West Brompton, Italian Restaurant Guide

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”.

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”.

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.

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.

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.