King's Cross, Italian Restaurant Guide

“We love the pistachio decor and the spacious seating”, say fans of this expanding chain, which had operated as a treasured old deli in Soho for over 75 years before starting to branch out as a pasta-chain in 2018. Impressions of it are something of a mixed bag though. To fans, its stylised outlets are “very convenient” and “can be trusted for a good-value and enjoyable experience with excellent food” (mostly pasta) in “sensible portions”. On the downside, though, are a fair number of diners to whom it’s a good concept whose execution is “perfectly fine but unexciting” (“starters good, pasta average-to-good, but compared with folk who had raved to me about other branches, I was left with a sense of ‘meh?’”). Still, their backers are enthusiastic and this year they added new locations in Greek Street and South Kensington.

One minute’s walk from Google HQ, amidst the clean-lined new canyons north of King’s Cross, this is the year-old London outpost of Brighton & Hove’s well-regarded chain (whose unit in Shoreditch’s Boxpark is no longer in operation). Reports on the Brighton operations are all very upbeat, but this one has yet to spark much in the way of interest.