South Kensington, Italian Restaurant Guide

The Mayfair original of this small group is celebrating its tenth year, with a Belgravia sibling and café-style offshoots in similarly chichi Chelsea and Kensington. It channels a retro ‘dolce vita’ vibe, with an Italian menu that “delivers on the brief if nothing more”. The latest addition is an all-day café, which opened in December 2023 next door to the Dover Street flagship.

This “fantastically reliable spot for homemade pasta and Tuscan staples” on a Chelsea corner celebrates its 30th anniversary this year, and is arguably “either a relic or a classic… or maybe just a restaurant that knows what it is good at”. “Relaxed and informal”, with “friendly staff under the command of the wonderful Paz” – “it’s an easy place to dine on your own”. “Another plus is that practically the whole menu is also available as tapas/small dishes”.

“You are always made welcome by the family at this well-established Italian restaurant” in Chelsea. “I was searching for an Italian nearby and was guided here by Harden’s – a delight! with an attractive setting and delicious and well-presented cooking”. (It’s nowadays run by the sons of the founder Lucio Altana, who spent many years as maître d’ of Princess Di’s old favourite, San Lorenzo in Knightsbridge).

Near the Albert Hall, on a quirky site built in the Venetian Gothic style to please Queen Victoria, this “typically bustling family-run Italian” opened in 1967, and offers a “standard menu, with properly cooked pasta” and dependable pizza. “Kids are really well looked after, just like being in Italy” – as Princess Diana found, when she used to take Wills and Harry out for a treat from nearby Kensington Palace.

A “reliable local” fixture for more than 25 years almost opposite Chelsea & Westminster Hospital, this “good-value”, “buzzy” café serves “very good Italian food in a relaxed setting”. It’s “nothing fancy, but the sort of place you can take your children or your grandparents and everyone will feel very much at home”.

2023 Review: This “treasured Chelsea local, tucked away in a cosy basement off the Fulham Road ‘beach’”, inspires a devoted following from its regulars, looking after them with “classy and delicious” Italian dishes and an impressive wine list. Tourists and casual passers-by are unlikely even to notice the all-but-hidden entrance, adding to the clubbish appeal.

2022 Review: This Fulham Road newcomer on ‘The Beach’ opened mid-lockdowns with a contemporary Italian offering. It’s the brainchild of Leandro Longo (La Caricatura) and chef Ignacio Fuggiero (The Met). You can opt for an eight-course tasting menu (as well as two-course, three-course and à la carte options) but the approach has strong, traditional Italian roots.

2021 Review: Hit and miss feedback on this Italian three-year-old, in a posh side street opposite the entrance to the Chelsea & Westminster hospital. On the plus side, all reports rate the cooking as good or better. But it can also seem pricey for what it is, and meals don’t always run like clockwork: “the management and the regular clientele were treating the place as the most remarkable restaurant in this part of the world, but our service was very up and down, to the extent they gave us free puddings”.

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”.