to a high standard; staff are friendly; and it’s always busy”.

Worth knowing about near Hammersmith Broadway, this well-appointed pub is “highly recommended” for its convenient location a few minutes’ walk from the station, its characterful interior, cute outside terrace and – not least – its very decent Italian-leaning menu. “Dog-friendly” is another plus for some.

“Always a warm welcome from the lovely husband-and-wife team” at this “perfect neighbourhood gem” lost in the backstreets near Brook Green, where “Michele is in the kitchen and Heidi front of house”. For what it is, it would be hard to improve, with its “homely atmosphere”; and “hearty and well-seasoned Italian home cooking” from “a limited menu of crowd-pleasing dishes”; all at “reasonable prices”. “Interesting” wine list too with “some good value for money rarities”.

“A wonderful quiet dining room”, where “the staff are top-notch, the atmosphere too” – Gino Taddei & Sally Eidlitz’s “lovely” restaurant between Kensington and Olympia “has been going for years” and “they have fed generations” with “top-quality Italian cuisine”. Many describe it as “a favourite local” – a view shared by the late Michael Winner.

A “great old-school Italian” that has provided “engaging” and stalwart service in Clapham’s ‘Nappy Valley’ for decades, with “more than adequate food and a jolly relaxed atmosphere”.

“A great pit-stop on a night out” – these “busy, buzzy” rustic spots in Chelsea’s King’s Road and Battersea’s ‘Nappy Valley’ major in a wide selection of sourdough pizzas, although the exact offering is slightly different at the two sites (for example pasta in SW3 but not SW11). Attractive lunch deals too. Top Tip – the ‘La Terrazza’ heated rooftop terrace in Chelsea is worth discovering but walk-ins only and has its own menu.

This “long-standing local” is a fixture of Clapham’s ‘Nappy Valley’, serving rustic Italian dishes for more than 30 years. A typical report: “recently returned for the first time in decades. Why did we wait so long? Food is excellent, service friendly and efficient, and prices very reasonable by London standards. My wife’s veal cutlet was the largest, tenderest and tastiest I have ever tried and my pasta with wild boar ragu was superb. We won’t be waiting nearly so long again!”

Pizza sold by the metre (‘al metro’) was a novelty in 1993 when this simple Neapolitan pizzeria on Battersea Rise first opened its doors. It‘s not the fave rave that once it was, but remains a “good local” and one that the odd fan still crosses town for.

Regulars still adore this Chelsea haunt with origins in the Swinging Sixties – “not the best food in town” and “at Chelsea prices”; but “an old-established family-run Italian restaurant with a lovely atmosphere, an old-fashioned dessert trolley, spotlessly clean and full of character”. In particular, local parents say it’s “lovely for families for Sunday lunch”. Founded by Tuscany-born Alvaro Maccione, who fed everyone from Frank Sinatra and Elizabeth Taylor to Michael Caine and Princess Margaret back in the day, it’s still “very popular with loyal Chelsea supporters (and some players...)”, while Simon Cowell was also spotted here last year.

“One never tires of Il Portico”, say fans of this “lovely local Italian” with “an authentic feel” opposite the Design Museum, which has been run by the Chiavarini family for more than 50 years. “Everything is served with enthusiasm” and “if prices are a bit on the high side, it’s because of the proximity of some very classy residential areas”.