Spitalfields, Italian Restaurant Guide

2024 Review: Post pandemic, the feedback on this small, quirky, City-fringe Italian (in the characterful tangle of streets near Spitalfields) has become more patchy. Fans still say its interesting wines and authentic cuisine are outstanding, but we don’t have sufficient volume of reports for a reliable rating.

2024 Review: This modern Italian bar/restaurant by Spitalfields is consistently well-rated in all feedback. There’s a continued theme from last year, however, that even fans of its antipasti, pasta and grills from the Josper oven can find it plain “overpriced”.

“The energy is fab” at this “busy and buzzy” Mayfair haunt, whose large central bar, pavement tables and green leather stools import a sense of chic Italian glamour to this corner-site a minute from Bond Street. The Italian food (cicchetti, risotti, pastas, traditional mains) doesn’t detract from the occasion, but is “highly priced for average quality”, albeit “all decent”; and “service can suffer when it’s over-busy”. Nowadays part of Soho House, its branches spread from Berlin to West Hollywood, via the City of London (in The Ned). Comments on the latter aren’t terrible, but less enthusiastic than those for W1.

“Big and loud” – this 42,000 sq ft behemoth is part of Oscar Farinetti’s 40+ strong global chain showcasing Italian produce. Many folks “love wandering around and trying all the different snacks available (a great date activity!)” and there seems to be no doubt that “it provides well above-average food”; but there’s also a widespread acceptance that for a lingering meal, it’s “lacking in atmosphere”. Top eat-in option? “Bloody good pizza” with “crisp base and good toppings… why do other places find this so hard?”

“Simple pasta done very well” lives up to the billing at this straightforward chain, which added a branch on Baker Street complete with outside terrace to its other three locations at the start of 2024. They are “nothing amazing, but the food is good, the service friendly, and it is a very easy option” when out and about or “when cooking just feels like a chore”.

Open in London's Norton Folgate from March 2025, a new pasta and grill restaurant from the Angelina Dalston team, with owners Joshua Owens-Baigler, Amar Takhar, Laura Horta and chef Usman Haider. Similarly inspired by Japanese and Italian cuisine, it will offer a menu featuring fresh pastas with a Japanese twist, alongside Italian and Japanese inspired ‘big cut’ Binchotan grill dishes. There is a diverse wine list, Sake selections, and cocktails.

Chris Leach and David Carter’s “of-the-minute hot-spot is still packing ’em in” to this “Shoreditch icon”, where “some lovely Italian dishes propel it above your ordinary Italian place”: “small plates of interesting pastas, salads and exceptional meats” (the latter often “cured on the premises”). “The utilitarian seating and the too-small tables are not designed for lingering, but they are still failing to put off the hordes heading to its unlovely location in trendy old Shoreditch. Book ahead”. Top Menu Tip – “the brown crab Cacio e Pepe remains one of those legendary dishes that you have to try”.